Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, R.I.P.

Father Richard John Neuhaus, passed away Thursday morning after a struggle with cancer. He founded the journal First Things and was a leader in uniting Catholics and Evangelicals to take on the great cultural issues of our day. Fr. Neuhaus was also seen frequently on EWTN co-anchoring coverages of major events such as Pope Benedict XVIs US visit last year.

In an article just published, Fr. Neuhaus describes how the prolife movement is the natural heir of the civil rights and democracy movements of the sixties.

Whatever else it is, the pro-life movement of the last thirty-plus years is one of the most massive and sustained expressions of citizen participation in the history of the United States. Since the 1960s, citizen participation and the remoralizing of politics have been central goals of the left. Is it not odd, then, that the pro-life movement is viewed as a right-wing cause? Reinhold Niebuhr wrote about "the irony of American history" and, were he around to update his book of that title, I expect he might recognize this as one of the major ironies within the irony.

Fr. Neuhaus also wrote articulately about his conversion to Catholicism and how his previous bout with cancer prepared him for death.