I was born and raised in the Lutheran tradition in Texas. I stumbled upon First Things in the mid-1990s. The influence of Father Neuhaus' writings over several years played no small part in my decision to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church in January of 2004. Rest in Peace Father Neuhaus.

His wonderful insights will be sorely missed. May God grant him peace.

Welcome back, J. R.

Grant unto him eternal rest, O Lord.
labrialumn - do you really think your comments are appropriate, or charitable, considering the context of this thread?

May God have mercy on Fr.Neuhaus's soul and mine.
J.R. Stoodley,
I am happy to see you are still around. I hope all is well.
Take care and God bless,
Inocencio
J+M+J

Sad. I remeber him mainly from the coverage on EWTN of the conclave that elected Pope Benedict and Pope Benedict's visit to America. He seemed like a very good priest.

I am, unfortunately, mainly ignorant of his work.
But judging by the response of so many whom I respect and admire, his loss will be deeply felt in the Christian world.
I read some of his writings at First Things, but not enough to have a feel for his personality and general take on things. I will try to correct that.

I am amazed by the number of people who are dancing on Father Neuhaus's grave. (Not here necessarily; elsewhere.) The man must be a saint to elicit that kind of rage from the peanut gallery!

For what little it might be, finding Fr. Neuhaus and First Things was like a bolt of lightning for me. Here was an intellectually rigorous American Catholic who wasn't ready to give away the store (of faith). I knew they must exist, but I rarely ran across them. (My training is as a physicist; what did I know?) At the time, the pastor in my parish was also an instructor at CTU, which institution (though it might be an over-generalization) has a decidedly different reputation. That encounter helped to push me to pursue a more adult understanding of my faith. (Shortly thereafter I discovered a copy of Introduction to The Fathers of The Church by Pier Franco Beatrice, which is a lovely little survey of patristics.)

labria.
I don't think anyone is proposing RJN as a candidate for canonization. But I believe you are correct on the issue of sainthood. Just so you know IIRC, the canon of saints is not uniform in the communion catholic juridically united to Rome -- some of the Eastern churches juridically united to Rome honor liturgically some saints not honored so in the Roman liturgy.

He supposedly had some kind of angelic vision. If that vision is authentic, perhaps his current situation would relate to it.
Also, IIRC, he emphasized that his conversion was not an abandonment of his Lutheran heritage -- which I believe he sometimes termed "Evangelical Catholic" or something or other, similar to how some Anglicans sometimes term themselves "Anglo Catholic"... IIRC he emphasized the continuity of his ecclesial vision and Christian discipliship in his transition to juridical union with Rome.
I have seen him in person before and he struck me as a humble man ... not given to name dropping for instance ... and that impression allies itself with his more public persona where on tv he played down his relationship with President Bush. I had occasion to be a guest at a debate he had and though to be fair I was not present during the whole time, what I did hear and also, from those who were present the whole time, heard of, gave me the impression that he was a crafty debater but I think substantively he ultimately lost that particular debate.
I admire his theological courage in his writing about matters such as love and hell and hope that the New Oxford Review is kinder to him in death than they were at times in life.
May he transition in the fullness of time to a new bodily existence and be numbered among the stars and so remembered in the hearts of men.

I have read a little on the subject. To claim to know that the "Seminexers"' intention, to a man, was to "deceive the church" strikes me as breathtakingly presumptuous and, in the present context, inflammatory.
In the future, please remember that inflammatory claims without specific evidence -- in this case, of Fr. Neuhaus's intentions -- are beyond the pale on this blog.

SDG, that was the nature of the Seminexers in the late 60s early 70s, of whom, at that time, Fr. Neuhaus was one.
All of this can be verified in public record, likely available on the web.
I expressed hope that this had changed, did I not? And perhaps someone could verify that his beliefs had indeed changed?
To my knowledge none of the ancient churches teach that a saint was perfect their entire life.
But there has been a tendency among Roman Catholic apologists to have claimed to have been evangelicals, when they never were, or in this case, a confessional Lutheran, when he hadn't been one.

He wasn't all that Lutheran, being one of the Seminex heretics that sought to deceive the church by pretending to believe what they were sworn to believe, but did not, and then went on to nucleate ELCA and the deceiving of many.

"That sought to deceive the church." That's a hell of a thing to accuse a man of, particularly one who has just gone to meet his Maker. You're sure that was his intention, huh, labri?

He wasn't all that Lutheran, being one of the Seminex heretics that sought to deceive the church by pretending to believe what they were sworn to believe, but did not, and then went on to nucleate ELCA and the deceiving of many.
He has done marvelous work with _First Things_. A hero and a stalwart. I just hope that under that wasn't still the partly unbelieving heart. Not that anyone is perfect in this life. But behind and under all the quite proper accolades, I hope it wasn't all about not having to believe things he didn't want to believe that are in God's Word.

Requiescat in pace.

Greatly surprised when I read the news this afternoon. I hadn't known he was ill. RIP

Wow,
I can't get over how fast this can happen.
I just saw Father Neuhaus doing commentary on EWTN with Mr Arroyo when our Holy father came to America, eight months ago.
He looked fine, then.
"He comes like a thief in the night."

We've lost a great voice for the place religion has in the public square.
May the angels lead him into Paradise. May the saints welcome him into the New Jerusalem.

How sad...May his soul rest in peace, indeed.
I didn't know Cardinal Dulles, but I had a great time reading Father Neuhaus on First Things and watching him on Raymond Arroyo's program.
I would like to link to a very good interview with him to which I listened in early 2007 featured on Power Line that isn't linked on the First Things post. The mp3 file itself is here.

Eternal Rest grant unto him O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed,
through the Mercy of God,
rest in peace.
Amen