Newman's Southwark Connections

Did you know that Cardinal Newman offered his first mass in St George's Church, now St George's Cathedral? Find out more at Southwark Archdiocese's new website section on the visit!

John Henry Newman of the Digital Age

I have noticed that 'John Henry Newman' is a fan of our papal visit fanpage, 'My Papal Visit 2010': high praise indeed! Why not go and join him?

God bless

St Pius X - pray for us.

Hymns

My friend and comrade in arms Joanna Bogle has reminded me of one of the simplest and yet most pleasant parts of John Henry Newman's legacy: his glorious hymns.

Over the next few days I shall be posting some of these hymns with a little of my own thoughts on them: I hope you will join in discussing them. First off, then, is 'Praise to the Holiest in the Height'.

The three things that strike me most immediately about this hymn, apart from its general beauty, are:

It recalls in my mind that haunting phrase in the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil 'O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam that won for us so great a redeemer'. I was thurifer, standing by the cantor at the Vigil this year and those words moved me almost to tears (though not enough to put out a fuming thurible, thankfully).

Of course there is a rather complex argument about whether Christ would have come without the fall of Adam, which I think I will leave. Suffice it to say Newman catches very well the irony of the situation, painful and yet glorious at the same time: 'O wisest love! that flesh and blood which did in Adam fail...should strive and should prevail'. Wonderful stuff!

Secondly, the words 'in the garden secretly and on the cross on high' struck a chord with me: they remind us that carrying the cross, for Christians, must contain both public and private sorrow, just as Our Lord's passion did. An important message, that one.

Thirdly, and this may sound rather useless, but I think Ven. JHN delivers most beautifully of all an overarching message that God is supremely wise, and that his love and his Incarnation and his Passion are all an act of wisdom - not just of an sentimental love for humanity, but out of a plan for all time.

What do you think?

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be
praise;
In all
His words most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways.

O loving
wisdom
of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the
fight
And to the rescue came.

O wisest
love! that flesh and blood,
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh
against the foe,
Should
strive and should prevail.

And that a
higher gift than grace
Should
flesh and blood refine,
God’s Presence
and His very Self,
And Essence
all divine.

O generous love! that
He, who smote,
In Man for man the
foe,
The double agony in Man
For man should
undergo.

And in the
garden secretly,
And
on the Cross on high,
Should teach His brethren,
and inspire
To
suffer and to die.

Praise to the Holiest in the
height,
And in
the depth be praise;
In all His words most wonderful,
Most sure in all
His ways.

From Menevia With Love

In the first of our series of guest blogs from friends of Southwark's Papal Visit Team, we welcome this article from Matt Roche-Saunders, a student at Exeter University, though originally from the Menevia Diocese, who was a founder member of Southwark's Quo Vadis vocations discernment group. Thanks Matt!

Shrine Rector sheds light on Statue’s journey

As the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain draws near, groups of pilgrims around the country are busily planning how to see him at one of the main events. I spoke to Fr Jason Jones, parish priest at the Welsh National Shrine to Our Lady in Cardigan, and he told me that he is preparing to make a very privileged journey, one which will be of special interest to Welsh Catholics.
Upon hearing the news that our Holy Father will not be visiting Wales in 2010, Fr Jason suggested that Wales should instead go to him, and so the Statue of Our Lady of the Taper will make the journey from Cardigan to Westminster to be with the Pope. The Statue depicts Our Lady seated, in one hand holding the Christ child, and in the other a taper candle. On a deeper level, Fr Jason points out that both hands are holding the light of the world. Pope Benedict will bless and light a taper candle, and place it into the hand of the statue, following which he will lead the congregation in the Shrine prayer.

One of the main reasons Pope Benedict is visiting the UK this year is to preside at the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who died in 1890. During his lifetime, Newman wrote the hymn ‘Lead kindly light’ – what a perfect opportunity for Welsh Catholics to follow the Statue of Our Lady, holding the light of Christ aloft.

This year marks an historical period for the Welsh National Shrine – the town of Cardigan celebrates its 900th anniversary, the Shrine Church marks 40 years as a National Shrine, and next year will be its 25th anniversary as the National Shrine of Wales. For the statue to make such a momentous pilgrimage to Westminster means that we have the opportunity to make it a very special year for Our Lady of the Taper.

A Papal visit always presents an opportunity for renewal, and for people to ask the basic questions of life. Fr Jason recognises this, linking the light of the statue to the rekindling of the light of faith at the time of the visit, and he prays that the visit will bring about an increased devotion to Our Lady, the light which leads us to her Son, Jesus Christ.

The journeying of the Statue of Our Lady of the Taper to the home of English and Welsh Catholics, Westminster Cathedral, will have added significance, according to Fr Jason - in 1956, the Shrine was re-established, and a carved statue was blessed at the Cathedral by Cardinal Griffin.

When Pope John Paul II designated Cardigan as the National Shrine for Welsh Catholics in 1986, he blessed a candle in Rome, which was then placed in the hand of Our Lady at the inaugural Mass of the Church as National Shrine in May of the same year. That candle now rests in a carved box of Welsh oak, and the candle blessed by Pope Benedict XVI will be similarly kept in a locally carved box of wood and pewter, portraying just some of 50 Welsh flowers named after Mary, such as Dagrhau Mair (Mary’s tears), more commonly known as fuscia.

Matt R-S

With Fr Jason and with our dear Matt, let us pray that the Statue’s journey and the Papal Visit as a whole will enkindle in us all the kindly light of Christ.

Newman's Theology

If you've got 5minutes, you can read some of Newman's thinking in this interesting article from Commonweal magazine - http://tiny.cc/bqibn.

Thanks to Luke Coppen & Catholic Herald's Morning Must Reads (http://tiny.cc/e17ir) for that information!

41 days

Only forty-one days to go until Benedict XVI arrives in the UK: what are you doing to prepare? Our Lady of the Rosary parish, in Blackfen, in Southwark, has a few suggestions on their parish blog: http://rosary-blackfen.blogspot.com/. If anyone has any more, just pop them in the combox! Also The Papal Visit website has a section about Newman's theology now, which is well worth a look - http://tiny.cc/uh89u.

Enjoy & happy Feast of the Transfiguration!

John Henry Newman's Life

John Henry Newman was born on 21st February, 1801, in London, the eldest son of a London banker. His family were ordinary church-going members of the established Anglican Church, without any strong religious tendencies, though the young John Henry did learn at an early age to take a great delight in the Bible. He was sent to Ealing School in 1808, and it was there, eight years later, that he underwent a profound religious conversion, which was to determine the rest of his life as a quest for spiritual perfection.....

Read the rest at the Cause for his Canonisation's website - http://www.newmancause.co.uk/newman.html.