Charlie passionately wanted to reach and save the Lost Boys of the West, the young men who feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith, no reason to live...the men wasting their lives on distractions and consumed with resentment, anger and hate. Charlie wanted to help them....My husband Charlie. He wanted to save young men, like the one who took his life. That young man. That young man on the cross. Our Savior said "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." That man. That young man. I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did in his. What Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love.
Erika Kirk Sept 21, 2025 At memorial for her husband Charlie.
We are in revival. Again. All are invited. Some will come. Most are unaware. Many are critical, resentful, condescending. I am in!
Today's memorial for Charlie Kirk, (after words less nasty than his norm from Miller), was pure Revival. It was not just an extended eulogy. It was not a political rally. Rubio, Hegseth, Robert Kennedy and Vance were all expressions of love for their friend but even more so clear, passionate witnesses to the the love of God in Christ, for all of us!
Rubio was at his very best: Hispanic Catholic sounding like Billy Graham. Hegseth, Secretary for the Department of War, speaking eloquently and sincerely about love. Perhaps most striking: Kennedy, son and nephew of slain Democrat hero-leaders, now gathered with Republicans (!?!) to honor a similar young leader! Vance stepped up a notch and was clearly influenced by Kirk to move beyond tribalism to genuine national leadership.
Erika was the high point. Passionately emotional in a feminine way, she was composed, articulate, clear and passionate: about love of Christ, love of family, love of each other. When she spoke of Charlie's love for young men, she included his assassin, Tyler Robinson, "that young man." You will notice grammatically she conflated "that young man," initially meaning Tyler, with "that young man on the cross," meaning Jesus, crucified and forgiving. In her mind, she was conflating Jesus and Charlie and Tyler. Those few words might be the most beautiful, inspired and inspiring, I have heard in any speech in my entire life. She expressed nothing but love, for Charlie, for Christ, for her family, for her country. No mention of MAGA, of politics, of culture war.
We watched it on CNN. Their coverage was appreciative and reverent. There was an Afro-American conservative and a few seemingly-moderate-liberals. Their comments were correct, appreciative, respectful. These progressives were participating in the mourning and honoring of a political opponent. Very impressive! Peace prevailed.
It was classic Billy-Graham-style, middle America, Evangelical revival: God, Family, Country.
As an urban, ethnic, working class Catholic, it was not exactly my flavor. But as a charismatic-evangelical Catholic it was. I am in!
We Catholic don't talk "Revival!" We do missions, retreats and renewal. I will assume revival and renewal are almost synonymous. I know a lot about revival/renewal. I was born and raised in the Great Protestant/Catholic Revival after the war.
We were praying the Family Rosary of Father Patrick Peyton. The nine of us prayed 5 decades, and about 25 intentions afterwards, with our parents every night. At that same time Fulton Sheen on the Catholic side and Billy Graham on the Evangelical were spearheading Revival. In a lower key, more intellectual, but close to revival, was a Catholic renaissance in literature fueled by Sheed and Ward and the availability of inexpensive but outstanding Catholic literature of an impressive litany of outstanding thinkers (Chesterton, Knox, Dawson, Houselander, Connolly, etc.)
In my adolescence, 1960s, we were all swept up in the multiple, converging renewals that flowed into the Council: ecumenical, biblical, liturgical, lay activist, return to sources, dialogue with culture, etc.
In the 1970s we saw the pro-life movement, the Jesus Movement and the Charismatic Movement across the Churches.
In these same decades our society benefited from a series of secular political-cultural movements which drew from religious sources to renewal the broader society. These were analogous to revivals: labor movement, civil rights, farm workers, anti-war.
Through these decades, the most deeply spiritual but not explicitly religious "revival" was spreading quietly, underground, anonymously: the 12-steps of the Anonymous Groups. These united compulsives across all religions and social groupings in their shared, desperate need of help from above and support from each other.
Over the last 50 years or so, revival has enflamed randomly, unpredictably: Evangelical-Catholic fraternity, home schooling, lay renewal movements, new religious orders, flourishing of "deep Catholic" schools, the theological legacy of John Paul and Benedict, devotion to Divine Mercy, Marian piety, The Latin Mass.
You see I have had the best of both worlds. On the one hand "based": rooted steadily in the rock-solid institutional Catholic Church, within a close extended and immediate family, within a constitutional democracy and a world order mostly at peace and thriving through free markets. On the other hand, moving fluidly in the currents of revival/reform, one after another, like an eagle soaring with wings full, moved by currents of wind.
This morning I read Peggy Noonan's recent article in the Wall Street Journal and then I heard her concern repeated on phone calls with my son and son-in-law: with this death, the times are turning dark; on both sides, hysteria and rage are flaming. I live in my little world and do not presume to take the pulse of the nation. But my view: an event like this provokes the bad and the good. The fear and hatred may well be increasing. But on the other hand, the memorial for Kirk today can only move both sides to reconcile. The example of Charlie will inflame love of God/Family/Country but also in a way that engages respectfully the opposition.
We are in Revival!
Keep your eyes on Erika Kirk and Turning Point USA!
Let's pray especially for our young men, including Tyler Robinson!
I never saw a revival or a renewal I did not like!
I am in!
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