Posted on 12/31/2008 10:40:08 AM PST by NYer
Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor in chief of First Things, is currently undergoing treatment for cancer in Manhattan’s Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Father Neuhaus disclosed his cancer at the end of this post on the First Things website in early December.
The Daily Blog spoke today with pro-life advocate Chris Slattery, who visited Father Neuhaus yesterday afternoon at the hospital.
“I got a call yesterday morning from his office, saying that he was put in on the weekend and please go visit him,” said Slattery, who is founder and president of Expectant Mother Care.
Said Slattery, “He’s clearly had a serious recurrence of a new cancer. It’s going to require some immediate chemotherapy. He was in a lot of pain.”
Slattery said that Father Neuhaus could speak only a few words during their visit because he was heavily sedated in order to help him regain strength prior to undergoing chemotherapy.
“And for a man of that intellect, it’s just torture for him to be unable to really communicate,” said Slattery, who noted that Father Neuhaus was hospitalized several years earlier for the successful treatment of another cancer.
“I think what he’s got is a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which is completely unrelated to the previous cancer he had some ten years ago, which was a colon cancer,” Slattery said. “He wrote a book about his experiences — I visited him in the hospital then too — he was near death with that cancer. He wrote a book called, ‘As I Lay Dying,’ which describes his mental state as he was going through that treatment. It’s a very edifying book. It’s a good time for people to check back on that book.”
Staff from First Things as well as his sister from Valparaiso, Indiana, are visiting with Father Neuhaus while he’s in hospital, said Slattery.
Slattery is optimistic about Father Neuhaus’s prognosis.
“My mother, my father and I have all been treated for cancer in that same hospital, Sloan-Kettering,” he said. “He’s got top care there. They’re going to give him the best treatment he can get in the world there.”
Added Slattery, “I just don’t think it’s his time, the Church really needs him. He’s one of the most brilliant churchmen we have. He’s been named one of the 100 most influential Americans by U.S. News & World Report, and in my book he’s one of the top two or three priests in the country in his understanding of the Church and the faith, intellectually and theologically.”
Said Slattery, “So we have to pray for him.”
Prayer ping!
Prayers going up.
A great institution if you have to be treated for cancer -- I can attest from personal experience as a 6-year survivor now....
Prayers for Father Neuhaus are on the way.
God Bless Fr N...
I pray for him. I have followed Fr. Neuhaus from before he converted.
Thanks for the post, NYer. Prayers for Father Richard John Neuhaus.
Prayers for Fr. Neuhaus.
I’ve been praying for him daily since I first heard.
Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.
O Lord Almighty, the Healer of our souls and bodies, You Who put down and raise up, Who chastise and heal also; do You now, in Your great mercy, visit our brother Your holy priest Richard, who is sick. Stretch forth Your hand that is full of healing and health, and get him up from his bed, and cure him of his illness. Put away from him the spirit of disease and of every malady, pain and fever to which he is bound; and if he has sins and transgressions, grant to him remission and forgiveness, in that You love mankind; yea, Lord my God, pity Your creation, through the compassions of Your Only-Begotten Son, together with Your All-Holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit, with Whom You are blessed, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.
O Lord our God, Who by word alone did heal all diseases, Who did cure the kinswoman of Peter, You Who chastise with pity and heal according to Your goodness; Who are able to put aside every malady and infirmity, do You Yourself, the same Lord, grant aid to this Your holy priest Richard and cure him of every sickness of which he is grieved; lift him up from his bed of pain, and send down upon him Your great mercy, and if it be Your Will, give to him health and a complete recovery; for You are the Physician of our souls and bodies and the Lover of Mankind, and to You do we send up Glory: to Father, and to Son, and to Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
But wait! God knows, and He's running this show. Wonderful!
Prayers Incoming.
Prayers for the good Father. As I Lay Dying had a profound effect on me.
I can't think of the other two. He is the irreplaceable Catholic cultural commentator. Every issue of First Things is a small jewel.
Said Slattery, “So we have to pray for him.”
Prayers up.
Prayer lifted.
Prayers for the Father’s health.
Prayers for his swift recovery and complete cure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.