<p>Avery Cardinal Dulles, the ONLY Jesuit Cardinal in the College of Cardinals, and prelate at Fordham University, nephew of John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles, has died. May he rest in Eternal Peace. He had a private audience with His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI last April in New York at St. Joseph's Seminary, attended by several Fordham students (including my D). Cardinal Dulles gave lectures through last spring until his illness caused him to go into medical seclusion. He was a prolific author on American Catholicism and theological issues. He was born and raised a Presbyterian but converted to Catholicism after World War II. He became one of the foremost leaders in American Catholic thought and was widely praised for his conservatism.</p>
<p>correction: he was the son of John Foster Dulles and the nephew of Allen Dulles. He was a former Presbyterian, who lost his faith and became agnostic at Harvard, then regained his faith and converted to Catholicism. He served as an intelligence officer in the war until stricken with polio. His polio went into remission and he entered the Society of Jesus in 1946, being ordained by Francis Cardinal Spellman (a Fordham graduate) in 1956. To my knowledge he is the only member of his extended Dulles family to convert to Catholicism.</p>