Michael Novak loved the Catholic Church and the United States passionately. And with his death at 83, both Church and nation have lost one of their most imaginative and accomplished sons: a groundbreaking theorist in philosophy, social ethics, religious studies, ethnic studies, and economics; a brilliant teacher; a winsome journalist and apologist; a great defender of freedom, as both ambassador and polemicist; a man of striking energy and creativity, some of whose books will be read for a very long time to come, and in multiple languages.
In his last weeks, however, my thoughts turned, not to Michael's scholarly and literary accomplishments, which others will celebrate, I'm sure. Rather, I thought of the man I knew for almost three and a half decades, and with whom I shared various adventures. Some of them, recollected here, may shed light on aspects of his character that might have escaped the attention of his admirers, as they certainly escaped the attention of his detractors.
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