Ora Pro Nobis!
by Stanley Popovich in News on Monday, September 27, 2010 6:00 AM
We were about 40 participants in the official U.S. pilgrimage to the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman—and when we landed at London’s Heathrow airport last week, we were all so very excited!
The pilgrimage sponsored by The Cardinal Newman Society included two American bishops, a Catholic university president and others from across the United States. Our mission was to trace the remarkable faith journey of John Henry Cardinal Newman in England, and to attend his beatification by Pope Benedict XVI.
Preserving a Legacy
Thanks to the Birmingham Oratory, established by Newman and where he died in 1890, this was a very special pilgrimage. It had been planned in part to help promote the $1 million campaign for the Society’s Newman Legacy Project, including funds to secure and preserve Newman’s handwritten manuscripts which remain in Birmingham. As guests of the Oratory and the Cause for Newman’s Canonization, the pilgrimage included priority seating at the beatification and an exclusive tour of Newman’s rooms and archive at the Oratory.
Upon arriving in London we traveled to Oxford University, where Newman gained prominence as a student and fellow. He was a leader of the Tractarian Movement (also known as the Oxford Movement) to defend the Catholic roots of the Church of England, but found himself under attack from those who viewed the Anglican Church as part of the Protestant Reformation.
Following Footsteps
Later as a Catholic, one of Newman’s great hopes was to establish an Oratory at Oxford. It didn’t happen during his lifetime, but today the Oratory is thriving, and our pilgrims had the special opportunity to participate in a private Mass with the Oratory’s Provost, Father Robert Byrne. We also took in some food and the atmosphere at the Eagle and Child pub where J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and others gathered under the club name “Inklings.”
Meanwhile our prayers for the Holy Father’s safe travels were answered, as he arrived immediately afterward in Scotland to meet with Queen Elizabeth II at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland, near the remains of the famous medieval Holyrood Abbey. According to legend, Scottish King David I built the Dominican monastery after he had a vision of a stag with a cross, or “rood”, between his antlers.
As for our own journey, the pilgrims next followed Newman’s path to the Truth by visiting Littlemore, where Newman wrote his “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine” in 1845 and was received into the Catholic Church by Blessed Dominic Barberi. To become a Catholic, Newman gave up a lifetime prestigious position at Oxford, many of his friendships, and a life of relative ease.
Even so, the newly Catholic Newman could have found an easier life than establishing an Oratory in a poor neighborhood of Birmingham and caring for souls there. Our pilgrimage took us next to the Birmingham Oratory, where we were treated to a very special tour of Newman’s room and library. Thanks to the outstanding apostolate Corpus Christi Watershed, I invite you to share in our experience of visiting the Oratory by viewing our short videos at our website. To see an original handwritten version of Newman’s famous Tract 90, and his many letters to family and colleagues, was simply overwhelming.
What We Came For
The highlight of the pilgrimage, of course, was Newman’s beatification in Birmingham. Despite persistent rain for most of the morning, the crowd was jubilant when Pope Benedict arrived—and the clouds lifted, with a bit of a rainbow over the hill of beautiful Cofton Park. The Mass itself was sobering: with reverence and focused attention on the seriousness of the moment, the Holy Father declared Newman “blessed” and referred to him as a doctor of the Church. We can only pray that the title will become official when a second miracle is approved and Newman is canonized.
In his homily, the Holy Father emphasized Newman’s important thought on Catholic education, which made my heart sing given the mission of The Cardinal Newman Society to help renew Catholic higher education.
Firmly opposed to any reductive or utilitarian approach, he [Newman] sought to achieve an educational environment in which intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come together. …I pray that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets before us.
My eyes welled up with tears. This was why we came thousands of miles to Birmingham: to see Newman beatified, and to pray that his vision would help renew the Church in fidelity and love for Christ, and by the reunion of faith and reason.
After the pilgrims returned to the United States, I stayed behind a few days to return to Newman’s home at the Birmingham Oratory. There remains so much work to do, most urgently the building of an archive to house Newman’s precious writings—more than 10,000 documents, thanks to Newman’s habit of making handwritten copies of his many sermons, lectures, letters, and more. With a lead gift of $100,000 by a California couple, I look to the task with great hope that others will come forward knowing of Newman’s great importance to the Church today.
Cardinal Newman, ora pro nobis!
—Patrick J. Reilly is President and founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, a national organization to help renew and strengthen Catholic higher education.
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