8 THE ANCHOR -
Diocese of Fall River -
Fri., Aug. 31, 1990
Letters Welcome Letters to the editor are welcomed. All letters should be brief and the editor reserves the right to condense any letters if deemed necessary. All letters must be signed and contain a home or business address.
O'ROURKE
NorrisH. ,Tripp
Funeral Home 571 Second Street Fall River, Mass. 679-6072
J. TESER, Prop. RESIDENTIAL INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL
SHE'ET METAL
253 Cedar St., New Bedford 993-3222
RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL MORTGAGES Purchases - Refinancings - Construction Fixed & Adjustable I:rograms Competitive Rates & Fees Fast Service "We will come to your home or business."
FINANCIAL RESOURCE GROUP
508·644·5255
NOW
NOW Checking from Citizens-Union.
.CITIZENS-UNDN ~VINGS
BANK
CHA~LIE'S OILCO.,INe. . . . 1IJJ116
coulln.
MfMlEI"
• FUEL OIL·
2-WAY RADIO
FOI. "OllAn 14 Hou, SrIY'('p Cho,I~.
V~lo,o.
P,~.
OffC .. OU GlOVl AVI.; fAllllYEI
"Greatest • since Thomas Aquinas" WASHINGTON (CNS) - In the 100 years since his death, Cardinal John Henry Newman's "influence has deepened and expanded to the greatest degree," said U.S. church historian Msgr. John Tracy Ellis. "I have the highest veneration for him. In my opinion he is the greatest Catholic mi'nd since Thomas Aquinas," said Msgr. Ellis in an interview. At age 85 he continues to teach church history at The Catholic University of America. A fellow church historian, Father Marvin R. O'Connell of the University of Notre Dame, said the 19th-century Anglican-turnedCatholic does not receive the scholarly attention he deserves. Father O'Connell frequently lectures on Cardinal Newman around the country. In this centenary year "I've done practically nothing else," he said. He also has written a history of the Oxford Movement, a 19thcentury movement of leading intellectuals of the Church of England. Cardinal Newman was one of its chief leaders and the most famous of the. many in the group who converted to Roman Catholicism. "I'm ofthe view that Newman is not appreciated in the Catholic world. Perhaps this is because he's so very difficult to understand," Father O'Connell said. "His impact in the United States is largely a symbolic one," he added. "You can be fond of Newman, and be a Newmanite in that sense. You may consider him the finest prose writer the English language has ever known. You can admire him for his theological views... You can be sympathetic toward him because of the marvelous life he led." But among all the cardinal's many fans, he said, there are few who have really tried to understand him in depth. He said that even at Notre Dame, which he considers one of the top Catholic universities in the world, "there is simply nothing done on
WHITE'S OF WESTPORT
1fIh. JC'" ~ t6 III4h, ~ ~ ~"lte, . . i.e 1Qhee ~ ~ 1Q~ CtUt
tAe ~.~~ ,/".~. 1Q~ i.e~ ~
edt
4
te~""(,,t, ~e"""'9, ClIMiet~,
M ¥edCIt etJe«t ~ ~ ""CI'"S4~' ~
~ ,".af.M.
IIUU.
• White's Conference & Banquet Fadliti~venbeautiful function rooms that can accommodate from 20 to 1,800 people • ~ PrisciU~ Restaurant-N~tical1y-inspired setting for family-style dining ... daily luncheons and dinners, children's menu, weekend entertainment • The.New Hampton Inn Hotel-134 rooms with plenty of extras ... free deluxe conbnentaI breakfast, fitness center with Jacuzzi and sauna, free cable TV
CaU us today-our junction consultants are eager to help you make your next celebration a memorQble one! . Junction of Route 24 and Interstate 195 State Road· Westport, Massachusetts 02790
11M",",
~.~ ~ 14 hire t6 IIIUt
White's of Westport 508-675-7185 1-800-696-7185 (Within MA) Hampton Inn Hotel 508-675-8500
eNS photo
Cardinal John Henry Newman Newman. That to me is wrong. He needs to be studied in an systematic way." Msgr. Ellis described Cardinal Newman as "very definitely an influence" in his own thinking hinting some surprise that the question need even be asked after he had described Cardinal Newman as the greatest Catholic mind since Aquinas. He added that Cardinal Newman has influenced not only his thinking but his spirituality. The cardinal's "Apologia pro Vita Sua," written in just two .months in 1864 in defense of his conversion to Catholicism, ranks with St. Augustine's "Confessions" among the great spiritual autobiographies of Christian history, Msgr. Ellis said.. Father O'Connell said Cardinal Newman's educational philosophy was a strong influence in U.S. Catholic educational circles 25 years ago. He was devoted to the idea of a university as a center to cultivate the intellectual life, a place to integrate the liberal arts, science and theology. "But our Catholic institutions in the last 25 years have become more like their secular counterparts. They are specialized," Father O'Connell said. Cardinal Newman is most noted as a theologian. Theologians still study his original contributions to the theory of the development of doctrine, his attention to the role of belief of the people in discerning truths of faith, his historical approach to theology with an emphasis on Scripture and the early Christian theologians, and his nuanced analysis of papal infallibility amid the debates that raged around that issue in the 1860s and '70s. He is often called the hidden or absent father of the Second Vatican Council because of the influence that his theology of the development of doctrine and his theology of the laity had on that council, more than 70 years after his death. But he was also a poet and novelist and an acclaimed preacher. "His famous 'Parochial and Plain Sermons' is still read today," Father O'Connell said. And he wrote letters. A lot of
letters. Some 20,000 that survived have been collected and published in 31 large volumes as part of the church investigation into his life that is a prerequisite for declaring a person a saint. The cause for his beatification was formally opened in 1958 in Birmingham, England, his home diocese, and in 1987 it was introduced in Rome. Pope Paul VI was an ardent admirer of Cardinal Newman, and in the 1970s there were reports he hoped to be able to beatify Cardinal Newman during the 1975 Holy Year. But the massive task of compiling and studying the Newman letters was not yet complete at the local level. On Aug. 10 - the day before the 100th anniversary of Cardinal Newman's death - Jesuit Father Vincent Biehl announced through The Times of London that the theological committee of the Vatican Congregation for Sainthood <::auses had unanimously approved the holiness of Cardinal Newman's life. Earlier the historical committee had completed its work and gave its approval. Father Biehl, who is postulator or official promoter of Cardinal Newman's cause, said he expects approval by the full congregation and issuance of a papal decree declaring Cardinal Newman's heroic virtues - the first step toward sainthood - this fall. Father O'Connell said Cardinal Newman's letters reveal his impact· as a spiritual director on "a vast range of people," from everyday Christians to some of the era's most influential thinkers and religious figures. "Many, many of the letters are to people who were spiritually troubled, people who were troubled intellectually, but morally too," Father O'Connell said. He said the personal correspon: dence also reveals Cardinal Newman's faults, especially his tendency to "pick at the sores of wounds he suffered from others - he may have forgiven, but he never forgot." Since Catholics tend to think of their saints as people whose lives were beyond reproach, "anybody who leaves behind him 20,000 letters is going to have a hell of a time being canonized," Father O'Connell said.