The Catholic Parish of
Saint John Henry Newman

 Covering most of East Leeds

Get to know our Parish Saint – Who was Cardinal Newman?

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

Episode 9 - A Second Spring: Newman and the renewal of Catholicism



The 1850s saw a tremendous growth of the Catholic Church both numerically and in confidence. In 1852 Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman convened a synod meeting at St. Mary's College in Oscott. It encouraged the need to develop a comprehensive education program for the poor, devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The bishops exhorted the laity to defend their rights in the face of continuing discrimination because of their Catholicism while resorting only to the revenge of praying for those who hated them. At the end of the synod, alluding to the death and rebirth of Catholicism in England, Newman preached a sermon in which he proclaimed: "The Winter is Now Past and there is the Coming of a Second Spring". Cardinal Wiseman was reduced to tears.

The late 1850s and 1860s saw a number of personal challenges for Newman.

Unsupported by the Irish Hierarchy, he had to step down from his position as Rector of the new Catholic University of Ireland. He was also forced to defend an attack on his personal integrity against Charles Kingsley who accused Newman of duplicity. The result was Newman's incredible autobiographical book Apologia pro Vita Sua.

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Next week: A Doctor of the Church? Newman's contribution to the modern Church




Published Sat 14th Sep 2019 07:44:11
Last Modified on Sat 14th Sep 2019 07:53:45

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