Free Republic

The South Texas land where a 3-mile controversial private border wall was built earlier this year has been valued at $20.2 million, which has resulted in an estimated tax bill of nearly half a million dollars... The taxes due are up astronomically from the 2019 valuation of $272,000 for the two plats of property before the private wall was built... “I think it will help with future endeavors for people to understand that if they put up a structure like this they’ll be assessed taxes on it,” (Hidalgo County Judge Richard) Cortez said... If the private border wall is still...

An abortionist whose license was revoked in 2012 for providing phony mental health diagnoses that were used to justify otherwise illegal late-term abortions for George Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services abortion facility in Wichita, Kansas, will once again appear before the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts on December 11, 2014.This time, Ann Kristin Neuhaus faces the possibility of getting her medical license back after a county judge ruled earlier this year that the Board wrongly revoked Neuhaus’ license and ordered them to reconsider disciplinary measures.Neuhaus’ disciplinary case was based on a complaint filed in 2006 by Cheryl Sullenger, Senior...

On Wednesday of this week, January 8, 2014, we will mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. At the time of his death, many observed that he was irreplaceable. Certainly no one has replaced him. He was the great Christian public intellectual of the second half of the Twentieth Century. In a published tribute to him shortly after his death, I noted that he had begun his career as a liberal and was lionized by the liberal movement. But then something happened: Abortion. It became something it had never been before, namely, a contentious issue...

"...Idolatry attracts both wings of American politics: the right tends to confound the United States of America with the City of God, while the left makes an object of worship out of its utopian imagination..."

This is my closing address at the annual convention of the National Right to Life Committee held last week in Arlington, Virginia.Once again this year, the National Right to Life convention is partly a reunion of veterans from battles past and partly a youth rally of those recruited for the battles to come. And that is just what it should be. The pro-life movement that began in the 20th century laid the foundation for the pro-life movement of the 21st century. We have been at this a long time, and we are just getting started. All that has been...

Four Men In the space of less than six weeks, from mid-December to late January, four men died who played crucial roles in the shaping of American Catholicism as it stands today. The four were Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., the leading American Catholic theologian of the postconciliar era, who died December 12 at the age of 90; the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, the most visible American Catholic public intellectual of his day, who was 72 when he died January 8; Pio Cardinal Laghi, papal representative in the United States from 1980 to 1990, who was 86 at the time of...

From Christianity Today, an interview with noted Evangelical author Charles Colson, who has played an instrumental role, with Fr. Richard Neuhaus, in the "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" initiatives: How will Neuhaus' death affect Evangelicals and Catholics together? It's a terrible setback because Cardinal Avery Dulles died a month before Neuhaus died. It was like a double-barreled blow. They were the principal leaders on the Catholic side of the dialogue. In some respects, those are two giants of the faith that you can't replace. But God in his sovereignty, his providence, knows exactly what he's doing.The timing of Neuhaus's and Dulles's...

Whatever else it is, the pro-life movement of the last thirty-plus years is one of the most massive and sustained expressions of citizen participation in the history of the United States. Since the 1960s, citizen participation and the remoralizing of politics have been central goals of the left. Is it not odd, then, that the pro-life movement is viewed as a right-wing cause? Reinhold Niebuhr wrote about “the irony of American history” and, were he around to update his book of that title, I expect he might recognize this as one of the major ironies within the irony. These...

In New York City today, they crowded into the Church of the Immaculate Conception to bid farewell to Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. One of the people there was Fr. Frank Mann, of the Diocese of Brooklyn -- a friend and colleague of mine and, it turns out, a man who for many years had Neuhaus as his spiritual director. Frank slipped out after the homily (by Fr. Raymond de Souza) to give me a quick call and some early impressions of this remarkable event for a remarkable man. He talked, Frank said, with two Sisters of Life, Sr. Veronica Mary...

Fr. Richard Neuhaus could always be relied upon to honour his priestly vocation by stating the truth about difficult subjects for the benefit of both the spiritual and moral development of society. LifeSiteNews was privileged to interview this great man on several occasions. He never let us down in quickly getting right to the core with especially insightful comments on the difficult matters raised.Neuhaus’s empathy with the struggles of the ordinary person was very real and unforgettable. He was a great orator, a true, high level Catholic intellectual and yet still a most humble and always approachable man -...

