How does his figure relate to ordinary people unfamiliar with philosophical or theological matters?
John Henry Newman, commonly known as Cardinal Newman among Catholics, is renowned for his conversion and acclaimed as one of most brilliant minds in the 19th century. A prolific writer on theology, philosophy and education. In fact, a true man of letters -a humanist in the full sense of the word.
These intellectual features have placed him among the most influential modern Catholic philosophers and theologians. Yet the notability of his figure cannot be not reduced to the clarity of his thought; His human greatness lies also in his great love of God and his giant heart to love others.
Father Ian T. Ker [1] is regarded as the most knowledgeable scholar on the life and work of the Cardinal, with over 20 books at his credit in which he digs into his vast production. In an interview for HUMANITAS REVIEW [2], Father Ker talked about the life of Blessed Newman, how popular devotion has expanded worldwide, how his thought transcends to this day.
The Name of Newman resounds mostly for his conversion and intellectual achievements, especially among well educated people. But how does his figure relate to ordinary people unfamiliar with philosophical or theological matters?
Father Ker: There is clearly more and more scholarly interest in him and his thought, but there is also a growing attraction to him among regular people. I see that in my parish church, where there is a bust of Newman and people habitually come pray to him. In their case, it is not his scholarly work what has drawn them to him but the sanctity of his life. Each day more Catholics hear about his life and discover that he was hit by suffering in every possible way; illnesses, misunderstandings, distrust, opposition and conflict –both from Anglicans and his fellow Catholics- the loss of friends, family and familiar places. Those who are suffering may relate to someone who went through something similar, despite the different realities, because they know they are addressing someone who will understand their grief. This is one of the most powerful reasons that turns people to Newman. And so you start discovering that this is what makes them come close to Newman, not his exceptional theological wisdom.
His name, and figure, has turned out to be better known in the last few years, but what can be said about the currency of the sanctity a 19th c. oratorian priest in our days?
Father Ker: The beatification made a big change. Since then his recognition as a saint has certainly increased in Britain, but surprisingly there is a much greater devotion to him in other places -the United States for example. Yet, his devotion is not a thriving one in Birmingham, which indeed is not strange, since the veneration to him is not different from the one that Saint Thomas Aquinas may have had in his day.
His place among the saints is growing but he will never be a popular figure such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta or other more universal saints. However, there has always been a great recognition of Newman’s sanctity among English Catholics. He was already considered very holy in his lifetime, by both Catholics and non-Catholics, and when he died thousands of people lined up on the streets for hours to say their last goodbye by his coffin. It was a national loss, and so people of all social ranks and ways of life showed their respects to him.
As for the extension of the devotion, something similar may happen with the Chesterton [3] cause, and I mention him here because, rather like Newman, there is no local cult, but a mere interest in his writings, but that is not the case in other places, where there is a proper devotion to him.
There is a tendency to think of Newman as an English saint for the Anglo-speaking world, but saints are meant to be universal in their spirit. How does he adjust to a model of sanctity for the universality of the Catholic Church?
Father Ker: The increasing interest for his theological achievement worldwide speaks of the universality of his thought. Nowadays, there are Newman societies in many parts of the world, in America, France, Italy, Australia, Spain and even in Argentina, and some which hold regular conferences to deepen in his ideas as in his spirituality. The trouble is that in many intellectual contexts he has become an authoritative author whose works have become the object of scholarly study, but these are largely academics writing their theses or books and do not do much praying.
But here we go back to Newman as an intellectual again, whose theological and philosophical work is quite out of reach for most Catholics. The same as for his language which may be very difficult for ordinary lay believers.
Father Ker: Not really. No one could be clearer than Newman! He never uses jargon. He is not difficult in that way. The only difficulty is the Victorian prose since today we are not used to sentences more than half a dozen words, while he writes in sentences that are rather longer than what people would be used to today.
But in spite of this, he is a very clear writer. Nothing like reading Karl Rahner, for instance who is truly difficult! He does use a few words of his own, like ‘illative sense’ but there is no jargon in his writings, he was not pretentious in the way he wrote; he just did as people of his day did. There are not difficulties of that sort.
Newman The Pastor
Every saint has a particular charisma, something that makes them unique. What may be said to be Newman’s charisma, his uniqueness?
Father Ker: Newman was a charismatic person himself who stood out in many ways, although he always tried to keep a low profile. He became the natural leader of the Oxford movement, not because he was appointed or anything of the kind, simply because he had a very attractive personality; he was credible and consistent. He had a brilliant mind and a big heart which combined great sensibility, with great toughness- if that's the right word. This great interior strength enabled him to face so many oppositions and conflicts in his life.
There is another side to Newman’s life which is less known than his intellectual activity, that is his pastoral ministry.
