there was a cholera outbreak in Birmingham, Newman had no hesitation in ministering to the sick, though it exposed him to the risk of the disease.

Newman followed truth where it led him, even when it led him to the most unlikely of places and resulted in the worst of worldly losses: the Catholic Church which, during his Protestant days, he had described as having corrupted apostolic doctrine.  But this characteristic of his was in keeping with his unswerving dedication to truth, a dedication which demanded humility.  As he wrote it in his famous hymn:

Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

It was one step at a time that led Newman away from liberal Protestantism, to high Anglicanism, to promoting the Tractarian or Oxford movement in the Anglican Church which sought to stress its Catholic heritage, including the notion of sacraments and apostolic authority.  But as the Tractarians got closer and closer to the "Romish" doctrines, many people in the Anglican Church became uncomfortable, even angry at these Oxford dons.  But it was this one-step-at-a-time journey to truth which ultimately resulted in the famous Tract 90, and the great crisis of Newman's life which gave the occasion for his conversion to the Roman Catholic Church.

Tract 90, written by Newman in 1841, argued that the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church--which are a fundamental document of Anglicanism--could be, and ought to be, understood in a Catholic sense. Newman's argument is untenable; the Thirty-Nine articles clearly are outside the Catholic tradition, as he was later to see.  But that was not where he was attacked.  He was attacked because he went too far in imposing Catholicism into Anglicanism.  He exceed the bounds of Anglican propriety, and the Anglican propriety wanted to distance itself from things Catholic.

Newman's Tract 90 was condemned by the Anglican bishops, and that made Newman see that the Anglican Church he belonged to, and which he had argued was a branch of the Catholic Church, was not, in fact not in any real communion with the historical Catholic Church. 

The rejection of his thought by the Anglican hierarchy led to Newman's internal crisis, caused him to resign his position at St. Mary's in Oxford, and then retire at a sort of hermitage in Littlemore.  It was there that he struggled with his condition: he was rejected by his Anglican Church, but was unable to cross the Tiber into Rome because he suffered under the misimpression that the "Romish" Church had corrupted apostolic Christian doctrine. 

He worked through his struggles in writing.  These struggles gave birth to his great work An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. He worked on this lengthy, book-sized Essay for up to fourteen hours a day.  It might be described as his wrestling with truth as Jacob wrestled with the angel of God.

In the Essay, which is a tour de force of theology and ecclesiastical history, Newman struggled with and distinguished the notion of development from the notion of corruption. Eventually, he was able to see how some of the Catholic Church's doctrines that troubled him were developments of apostolic doctrine and not corruptions.  Upon perceiving this, he realized where Christ's Church was to be found.  This led him to resign from his prestigious Fellowship at Oriel College, Oxford, and to ask St. Dominic Barberi, an Italian Passionist priest, for admission into the Catholic Church.  He converted to the Catholic Church on October 9, 1845. 

The significance of this event in the life of the Catholic Church in England cannot be underestimated.  It is for this reason that Pope Benedict XVI, in a very unusual move, declared October 9 to be Blessed John Henry Newman's feast day, and not the traditional dies natalis, the date of his death (which is his birth into heaven), August 11.  Blessed Newman, a confessor, is like St. Paul, whose conversion is also a feast day. 

Given this move, we may say that Blessed Newman is the patron of Catholic conversion.  The choice of this date tells the world that there is not just a difference in degree, but a difference in kind between being in communion with the Catholic Church and not being in communion with the Catholic Church.

One of the great characteristics of Newman was his ability to allow truth to work through cultural prejudice.  He was raised in an England deeply anti-Catholic in spirit and culture. He absorbed anti-Catholic prejudice with his mother's milk so that it was almost connatural to him.  Catholicism, usually ...
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: John Henry Cardinal Newman, Blessed John henry newman, Saints, idea of a University, holiness, lay spirituality, Andrew M Greenwell, Esq.

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