Word from New York informs that, given the absence of the cardinal-archbishop, Gotham's lead vicar-general, Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Sullivan, will celebrate Tuesday's funeral Mass for Fr Richard John Neuhaus. Since his death yesterday, a torrent of tributes have abounded from Neuhaus' horde of devoted friends and admirers, joined by a very grateful press corps who mourn an infinitely supportive colleague, an ever-impeccable source -- and, of course, a ceaseless fountain of great copy. But of all these, the most heartfelt to surface comes from the beloved protege who'll preach at Tuesday's rites: Fr Raymond de Souza of the archdiocese...

***Programming note: On Friday January 9th, the World Over will feature a tribute to the life and legacy of Father Richard Neuhaus. George Weigel and Michael Novak will be our guests. We hope you'll join us in remembering this great man***Father Richard John Neuhaus has gone to the Lord. My heart breaks with so many of you who loved and respected Father Neuhaus. I feel privileged to have known him and to have had so many occasions to share broadcasts with him. His precise eye, deep faith, and unfailing eloquence in print and in speech will be sorely missed....

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR., NCR Staff Published: Jan. 8, 2009 Fr. Richard John Neuhaus: (CNS file photo, 2005)Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, a leading voice of Catholic conservatism in America, and one of those rare theologians and spiritual leaders whose influence vastly exceeded the boundaries of their religious community, has died at 72.Neuhaus slipped away Jan. 8, shortly before 10 o’clock Eastern time. He never recovered from the weakness that sent him to the hospital the day after Christmas, caused by a series of side effects from the cancer he was suffering. A priest of the New York archdiocese and...

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus slipped away today, January 8, shortly before 10 o’clock, at the age of seventy-two. He never recovered from the weakness that sent him to the hospital the day after Christmas, caused by a series of side effects from the cancer he was suffering. He lost consciousness Tuesday evening after a collapse in his heart rate, and the next day, in the company of friends, he died.

Tribute to Father Neuhaus -Peter Wehner The death of Father Neuhaus is a terrible blow. Not for him, who is now united with his Savior and his Redeemer, in whom Father Neuhaus placed all of his trust and all of his hope; but for us, who have lost one of America's leading public intellectuals, a man of profound wisdom and learning, and a great champion for the unborn. It was Father Neuhaus, along with his dear, long-time friend George Weigel and just a handful of others like Michael Novak, who not only championed the pro-life cause for so many years,...

The story of the modern social conservative movement is all about activism and politics, petitions and court cases, but Father Neuhaus’s great testament was about something grander: through those he inspired, through his writings, through his organizing, and through something as simple as connecting people over lunch who may share nothing in terms of what they can eat on the table but share greatly in what is unseen, Father Neuhaus fundamentally changed religious life in America forever.

Richard John Neuhaus, prominent Catholic priest and founder of the religion magazine First Things, died today after a short battle with cancer. He was 72. According to a note sent out by Joseph Bottum, editor of First Things, Father Neuhaus died shortly before 10 a.m. at Manhattan's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In a post on the First Things blog after Christmas, Bottum reported that Father Neuhaus was diagnosed with serious cancer over Thanksgiving. At the time he said the long-term prognosis was not good, but that the priest would be undergoing outpatient chemotherapy treatment. The day after Christmas, however, Father Neuhaus...

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus slipped away today, January 8, shortly before 10 o’clock, at the age of seventy-two. He never recovered from the weakness that sent him to the hospital the day after Christmas, caused by a series of side effects from the cancer he was suffering. He lost consciousness Tuesday evening after a collapse in his heart rate, and the next day, in the company of friends, he died.My tears are not for him—for he knew, all his life, that his Redeemer lives, and he has now been gathered by the Lord in whom he trusted.I weep, rather for...

His friends and family are keeping vigil and he was administered last rites shortly after midnight. Fr. George Rutler, who gave him the Catholic Sacrament, says that “he is not expected to live long” and suggests “that it is appropriate that prayers be offered for a holy death.” Fr. Neuhaus has come close to this moment before and been back. If it’s his time: Go in peace. He's a man who has loved and served His Lord. When he leaves this world, his vast intellectual and spiritual body of work will have a long life here....

(CNS) 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...