Charlie Kirk “died with incomplete work, but not with unfinished business,” his wife, Erika Kirk, said at a memorial service on Sept. 21 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
“He wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,” Erika said, adding, “That young man, I forgive him.”
Erika Kirk, who was named Turning Point USA’s CEO after her husband’s death, said she felt “a level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed” but that “God’s love continued to be revealed to me in the days that followed.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said. “The answer, we know from the Gospel, is love. It’s always love.”
Thousands gathered at a memorial service for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. on Sept. 21.
Charlie Kirk was killed Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem. After his death, he received praise from political allies for his willingness to debate and his advocacy for their cause. In discussions about his legacy, his critics pointed to his political rhetoric on issues including race, persons experiencing same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria, and immigrants.
“After Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence, we didn’t see rioting, we didn’t see revolution,” she said. “Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country. We saw revival.”
Erika Kirk urged those in attendance to embrace what she called a Christian understanding of “true manhood” because she said her husband, an evangelical Christian, was passionate about reaching “lost boys.”
“Please be a leader worth following,” she said. “Your wife is not your servant, your wife is not your employee. Your wife is not your slave. She is your helper. You are not rivals. You are one flesh, working together for the glory of God.”
She also urged women to “be virtuous.”
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance also spoke at the memorial
Two days before the memorial service, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said Charlie Kirk was “a modern-day St. Paul … He was a missionary, he’s an evangelist, he’s a hero,” he said.
“He’s one, I think, who knew what Jesus meant when he said, ‘The truth will set you free,’” Cardinal Dolan said in an appearance Sept. 19 on “Fox & Friends.”
Cardinal Dolan acknowledged that he was not familiar with Kirk before learning the “tragic news” of Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, followed by an “overwhelming sense of sorrow and kind of renewal.”
“I thought, ‘I’ve got to learn about this guy,’ and the more I learned about him, I thought, ‘this guy’s a modern-day St. Paul,’” Cardinal Dolan said. “Now I understand he was pretty blunt and he was pretty direct. He didn’t try to avoid any controversy; he didn’t even try to avoid confrontation,” he said.
But the “way, the mode, the style” he used to engage people in debate was “always with respect and not only was that a gracious, kind of virtuous thing to do, it’s effective. … I thought this guy can teach us something.”
Cardinal Dolan: Kirk was ‘modern-day St. Paul’
NEW YORK — Charlie Kirk was “a modern-day St. Paul,” New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said in a Sept. 19 appearance on “Fox & Friends.” “He was a missionary, he’s an evangelist, he’s a hero,” he said.
“He’s one, I think, who knew what Jesus meant when he said, ‘The truth will set you free.’”
Cardinal Dolan acknowledged that he was not familiar with Kirk before learning the “tragic news” of Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, followed by an “overwhelming sense of sorrow and kind of renewal.”
“I thought, ‘I’ve got to learn about this guy,’ and the more I learned about him, I thought, ‘this guy’s a modern-day St. Paul,’” Cardinal Dolan said. “Now I understand he was pretty blunt and he was pretty direct. He didn’t try to avoid any controversy; he didn’t even try to avoid confrontation,” he said.
But the “way, the mode, the style” he used to engage people in debate was “always with respect and not only was that a gracious, kind of virtuous thing to do, it’s effective. … I thought this guy can teach us something.”
— OSV News
