Religion & Law

There are tributes and testimonials all over the Internet today.  Check out, for example, this, over at "the Catholic Thing"; this, at First Thing; this, by Ross Douthat; this, by John Podhoretz, etc.  Here, thanks to First Things, is an essay by Fr. Neuhaus, from a few years ago, called "We Are Born to Die."  And, a few outlets have also posted this very moving passage from Fr. Neuhaus's own "Death in the Afternoon":

When I come before the judgment throne, I will plead the promise of God in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I will not plead any work that I have done, although I will thank God that he has enabled me to do some good. I will plead no merits other than the merits of Christ, knowing that the merits of Mary and the saints are all from him; and for their company, their example, and their prayers throughout my earthly life I will give everlasting thanks. I will not plead that I had faith, for sometimes I was unsure of my faith, and in any event that would be to turn faith into a meritorious work of my own. I will not plead that I held the correct understanding of "justification by faith alone," although I will thank God that he led me to know ever more fully the great truth that much misunderstood formulation was intended to protect. Whatever little growth in holiness I have experienced, whatever strength I have received from the company of the saints, whatever understanding I have attained of God and his ways?these and all other gifts I have received I will bring gratefully to the throne. But in seeking entry to that heavenly kingdom, I will, with Dysmas, look to Christ and Christ alone.

I hope that, in the coming days, many of us will share reflections on the relationship -- I think, the centrality -- of Neuhaus's work and core claims to our "Catholic legal theory" project.  Obviously, some of us disagree with some of Fr. Neuhaus's views on policy and other matters.  I would think, though, that we would all agree that his critique of the "naked public square", and his emphasis on the freedom-and-flourishing-enhancing functions of mediating institutions, were, are, and will remain hugely important, and valuable.  More to come, I hope . . .  For now, God bless him.