Shameless instrumentalization of Cardinal Newman as progressive poster boy

 John Henry Newman's appointment as a Doctor of the Church causes debate

"First Conscience, Then the Pope"

John Henry Newman is elevated to the rank of Doctor of the Church. He combined the legacy of the early Church with contemporary developments. His elevation is seen as a sign of unity, truth, and openness, yet remains ambiguous. An overview.

Only 37 figures in the entire history of the Church have so far borne the title "Doctor of the Church." Now this circle is being expanded to include another person: the British saint John Henry Newman.

Pope Leo XIV elevated him to the rank of Doctor of the Church. But what makes Newman significant today, and why is his elevation more than just a mere ecclesiastical honor?

A life between worlds

John Henry Newman (1801–1890) grew up in England with an Anglican background. In 1825, he was ordained a priest of the Anglican Church. As one of the leading figures of the Oxford Movement, he sought to renew the Church of England by returning to the Church Fathers.

He increasingly came to the realization that, for him, only the Roman Catholic Church had faithfully preserved the faith in its entirety over the centuries. After long inner struggles, he converted to Catholicism in 1845. Two years later, he was ordained a priest in Rome.

"The Fathers made me Catholic," he would later write about the Church Fathers. "Leaving the Anglican Communion was anything but easy for him," says Cologne prelate Helmut Moll, historian and representative of the German Bishops' Conference for the Martyrology of the 20th Century.

The conversion was not only a theological but also a cultural break. "He lived in the tension between industrialization, liberalism, Karl Marx, and Darwin's theory of evolution." This is how Innsbruck theologian Roman Siebenrock describes Newman.

Siebenrock is chairman of the International German Newman Society and one of the leading experts on the Second Vatican Council. Newman experienced the transformation of a Protestant nation into a liberal one, which he was critical of. This entire process had a significant impact on Newman, according to Siebenrock.

Theology as a bridge

Newman remained connected to his Anglican origins despite – or perhaps because of – his conversion. For Johannes Arens, Canon of the Anglican Cathedral in Leicester (England), it is significant that Newman wrote most of his books, hymns, and works as an Anglican. "The fact that the Pope is now elevating him to Doctor of the Church shows that he sees Anglican theology," Arens concludes.

Cathcon:  Cardinal Newman published retractions of his anti-Catholic statements and absolutely explicitly rejected the Anglican "Via Media" on his conversion.   He burnt his bridges with the Anglicans when he converted.    And Canon Arens is being conveniently economical with the truth when he says that most of Newman's work was done as an Anglican.   See List of Works

Peter Becker, university assistant at the Institute for Historical Theology at the University of Vienna and a member of the International German Newman Society, speaks of Newman's "unitive power" – the ability to bring together different traditions and theological concerns.

Newman, he argues, was not a partisan, but rather thought independently and sought the truth even in the face of opposition. On this path, which led him from the evangelicalism of the English Church to Catholicism, he attempted to integrate the truth from all currents. According to Becker, this also corresponds to a characteristic that Newman sees as a strength of the Catholic faith and a criterion for successful development: the ability to assimilate.

According to Newman, a strong idea can absorb other elements without losing itself. Complete isolation is more of a sign of weakness. "However, for Newman, assimilation is always linked to a distinction between what serves growth and what runs counter to one's own essence," Becker emphasizes.

Conscience and the development of doctrine

One of Newman's most well-known theological impulses is his theory of development. In "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine," he describes faith and dogma as not static entities, but as something that unfolds and evolves.

"Constant change is necessary to remain faithful," summarizes Father Philip Geister, a doctor of theology, Jesuit, and rector of the Newman Institute in Uppsala, Sweden: "To be perfect means to have constantly changed," wrote Newman.

The image Newman himself used for this was a boat on a river that must move to avoid losing a treasure. The boat represents the Church, the treasure represents the truth, and the river represents the passage of time, Geister further explains. Only if the boat moves—that is, if the Church develops—can it remain faithful to the truth. Standing still means loss.

Theologian Siebenrock emphasizes another point: conscience. "First conscience, then the Pope" is one such Newman quote. For him, faith is a personal relationship with God, he says. For Newman, there was no third authority between the believer and God, only "myself and my creator."

Prelate Moll of Cologne adds that Newman, "as a teacher of conscience," brought a new dimension to theology. This is a central criterion for the title of Doctor of the Church.

