Avery Dulles is the son of former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. He graduated from Harvard in 1940, the same year he converted from agnosticism to Catholicism. He joined the Jesuits in 1946 and was ordained a priest in 1956.
A fine theologian and prolific writer, he was named a Cardinal in 2001 by John Paul II, as a kind of honor for his fine theological work. This is a rarity, since Dulles was not a bishop.
I have not read any of Dulles books, but I love reading his essays in America and First Things.
But now, at age ninety, ill health has caught up with him. He will no longer be giving the semi-annual McGinley Lecture at Fordham University. Here is his last one, given April 1st. The link below has a link to the lecture, and I left a comment. Under the link below I excerpted the last two paragraphs of his lecture.
America | The National Catholic Weekly – The Legacy of Avery Dulles, S.J.
As I approach the termination of my active life, I gratefully acknowledge that a benign providence has governed my days. The persons I have met, the places I have been, the things I have been asked to do, have all coalesced into a pattern, so that each stage of my life has prepared me for the next. My 20 years on the McGinley Chair have been a kind of climax, at least from my personal point of view. I often feel that there is no one on earth with whom I would want to exchange places. It has been a special privilege to serve in the Society of Jesus, a religious community specially dedicated to the Savior of the world.
The good life does not have to be an easy one, as our blessed Lord and the saints have taught us. Pope John Paul II in his later years used to say, “The Pope must suffer.” Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils, but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be accepted as elements of a full human existence. Well into my 90th year I have been able to work productively. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
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