Update: Fr. Richard John Neuhaus died this morning.

Tom and I were both devotees of his magazine, First Things. I started reading it in 1997, though I didn't subscribe: I enjoyed going to Barnes and Noble, picking it up, and spending a leisurely couple of hours in their coffee lounge (though I don't drink coffee) digesting it. It was the only magazine that I read where I read the back section first - that was where Fr. Neuhaus' musings were compiled into a section called 'While We're At It'. He was insightful and slyly witty, and writing was a joy to read. His book, Death On A Friday Afternoon, a meditation on the words of Christ from the cross, is one of the few books I've read multiple times (along with Chesterton's The Everlasting Man and Pat Conroy's The Lords of Discipline).

Go on over to the First Things site, and read Fr. Neuhaus' 2000 article on death, which is posted on the home page just underneath the announcement of his passing.