Friday, 09 July 2010

The beatification of Cardinal Newman, the 19th-century theologian who is considered by many to have anticipated the Second Vatican Council, could mark a significant step in helping to draw a line under the controversies of the post-conciliar period.

That’s according to the world’s leading Newman scholar, Father Ian Ker. He pointed out that Paul VI was also keen for Newman to be elevated to the altars because Newman “stood for exactly what the reformers stood for 

-- those reformers who were in continuity rather than ‘disrupture’ with the past and with tradition.”

Father Ker, professor of theology at the University of Oxford, has long battled with some dissenting Catholics who have tried to claim Newman as their own, using the theologian’s famous remark that he would drink “to conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards” to justify their own dissent.

But he insists that Newman was “simply stating the Catholic position, the same as that of Saint Thomas Aquinas: that ultimately we have to obey our consciences even if they are erroneous.” As Catholics, he said, “we are obliged to try to correct our consciences, but if we fail to and can’t, then we just have to go by the best of our lights. That’s basic teaching.”

Father Ker would most like to see Newman made a doctor of the Church. “That will be significant because it will indicate to people that he was orthodox, that he is a teacher of the Church,” he said. “Personally, I think he’s the great doctor of the conciliar period in which we’re living, a towering figure.”

Asked if such a step would finally put an end to the false interpretations of the Council, Father Ker said: “I hope so. He did anticipate the Second Vatican Council but in all his anticipation he was always very careful to keep a moderate balance. He never went over the top.”

Another positive outcome of the beatification, he believes, will be that more ordinary people will begin praying to the great theologian, which could lead to the second miracle required for his canonization. “Very often what happens, apparently,” said Father Ker, “is that canonization follows quite quickly after beatification, presumably because people started then praying in earnest.”

He should know. It was after Deacon Jack Sullivan saw Father Ker on television appealing to viewers to pray to Newman for a first miracle that Sullivan prayed to the 19th-century theologian for his back to be healed.

That miraculous healing has directly led to the beatification that will take place on September 19th.

Zenit.org