Chuck Colson near death; prayers requested

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Apr 18, 2012

The leaders of Prison Fellowship Ministries have put out an urgent call for prayers for their founder, Chuck Colson, who is apparently nearing the end of his remarkable life. Colson, who is 80 years old, was hospitalized earlier this month with a brain hemorrhage.

A White House staff member during the Nixon administration who reveled in hardball politics, Colson served a prison term for obstruction of justice in connection with the Watergate scandal. Having embraced Christianity shortly before he was jailed, Colson emerged from prison as an ardent advocate of prison reform and an even more ardent public advocate of the Gospel. An active participant in ecumenical ventures, he teamed with the late Father Richard John Neuhaus to produce the book, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, and the movement that bears the same name. He also helped to draft the Manhattan Declaration. In 1993 he was awarded the Templeton Prize.