Book Review: "Holiness in a Secular Age"

National Catholic Register published my review of Father Juan Velez's new book on Blessed John Henry Newman in the October 1 print edition. NCReg then published it on-line yesterday!

When young John Henry Newman experienced his first conversion to an evangelical form of Anglicanism, he was inspired by two maxims of Thomas Scott. One of them — “holiness rather than peace” — became a motto for the rest of his life.

In this introduction to Blessed John Henry Newman’s example of pursuing holiness in 19th-century England as it was becoming more secularized, Father Juan Vélez guides readers through Newman’s life, projects and published works. He presents Newman as a man of faith evangelizing a world that was moving away from Christian doctrine and morality.

After a succinct survey of Newman’s life, including his leadership in the “Oxford Movement,” his conversion to Catholicism, his foundations of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England and the short-lived Catholic University of Ireland, and his struggles and eventual acceptance within the Catholic Church in England, the author addresses a number of themes in Newman’s life.

Please read the rest there. I just love the cover of the book, which is a detail of the stained glass window behind the altar of the chapel for the Newman Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Note that Father Velez has produced a study guide, which he is sharing for free on his website, www.cardinaljohnhenrynewman.com/

Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us!

O God, who bestowed on the Priest Blessed John Henry Newman the grace to follow your kindly light and find peace in your Church; graciously grant that, through his intercession and example, we may be led out of shadows and images into the fulness of your truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Newman's Omaha Connection

Father Juan Velez kindly sent me a review copy of his new book, Holiness in a Secular Age: The Witness of Cardinal Newman, published by Scepter. I'm about two-thirds through the book, which serves as an excellent introduction to Newman's life, projects, and works, exploring his educational projects especially--not the just The Idea of a University, but the practical experience Newman had teaching and administering education at Oxford, in Dublin, and at the Oratory School.

In the course of describing Blessed John Henry Newman's affinity for friendship, Father Velez mentions the first Bishop of Omaha, Nebraska, James O'Connor, whom he met at the Propaganda Fide in Rome while studying for the priesthood. I wondered why an American bishop would be studying in Rome, but then discovered with a little research that Bishop O'Connor was born in Ireland, came to the United States, studied at St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia, and then went to the Propaganda College in Rome, where he was ordained in 1848. Then he became the first bishop of the Diocese of Omaha:

Bishop James O’Connor was appointed to replace Bishop O’Gorman in 1876. In 1880, the Dakotas were separated and the Diocese of Sioux Falls was established. Montana was dropped three years later. In 1885, the Diocese of Omaha, consisting of Nebraska and Wyoming, was established.

During Bishop O’Connor’s administration, many of Omaha’s older parishes were founded and the Franciscan Fathers arrived in the area.

After the Creighton family gave Bishop O’Connor the college they had endowed, Creighton University was entrusted to the Society of Jesus in 1878.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, then Father O'Connor returned to the United States after ordination:

The following year he was appointed rector of St. Michael's Seminary, Pittsburgh, and in 1862 rector of St. Charles's Seminary, Overbrook, Pennsylvania. In 1872 he was appointed pastor of St. Dominic's Church, Holmesburg, Pennsylvania. In 1876 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Nebraska, and on 20 August of the same year he was consecrated titular Bishop of Dibona by Bishop Ryan of St. Louis. During his episcopate the vicariate developed with wonderful rapidity. The construction of the Union Pacific Railway in 1867, and more especially the extension of the Burlington Railway in the seventies and eighties, opened up Nebraska to colonists, and white settlers began to pour in from the Eastern states. It became the duty of the new vicar to provide for the growing needs of the faithful, and the yearly statistics of the vicariate show how successful were his labours. 

When he was consecrated " titular Bishop of Dibona", that was like a holding place designating a mission territory where no established diocese yet exists. It would be fascinating to read some of the letters between Newman and Bishop O'Connor! I don't have ready access to those letters, but I wonder if they corresponded about issues of university education, since Bishop O'Conner was involved in the establishment of Creighton University.

A Book and Its Stained-Glass Cover

Father Juan Velez has kindly promised to send me a review copy of his latest work on Blessed John Henry Newman, which is being published by Scepter later this month:

In Holiness in a Secular Age: the Witness of Cardinal Newman, a reader will find how John Henry Newman, an intelligent and wise Englishman, living in an age not unlike our own, aspired to holiness in his everyday life through prayer and scripture reading, through his work as a teacher then priest, and through his many friendships.

Newman understood that God calls all men and women to holiness, but what does this mean for people today? Furthermore, how can this holiness be attained?

Newman gave great importance to Church tradition and the writings of Church fathers for his understanding of the Bible. In a period much like today’s, in which many doubted the historicity of the Bible and interpreted as though it were a merely human work, Newman offered reasons to believe in both the divine inspiration and historicity of the written Word of God, reasons that are as valid today as in Newman’s time.

In Holiness, a reader will find an explanation of Newman’s important and influential ideas on the development of Christian doctrine. Newman set out to answer the question of whether or not the doctrines of the Catholic Church were true developments of Christ’s teachings or instead, corruptions. It was Newman’s research and writing of this foundational work which eventually led to his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

One of the chapters in Holiness presents Newman’s abiding contribution to what the true nature of university education should be. Another chapter presents his contribution to the education of boys and how they are to become gentlemen.

A Christian gentleman, for Newman, was much more than what the world understands a gentleman to be. The ideal of a polished person with fine manners, one who can chat about many subjects without hurting people’s feelings, is far from Newman’s notion of what the Christian gentleman should be. One chapter in Holiness explains that for Newman, the Christian knows that because of original sin, he is sinner in need of supernatural grace. The Christian gentleman is called to be both scholar and a saint.

This book also offers readers Newman’s teaching on daily work, ecumenism, and devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. In sum, Holiness in a Secular Age: the Witness of Cardinal Newman teaches through Newman’s life and writings how we too can aspire to holiness in the world.

The cover features the stained glass window behind the High Altar at the "chapel" for the Newman Center on the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln. More about it here.