Cathcon: This is what Newman actually writes on conscience.

So much for philosophers; now let us see what is the notion of conscience in this day in the popular mind.  There, no more than in the intellectual world, does "conscience" retain the old, true, Catholic meaning of the word. There too the idea, the presence of a Moral Governor is far away from the use of it, frequent and emphatic as that use of it is. When men advocate the rights of conscience, they in no sense mean the rights of the Creator, nor the duty to Him, in thought and deed, of the creature; but the right of thinking, speaking, writing, and acting, according to their judgment or their humour, without any thought of God at all. They do not even pretend to go by any moral rule, but they demand, what they think is an Englishman's prerogative, for each to be his own master in all things, and to profess what he pleases, asking no one's leave, and accounting priest or preacher, speaker or writer, unutterably impertinent, who dares to say a word against his going to perdition, if he like it, in his own way. Conscience has rights because it has duties; but in this age, with a large portion of the public, it is the very right and freedom of conscience to dispense with conscience, to ignore a Lawgiver and Judge, to be independent of unseen obligations. It becomes a licence to take up any or no religion, to take up this or that and let it go again, to go to church, to go to chapel, to boast of being above all religions and to be an impartial critic of each of them. Conscience is a stern monitor, but in this century it has been superseded by a counterfeit, which the eighteen centuries prior to it never heard of, and could not have mistaken for it, if they had. It is the right of self-will. 

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To quote him in defence of modern ideas of conscience is just wicked.

Reason and Heart

University assistant professor Becker emphasizes Newman's ability to combine reason and faith. "Clear heads and holy hearts" is how Newman describes the ideal of a Christian.

Although Newman is extremely skeptical of a "religion of feeling" that relies solely on perceived moods, he emphasizes the importance of concrete experience. Living faith, he argues, does not remain confined to conceptual formulas, but addresses the whole person: their heart, their conscience, and their imagination.

Gistner also sees this as a message for the present: theology must be "more than just abstract" and must also manifest itself in culture, art, literature, and music. "We need the whole, lived faith. For me, Newman is always a reminder of all this," says Geister.

Ecumenical significance

The Anglican cathedral Canon Arens calls Newman a "bridge figure" between Anglicanism and Catholicism. At the same time, he points to unresolved issues that could unite ecumenism: the equal rights of women in church offices, the impact on the sacrament of ordination, or the re-evaluation of homosexual relationships. "We have exactly the same difficulties as the Catholic Church – and yet I still have hope," says Arens.

In this context, Philip Geister speaks primarily of Newman's significance as a spiritual role model and driving force for the unity of Christianity. Newman unites Protestant and Catholic believers and many forces within the Roman Catholic Church itself.

This is also reflected in the fact that he is sought after by both more conservative and more liberal circles. "Newman had very wise insights that transcend the conservative and liberal divide," says Geister.

Programmatic signal or logical consequence?

Whether the appointment is programmatic or merely a liturgical tribute – opinions differ. For Geister, the appointment is "not a purely bureaucratic act, but a continuation of the line already begun by Pope Benedict XVI with his beatification."

Siebenrock sees this as a possible symbol of synodality: "If the elevation of Newman is a program of Leo's pontificate, then it is a very beautiful one," Siebenrock anticipates. Arens interprets the decision as recognition of a theology that is strongly rooted in the English tradition.

A teacher for the present

"Praevalebit Veritas" – "the truth will prevail" – this phrase had a profound impact on Newman. In a time when questions of faith are often torn apart between ideological camps and social bubbles, this is particularly relevant, says Becker. Especially because theologians of different persuasions can identify with his thinking. He sees in Newman a model for a church that draws its strength from holiness and personal transmission of faith rather than from institutional structures.

For spiritual minds, Newman can be a role model "for people who feel they don't belong in society," just as Newman himself once felt. For Siebenrock, Newman is a witness that faith is a personal experience that can be lived with inner consistency. Arens sees in him an invitation to see differences not as a threat, but as an opportunity. And Moll recognizes: through Newman's elevation, conscience has found its place.

Inclusion in the circle of Doctors of the Church honours Newman's voice historically and brings it stronger into the present. For a church seeking its way between tradition and modernity, Newman, as a Doctor of the Church, could become a bridge-builder.

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