The Cause for the Canonisation of John Henry Cardinal Newman

Thought for the Day 21 March 2010

NewmanCause — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:00:51 +0000

Now, let me ask, what is the real key, what is the Christian interpretation of this world? What is given us by revelation to estimate and measure this world by? The event of this season,—the Crucifixion of the Son of God.

From the sermon ‘The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World’ (1841) Click here for the full text (leaves site)

(Reference: John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons Vol 6 (1842) Sermon no. 7, p. 84)

Thought for the Day 20 March 2010

NewmanCause — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00:06 +0000

Under the shadow indeed of the Church, and in its due development, Philosophy does service to the cause of morality; but, when it is strong enough to have a will of its own, and is lifted up with an idea of its own importance, and attempts to form a theory, and to lay down a principle, and to carry out a system of ethics, and undertakes the moral education of the man, then it does but abet evils to which at first it seemed instinctively opposed.

From The Idea of a University Part I (1852) Click here for the full text (leaves site)

(Reference: John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated (1873), Part 1, Section 8, ‘Knowledge Viewed in relation to Religion’, p. 202)

Thought for the Day 19 March 2010

NewmanCause — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:01 +0000

Unbelievers call themselves rational; not because they decide by evidence, but because, after they have made their decision, they merely occupy themselves in sifting it.

From the sermon ‘Love the Safeguard of Faith against Superstition’ (1839) Click here for the full text (leaves site)

(Reference: John Henry Newman, Fifteen Sermon preached before the University of Oxford betweeen A.D. 1826 and 1843 (1843) No. 12, p. 230)

Thought for the Day 18 March 2010

NewmanCause — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:16 +0000

When [Christ] poured out His precious blood upon the Cross, it was not a man’s blood, though it belonged to His manhood, but blood full of power and virtue, instinct with life and grace, as issuing most mysteriously from Him who was the Creator of the world.

From the sermon ‘Christ, the Son of God made Man’ (1836) Click here for the full text (leaves site)

(Reference: John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons Vol 6 (1842) Sermon no. 5, p. 63)

Thought for the Day 17 March 2010

NewmanCause — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:36 +0000

From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery. As well can there be filial love without the fact of a father, as devotion without the fact of a Supreme Being. What I held in 1816, I held in 1833, and I hold in 1864. Please God, I shall hold it to the end.

From the Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864) Click here for the full text (leaves site)

(Reference: John Henry Newman, Apologia pro Vita Sua: being a History of his Religious Opinions (1865 Edition), Chapter 2, ‘History of My Religious Opinions from 1833 to 1839′, p. 49)

Attending the Beatification: information from the Cause

NewmanCause — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:18:32 +0000

Pope Benedict XVI (Credit: Getty Images)

Those outside the UK wishing to attend the Beatification should contact PAX Travel (London). To go to the PAX Travel website click here.

UK Catholics wishing to attend the Beatification will be able to arrange to do so through their dioceses.

Oratorian groups from outside the UK should click here for information about attending the beatification.

All other enquiries concerning attendance at the Beatification should be made to PAX Travel.

The website and phone service maintained by PAX Travel are available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Polish.

ORATORY CONFEDERATION WELCOMES PAPAL BEATIFICATION

NewmanCause — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:40:42 +0000

The Shrine of St Philip Neri, the Chiesa Nuova, Rome

The Oratorian Confederation has welcomed the announcement of Cardinal Newman’s Beatification in September 2010. Father Edoardo Cerrato, Procurator General of the Confederation, has written a letter to all the Congregations of the Oratory, which you can read here. Father Cerrato writes:

Newman belongs to those who seek the truth through the gift of human reason but illumined by the light of faith; and the Oratory of S. Philip, that counts Newman among its brothers, is profoundly aware of the great richness that, in Newman, has been given to her …

It is my sincere wish for the whole Oratorian family that the approaching Beatification of this great Son of S. Philip Neri and master of all those who are ’seeking an informed orientation and sure guidance amid the uncertainties of the modern world’ (Pope Paul VI), will be the occasion of a deeper – and fruitful – knowledge of his thought, and of the example left by his life.

NEWMAN TO BE BEATIFIED BY POPE BENEDICT XVI DURING HIS UK VISIT

NewmanCause — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:09:46 +0000

Pope Benedict XVI at a Canonisation Mass in Rome, October 11 2009 (Credit: Reuters)

It was announced this morning by the Holy See that Pope Benedict XVI will beatify John Henry Newman on 19th September 2010, during his visit to the U.K., in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. The Cause of Newman’s Canonisation has released the following statement:

The Fathers and many friends of the English Oratories are delighted by the official announcement that our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI will beatify our founder, the Venerable John Henry Newman, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham during his visit to Britain in September. Newman made his home in the Archdiocese for all his adult life, first in Oxford, where he lived as an Anglican and was received into the Catholic Church, and later in Birmingham itself where he founded and worked in the Birmingham Oratory for over forty years.

The Holy Father’s life-long devotion to Newman has made a profound contribution to understanding the depth and significance of our founder’s legacy. His decision to beatify Newman in person confers a unique blessing upon the English Oratories and all who have drawn inspiration from Newman’s life and work.

We joyfully look forward to welcoming the Holy Father, as well as the many pilgrims and visitors who will come to the Beatification ceremony and visit Newman’s shrine at the Birmingham Oratory.

We also look forward to the challenging work of preparing for the Beatification in conjunction with Church and civil authorities. We pray that the Beatification will fittingly reflect both Newman’s significance for the Universal Church and the honour paid to our Archdiocese and our country by the Holy Father’s presence among us.

Very Rev. Richard Duffield

Provost of the Birmingham Oratory
and Actor of the Cause of John Henry Newman

Want to be kept in touch about developments in Newman’s Cause with our daily updates? Join our mailing list.

Please make a donation to the Cause – we need your help at this important time.

Like to know more about Newman and Pope Benedict XVI? Click here to read Benedict’s important 1990 address, or here to see his recent address to the Bishops of England and Wales.

And … why not download our latest monthly calendar to put on your desktop?

Thought for the Day 16 March 2010

NewmanCause — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:42 +0000

They alone are able truly to enjoy this world, who begin with the world unseen. They alone enjoy it, who have first abstained from it. They alone can truly feast, who have first fasted; they alone are able to use the world, who have learned not to abuse it; they alone inherit it, who take it as a shadow of the world to come, and who for that world to come relinquish it.

From the sermon ‘The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World’ (1841) Click here for the full text (leaves site)

(Reference: John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons Vol 6 (1842) Sermon no. 7, p. 93)

Thought for the Day 15 March 2010

NewmanCause — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:49 +0000

Oh may we persevere to the end! Many fall away. Let us watch and pray. Let us not get secure. Let us not think it enough to have got through one temptation well; through our whole life we are on trial. When one temptation is over, another comes; and, perhaps, our having got through one well, will be the occasion of our falling under the next, if we be not on our guard; because it may make us secure and confident, as if we had already conquered, and were safe.

From the sermon ‘The Trial of Saul’ (1841) Click here for the full text (leaves site)

(Reference: John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons Vol 8 () Sermon no. 3, p. 45)