For those of you who get First Things, (or read it on the web) the May issue with a farewell to William F. Buckley, Jr. by his friend, Fr. Neuhaus, is perhaps one of the best, and certainly the most personal, farewells I've read thus far since Buckley's passing. Have your tissues ready; especially if you're over fifty and reaching that point when wakes and funerals for your friends start occuring more often than you'd care to admit or endure.
These are "big name" men indeed. But they are in everyway as equally human as any one of us. And in many respects, moreso than many of their harshest critics.
On a brighter note, I'm sure former Episcopalians will take delight in Fr. Neuhaus' surgical dissembling of the soon-to-come-to-a-bookstore-near-you (hold your breath)! blockbuster autobio by a certain fellow from New Hampshire claiming to be one of the successors of the Apostles, among other things.
I fully expect to see a bunch of this "bishop's" books sitting rather moldily on some worn bench inside the Amherst, MA town dump's little bookshed. (Only a liberal northeastern collegetown would consider such a shelter a necessity at a dump.) What a fitting home it'll be for Robinson's self-"justifying" tome. A place where so many of the cheapest people can obtain some of the cheapest ideas for the most fitting price: Zilch!
____________________ For anyone suffering from a mental illness or has a loved one with a mental illness, my book "Lead kindly Light: A Devotional For The Mentally Ill" might be of some help: http://www.lulu.com/ (Use search box at the top of page.)
