Cardinal Avery Dulles died this morning at the age of 90. America Magazine has the announcement
Cardinal Dulles was a brilliant theologian and more importantly, a kind a gentle man to all he would meet. I served mass with him as an acolyte during my time at Fordham many times and he had a very gentle nature about him and always had time for students and faculty alike.
One quick story: A Jesuit I know (Who I’ll keep anonymous for now) told me that he was doing his laundry in the Jesuit residence and an older Jesuit came in and sat next to him and started making small talk with him–the weather, maybe a news item, etc.
One of his then-scholastic classmates came in and saw this scene. When the older Jesuit got his laundry and left, the scholastic came running over and said to my Jesuit friend, “Wow! What were you too talking about?”
My friend replied, “Oh we were just chatting about the weather. He’s always in here when I’m here for some reason. He’s such a sweet old man.”
“Um, pal…that was Avery Dulles!”
My friend who tells the story so well replied, “So here I was talking to possibly the greatest theologian of the 20th Century…about…the…weather!”
Rest in peace, Cardinal Dulles. You will be missed.