In our seventh instalment of Newman's life, we examine Newman's crisis of faith..

Episode 7 - A mixed reception: Newman as a new Catholic

Newman's conversion to Catholicism had huge personal consequences. He lost most of his friends from the Church of England, and he was ostracised even by members of his family. He lost in an instant the standing he had built up as a fellow at Oxford. He would later describe how the trials of this period moved him more completely to surrender his life to God.

In 1848 Newman established the first Oratory of St. Philip Neri in the English-speaking world at Maryvale near Birmingham. The year after that, the community moved nearer the town centre where a disused gin distillery was converted into a chapel. Meanwhile, Newman founded a second Oratorian house in London, sending several members of the community there, led by Frederick William Faber. In 1852, the Birmingham community moved to its present home in Edgbaston.

In these years, Newman began to address those who had formerly been involved in the Oxford Movement to convince them that they, too, belonged in the Catholic Church.