The purpose of the Newman Association of America is to encourage research, to disseminate knowledge of the life, writing, and influence of John Henry Newman, and to contribute in various ways to the cause of his canonization. In accordance with these purposes, the Association conducts an annual National Newman Conference, where Newman scholars present their research on the life, philosophy, and faith of John Henry Newman. Membership is open to anyone interested in the aims of the Association. The annual membership donation is $25, and includes a subscription to the Association’s tri-annual publication, "The Newman Newsletter." The Association is governed by a Board of Directors.
Who is John Henry Newman?
In view of his very considerable contributions to the church, you may have heard of the Englishman John Henry Newman (1801–1890). He was ordained in the Anglican Church at age 23, but at age 44 converted to the Roman Catholic Church. He studied for the priesthood in Rome, and became a member of a religious community, The Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Newman was made a cardinal at the age of 79.
John Henry Newman on the Laity
"I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know what they hold, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold, and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity…”
The Work of Newman
Born in London in 1801, Newman was educated at Ealing and continued his studies at Oxford. Following graduation, he participated in the Tractarian, or Oxford, Movement, which was an attempt to reform the Church of England from secular and governmental influences.
He wrote the scholarly work entitled The Arians of the Fourth Century (1833) after studying the history of the early church and the church fathers. Among other things, this work relates how the laity in the Fourth century resisted heresy, and unlike many of the bishops, were steadfast in their faith in the divinity and humanity of Jesus. This work and others, especially “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine” (1859), show Newman’s lifelong concern for the role of the laity in the church.
His Development of Christian Doctrine (1845) illustrates how doctrine develops over time. It demonstrates the continuity of teachings within the development of the Roman Catholic Church from the time of the church of the Apostles.
Newman began work in education as a fellow and tutor at Oxford University. His theory of higher education, The Idea of a University (1852), resulted from the request of the bishops of Ireland, sanctioned by the Pope, that Newman establish the Catholic University of Ireland in Dublin. He presided over the Catholic University of Ireland for seven years, and later founded the Birmingham Oratory School for Boys.
In Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864), Newman's autobiography and probably his most famous work, he defended himself and fellow Roman Catholic clergy against the charge by an Anglican clergyman of being disingenuous with truth. The great acceptance of the Apologia by the English public restored Newman’s reputation and his influence in English society.
Newman’s lifelong interest in the relationship between faith and reason is reflected in his Fifteen Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford (1843), and especially in his An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870), completed at age 69, which demonstrates how the human mind can reach religious certitude.
He also authored two novels, Loss and Gain (1848) and Callista (1855), both stories of conversion to Christianity.
The Influence of Newman
In 1893, just three years after the death of Cardinal Newman, the first Newman Club was established in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania. Its mission was to minister to Catholic students who attend secular and non-Catholic colleges and universities.
In 1991, Pope John Paul II declared Cardinal Newman to be “Venerable,” that is, worthy of reverence, in recognition of his having practiced the virtues to a heroic degree.
John Henry Newman is an exemplar of “holiness in life.” He believed that proper higher education would add to, not detract from, the religious faith of the learner. His holiness in life is a wonderful example of practicing what he believed and preached. For these reasons, we believe that today’s college students and teachers, as well as tomorrow’s, will benefit from making the acquaintance of John Henry Newman.
John Henry Newman on Education
"It is the education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant. It prepares him to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility. It shows him how to accommodate himself to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding with them, how to bear with them. He is at home in any society, he has common ground with every class; he knows when to speak and when to be silent; he is able to converse, he is able to listen; he can ask a question pertinently, and gain a lesson seasonably, when he has nothing to impart himself; he is ever ready, yet never in the way; he is a pleasant companion, and a comrade you can depend upon; he knows when to be serious and when to trifle, and he has a sure tact which enables him to trifle with gracefulness and to be serious with effect. He has the repose of a mind which lives in itself, while it lives in the world and which has resources for its happiness at home when it cannot go abroad. He has a gift which serves him in public, and supports him in retirement, without which good fortune is but vulgar, and with which failure and disappointment have a charm. The art which tends to make a man all this is in the object which it pursues as useful as the art of wealth or the art of health, though it is less susceptible of method, and less tangible, less certain, less complete in its result.”