What do the recently departed Richard John Neuahaus and the long gone Velvet Undergound have in common?Very little, of course.
The former was a leader of a movement that found and tilled the common ground shared among orthodox adherents to a variety of faiths, nurturing the role of religion in the public square. The latter played radical avant garde rock music at the margins of popular culture. Richard John Neuhaus spent the 1960s championing the rights of minorities, the poor, and other marginalized members of the human family, while also pastoring them and tending to their spiritual needs. The Velvet Underground spent the 1960s in the drug-induced haze of Andy Warhol's factory, and voicing the experiences of drug addicts and sexual deviants. Neuhaus remained -- and grew -- as an active spiritual and culture-shaping force into the 21st century. The Velvets burned out in the early 1970s. In fact, the differences between the Velvet Underground and Father Neuhaus are so stark, they could fill a small book...or perhaps even a large one.
And yet...
As I was thinking about what is very likely to be the enduring influence of Richard John Neuhaus beyond his death last Thursday, I found myself pondering something Brian Eno is said to have observed about the Velvet Underground. According to Eno, even though a relatively small number of people bought the Velvet Undergound's albums when they first appeared, most of those who did went on to form their own bands. This, according to Eno, explains the enormous influence of the band in the face of its utter lack of mass commercial success. In many ways, Richard John Neuhaus was something of an underground hero, providing the intellectual capital and spiritual inspiration for a virtual diaspora of like-minded brothers and sisters. I feel safe in saying that the spiritual children of Richard John Neuhaus are scattered to the four corners of the world, and surmising that wherever they may be, they are vibrantly engaged with the local culture.They carry with them - in their heads, in their souls, and quite possibly in large steamer trunks filled with his many books, journal articles, and columns - the rare wisdom, so fully and artfully expressed, of this rare man.
This is not to say that Neuhaus was obscure. He counseled presidents and popes, was regularly sought out by the mainstream media for his thoughts on a variety of topics, and traveled the globe speaking (and preaching) to diverse audiences in varied settings. Tributes to Neuhaus have poured in from the mighty and the marginal -- on White House letterhead and on unseen blogs (such as this). But his passing has not and will not elicit a fraction of the popular attention as Britney's latest dust up (or break down), or the NFL playoffs. Coverage of Father Richard's death pales in comparison even to that given, less than one year ago, to that of his friend William F. Buckley.
In April of last year, I attended Buckley's funeral mass at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral. Neuhaus concelebrated with Father George Rutler, among others (I was seated near the back next to the esteemed anti-theist Christopher Hitchens, who could have given lessons on the reverent singing of hymns to most of the professed believers in attendance). After the mass, I went over to say hello to Father Neuhaus, who was friendly and gracious. As we said our farewells, he turned to two young people (early 20s I am guessing) who were accompanying him and herded them (I assume) to a waiting car. One I surmised to be Nathaniel Peters, an assistant editor at the journal Neuhaus founded, First Things. Peters wrote a generous item about my book on the journal's blog about a year ago, and I regret not taking the occasion to thank him for it. I believe the young woman with them was Amanda Shaw, another assistant editor of the journal. As I think about Neuhaus, now and in the future, I will think also about those two young people and the incredible things they no doubt learned and experienced in the company Richard John Neuhaus. I have to say, I was (and perhaps still am) quite envious of them. I will wonder about (and watch for) what I hope will be their own profound contributions to our ongoing public discourse, contributions that will bear the influence and inspiration of their now late and lamented editor-in-chief.
Make no mistake: in my opinion, the artistic and cultural contributions of the Velvet Underground (whatever they may be) are like ant hills next to towering achievements of Richard John Neuhaus. I don't mean any offense in saying that -- former Velvet leader Lou Reed's album New York will always be on my personal Top 10 list. And I daresay that Reed's passing (which I hope will be many, many years from now) will elicit much more attention from the popular press than that of Father Richard.
But for those of my generation and younger who have an active interest in our culture-- and for those for whom rock and roll in all its many and diverse forms and styles still represents freedom and a full-bodied response to the chaos of a fallen world -- I hope this little comparison offers an opportunity to reflect upon the life and work of a man who was truly free, and who lived his life in filial service to something -- and Someone -- larger than himself.
That, my friends, is as radical as it gets.
At his very first campaign stop after the Democrat convention, Barack Obama told a large crowd in the small town of Beaver, Pennsylavnia that he wants to "fundamentally change America."
