New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan has been getting flack for comparing Charlie Kirk to St. Paul. If you are incensed at him for this, you may be missing the point of saints or even Christianity itself.
Dolan, not unusual for someone of his age and habits, admitted he did not know who Kirk was until he was murdered. He saw the "overwhelming sense of sorrow" and hints of "renewal" in the outpouring of love for Kirk after he was shot and killed. On "Fox and Friends" days later, Dolan said "The more I learned about him, I thought: This guy's a modern-day Saint Paul. He was a missionary, he's an evangelist, he's a hero. ... "He's one I think that knew what Jesus meant when he said, 'The truth will set you free.'"
The cardinal acknowledged that Kirk "was pretty blunt and he was pretty direct," and "didn't try to avoid controversy or confrontation," but that it was his "style" that made the difference. He received his opponents "always with respect," Dolan said. "I thought, 'This guy can teach us something.'"
And teaching is what Kirk was doing. On his campus tours, he encouraged young people to make an argument for their views and tell him why he was wrong. If you watch so many of his videos, you see the same thing: Kirk being not only respectful but encouraging.
How many of us, in our everyday lives, can be totally transactional in our human encounters? Kirk's fundraising numbers might have gone through the roof if he simply sought to "own the libs" on college campuses and excoriated students as brainwashed woke scolds, incapable of thinking for themselves. Instead, he saw people made in the image and likeness of God, worthy of love and consideration.
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They say that St. Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, had a temper. St. Catherine of Siena probably could have afforded to eat more, especially toward the end of her life. St. Thomas Aquinas, depending on who you believe, perhaps, could have eaten less. Saints are not necessarily perfect. But they do live lives of virtue. It's something accessible to all, with God's grace. And it's something all Christians are called to. That is one of the things the Second Vatican Council is known for emphasizing: holiness as a universal call.
The life of St. Paul makes a point about transformation. He went from persecuting Christians to being Christianity's relentless voice. You don't have to examine every moment of his life to see if Kirk measured up to Paul, post-conversion. Seeing Kirk in action on campuses reminds me of Paul on the Areopagus in Athens. Some would listen and change their lives when he spoke on his travels. Others would reject him. He would, in fact, be killed for doing what he did and professing what he professed. You don't have to canonize Kirk -- who wasn't a Catholic, despite rumors -- to see the similarities.
Rather than get caught up in the politics of it all, Dolan focused on the lesson of Kirk's life: Live it well. Live it with self-sacrificial love. He may not have been Mother Teresa, or even St. Paul, but he was Charlie Kirk. And that was a blessing to his family and to the world. And may he continue to be so, even now.
(Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book "A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan's pro-life commission in New York, and is on the board of the University of Mary. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.)
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