Newman's Biographer on His Subject's Orthodoxy and Sexuality

The Times (UK) ^ | 5/25/10 | Ian Ker and Ruth Gledhill

[marshmallow]

Recently at thetimes.co.uk we published a page lead on the battle for the soul of Cardinal John Henry Newman, a theme picked up this week by Mercator. Newman is one whose intercession I am invoking today for the success of our new paywall. Many quotes from Newman come in handy at times such as this. 'Let us act on what we have, since we have not what we wish,' 'Ability is sexless,' 'To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant' and 'Courage does not consist in calculation, but in fighting against chances,' to mention just a few.

We also ran a story about issues at the Birmingham Oratory which have seen the provost step down to go on retreat along. Three other members of the community have also gone on retreat, all to different monasteries.

I am honoured today to have Newman's biographer and the Oxford theologian Father Ian Ker write for Articles of Faith on the cardinal. Read on for his article.

By Ian Ker

I wouldn't describe myself as an 'Ultramontane-style' conservative who is 'passionate about the Tridentine Latin Mass' - which I do not know how to celebrate and which I have only attended very rarely.

But I do know enough about Newman to know that he would belong to those who wanted reform at the Second Vatican Council but reform in continuity with the tradition of the Church, that is, to those reformers who include Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

It is true that in his own time Newman could have been described as a moderate liberal insofar as he was an opponent of the extreme Ultramontanes who were disappointed by the moderation and limited scope of the definition of papal infallibility at the First.......

[nickcarraway]

I think by today’s standards, Ultramontane Catholics would be the liberals.

[Falconspeed]

Ian Kerr is brilliant and a trustworthy expert on Cardinal Newman. Blessed Cardinal Newman, ora pro nobis, nunc et in hora mortis. I have attended the Latin mass weekly since 1995 in Oakland, Rome and now at the Mission in Ventura.