SAYING GOODBYE TO CARDINAL DULLES--TRULY GREAT IN MIND AND SOUL
Farewell Avery! We will miss you. Dead last night at the age of 90 after a debilitating illness, the greatest American theologian and one of the top theologians in the world has passed away. Son of John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State and a Presbyterian, young Dulles shocked the world with his conversion to Catholicism and in 1956 with his ordination to the priesthood.
Thought to be a progressive during Vatican II and the decade following, Fr. Dulles developed a reputation for balance, orthodoxy, and clear thinking. Just a caveat on the last: He wrote beautifully, but all of us who ever had him for a class or a talk will tell you that speaking and teaching were not his great gifts. Writing and thinking were, and I for one know that he helped save my faith when Catholic academia went to the dark side in this country in the late 70's and 80's. I highly recommend his book,THE SURVIVAL OF DOGMA, though he was most famous for his MODELS OF THE CHURCH.
I was so glad that Pope John Paul the Great made him a Cardinal of the Church in 2001. Seldom now is someone who is not a bishop made a Cardinal, but the Pope knew the service he had rendered to the Church and all academia. Avery (and I mean no disrespect calling him that for that is how we knew him when we learned from him) impressed me as a modern day Cardinal Newman with his deft ability to make ancient beliefs relevant and understandable. He clove to the truth and would not let anyone dissuade him. He convinced me that it was possible to be modern and orthodox. As a student at Catholic University, I among many loved to see him enter a classroom or walk down a sidewalk like an out of place sandhill crane. He seemed so awkward, shy, and unassuming in public, but that all belied a fantastic heart and brilliant mind.
Won't we miss him now? But thank God he was with us for so long. May the Christ Child welcome him into eternal glory. You will not be forgotten, Your Eminence. Our prayers are with you and your family and your gifts of scholarship you gave us will last until the sun turns dark and the stars fall from the sky. Until then, they will help keep faithful all those who seek to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the modern world.
His passing should touch all Americans whatever their creed for he belonged to a gifted family who served our nation well.
Pope Benedict said this in a note penned to Cardinal Egan of New York on hearing of the passing of Cardinal Dulles"
"Having learned with sadness of the death of Cardinal Avery Dulles, I offer you my heartfelt condolences, which I ask you kindly to convey to his family, his confreres in the Society of Jesus and the academic community of Fordham University. I join you in commending the late cardinal's noble soul to God, the father of mercies, with immense gratitude for the deep learning, serene judgment, and unfailing love of the Lord and His church which marked his entire priestly ministry and his long years of teaching and theological research. At the same time I pray that his convincing personal testimony to the harmony of faith and reason will continue to bear fruit for the conversion of minds and hearts and the progress of the Gospel for many years to come. To all who mourn him in the hope of the resurrection I cordially impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of consolation and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ." *****Dec. 18 update. Cardinal Egan incenses Cardinal Dulles body at the funeral in St. Patrick's Cathedral. (Photo Damon Winter, New York Times)
May he pray for us in this even darker moment of American history. Thank God for this man who was a solid and staunch supporter of the dignity of all human life.
Posted by: debbie | December 13, 2008 at 03:24 PM