He Served God Powerfully   

I met WFB twice in my life, in 1970 and 1983. A remark of his on the first occasion was formative for me. Asked during a conversation with a group of YAFfers to differentiate the possession of nuclear arms by the U.S.S.R. from the possession of nuclear arms by the U.S., he replied: "You can push an old woman into the path of an oncoming bus. Or you can push an old woman out of the path of an oncoming bus. In both cases you are Pushing an Old Woman." That remark, and so many others in his writings and on "Firing Line," taught me that expressing important truths baldly and simply is a great public service. Communists murder people. Statism, even short of Communism, is theft, poverty, slavery, and boredom. Freedom is good. WFB taught me where to look for justice and real progress—almost never to the state, always to what makes men free. A faithful Catholic, WFB served God powerfully by making the case for these truths in a century when few clerics could or would.
Fr. Vincent Fitzpatrick, Fargo, North Dakota

03/02 10:23 PM