One More Caught in the Dragnet
We’re delighted when something that appeared in the NOR elicits a response from another periodical. Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) has come up with an editorial (April 15) pertaining to our January article on Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’s treatment of Hell, which we entitled “If Everyone Is Saved…: Why Bother?” Among other things, the NOR article documented Fr. Neuhaus’s support for universal salvation (the view that everyone goes to Heaven).
OSV charges that the NOR “vilified” Neuhaus. To vilify is to make vicious and defamatory statements, and defamatory statements are by definition false statements. This is a heavy accusation, but, not surprisingly, OSV offers no example of a defamatory or vicious statement made by the NOR.
OSV’s editorial, which roams this way and that in its attempt to defend Neuhaus, finally makes this startling declaration about the consequences of the Resurrection of Jesus: “Instead of dying, never to rise again, we can rise, never to die again” (italics added).
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I fantasize that some contemporary Nathan the Prophet might chat with the President, not about sins like adultery and murder but about social sins. I’m afraid a Catholic bishop would not be right for the part.