Father Ker: His pastoral ministry was an absolute priority for him. All he did in Oxford and later on as a Catholic priest was for the sake of souls. He did not pursue the academia for the sake of being a learned scholar, but for the care of souls, everything he wrote was for the care of souls. A large part of his work is the collections of sermons he gave along his life to very diverse audiences. This dimension cannot be left aside since it explains all his activity. From a young age he felt the call of God to care for the souls, he even considered going on a mission, but his poor health would not allow him.
We often set him in the Oxford university context, dealing with high middle class student and academics, but we do not portray him as a parish priest in rural settings and working class areas. This dimension does not seem to be equally known.
Father Ker: It is quite well known by those who know more about him. He served as an Anglican deacon in the small rural parish of St Clement's Oxford, which contrasted with the selected audience he had in St. Mary’s. While he was there he visited all the families of the village and spent long hours teaching the catechism to children and tending the sick. Something similar happened later on when he moved to Littlemore. After being ordained he set up and Oratory in Birmingham, which started off in in Ulster Street, right in the center, where he worked very poor people, mainly Irish immigrants, who would not be very well washed. Today we would think of the place as being a third world slum.
Later on, the Oratorian Congregation moved out to Edgebaston, which was a less deprived and more like middle class area. Even so, when a plague hit in the Midlands, he offered himself to go wherever he was needed to serve as a priest, but the epidemic was over before he could go, but he still took his turn in a Birmingham mortuary. He knew he could have lost his life up there. In this sense he was not a priest of high thought within a university or a seminary, but he was always there in a pastoral setting.
His Thought and Work
It has been suggested that the same as St. Thomas’ Summa was present at the Council of Trent, Newman’s work was present in the second Vatican council. Would this be a valid analogy?
Father Ker: The content of the Summa was certainly at the heart of the Council of Trent, as it served as the bases for the definition of the dogmas. So although Saint Thomas was absent he was somehow present as well. Likewise with Newman who was naturally absent from the Vatican II, but whose work was very much there. In his case, his theological development was largely derived from the Fathers of the Church, so if we were to make the analogy, the presence of the Summa in Trent would come to pair the works of the Fathers in the Vatican II.
I have long held that Cardinal Newman may well be the equivalent of what Saint Robert Bellarmine was for the post Tridentate era. The same as Bellarmine is considered Doctor of the Church in relation to the Council of Trent, Newman is going to be seen as the Doctor of the Church in connection to the Second Vatican Council. He may well be regarded as a key figure into the understanding the Vatican II and as the theologian par excellence in the post conciliar period. I think this assumption has been the main interest of my book Newman on Vatican II among students, general readers and in the reviews that have been made.
At the time of the beatification many Christians wondered what made him worth of the beatification if he ‘had done nothing’. They questioned his merit to deserve such a high recognition of the Catholic Church?
Father Ker: Well, he wrote books! Notable books on a wide variety of subjects! Out of which several have become classics by now. His writings made an enormous theological contribution to the catholic doctrine bringing new lights to aspects of the Catholicism that had not been developed earlier. He expanded the knowledge we have today of the doctrine, the church, the faith, that is why he is very likely to be made Doctor of the Church after being canonized. And through his writings he has worked many miracles of another nature; hundreds of people, all over the world have converted by reading Newman, and that reveals a great deal of sanctity.
The Canonization
At the time of the beatification there were many apprehensions about him. How has that changed and what shall we find now that he is better regarded as a saint?
Father Ker: The attitude towards Newman since the beatification has changed largely, so the canonization is not likely to find as much opposition as in the beatification. Little was known about him then, but now the holiness of his life has become more evident and also because a closer connection of the English with Newman has grown.
Certainly the claims of his homosexual condition, which caused so much noise at the time of the beatification, have been clearly ruled out, since in his autobiographical writings you can find many passages that have proved the opposite. The collection of these extracts have been conclusive to prove that he was entirely heterosexual. There you will find some material for anyone who may bring up the issue again.
We hear that the canonization process is going well. At what stage is he at now?
Father Ker: The beatification turned the tide of a more global devotion to Newman, and opened up things a lot and especially when people learnt about his miracle. Until a decade or so he had not worked any miracles, or at least there were no miracles that we knew of. The first one came after a TV program on EWTM and Jack Sullivan, who was watching that interview in Massachusetts, decided to start praying to Newman about a severe spinal condition and was healed miraculously. Jack, who is a deacon today, was deeply influenced by Newman’s many sufferings in his life. Eventually his case served as the miracle for the beatification.
And now there has been a second well documented miracle which I gather has been approved by the medical panel of the congregation for Saints in Rome*. This is the case of a lady in Chicago who was also healed after praying to Newman as a result of a TV program in which I was being interviewed. In her case, unlike Sullivan, she was influenced by what I said about Newman not being in an academic ivory tower but by being grounded in pastoral realities.
