Gloria J. Thurmond
The seminar on Saint John Henry Newman provided an opportunity for profound reflection on the interior life of spirit in Newman and its impact on his academic life as an Anglican theologian and university teacher, and on his conversion to Catholicism, the experience through which he was invited by the Irish religious hierarchy to establish the Catholic University of Ireland in Dublin. “From this experience came much of [Newman’s] material for The Idea of a University.”[1]
As facilitator of the seminar, Dr. Kenneth Parker prompted responses and information from the participants through questions and exercises which reflected academic experiences and connections that were common to the participants. In his sharing of narratives related to his own personal and professional background, Dr. Parker modeled for the participants the point from which thinking, connecting, and responding to an experience begins. He used this approach to frame the information which described the personal and vocational profile of Saint John Henry Newman.
“Most important to Newman’s intellectual and spiritual development was his leadership of the Oxford Movement in the l830s.”[2] His leadership was infused with theological research, teaching, and preaching through which he was inspired to a new theological understanding of Catholic dogma and a new spiritual and academic trajectory. In his collection of essays entitled Classic Catholic Converts, Fr. Charles Connor writes that “Newman’s conversion was very much an intellectual one. He came to the Church by a thought process.”[3]
I am a Catholic by virtue of my believing in God; and if I am asked why I believe in God, I answer
that it is because I believe in myself, for I feel it is impossible to believe in my own existence …
without believing in the existence of Him, who lives as a … Being in my conscience.[4]
The Catholic Intellectual Tradition identifies the mission of a Catholic university education to be that of the fulfillment of the human being. Reflective of the qualities that were present in the life and work of John Henry Newman, the Catholic liberal education should be undertaken through fostering an awareness of moral principles, devotion to God, intellectual curiosity, academic discipline, and personal integrity in the lives of students. This type of education is that which, according to Newman, “gives [students] a clear conscious view of their own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them.”[5]
The rigor that Newman demonstrated in his theological research which, in turn, motivated his discernment of religious commitment, modeled a self-discipline and moral integrity that led to his religious conversion to Catholicism. Intellectual desire, the pursuit of theological knowledge, and devotion to God reflect the deeply integrated human dimensions of Newman’s religious conversion. Newman’s pursuit of knowledge and virtue in his search for truth is an excellent model by which the Catholic university should be guided in its mission of fulfilling the human person.
Papal interventions and Roman documents repeatedly emphasize that certain characteristics must be present for an educational institution to be considered authentically Catholic. In a 1987 speech addressed to American Catholic educators in New Orleans, Pope John Paul II emphasized that
the inalienable dignity of the human person—above all on his or her spiritual dimension is especially necessary today. Unfortunately, far too many in government, business, the media, and even the educational establishment perceive education to be merely an instrument for the acquisition of information that will improve the chances of worldly success and a more comfortable standard of living. Such an impoverished vision of education is not Catholic.[6]
Rather, “the goal of the Catholic education is to nurture the formation of the human person and of human persons.”[7] A Catholic education is committed, therefore, to the development of the whole person, since in Christ, the perfect one, all human values find their fulfillment and unity. He is the one who ennobles the human person, gives meaning to human life, and from whom students derive all the educational energy necessary for human fulfillment.
Given the fact that the primary mission of the Catholic university is that of creating an environment that will support the intellectual and moral development of the student, as a subsequent consideration the curriculum, academic programs, community life and other facets of the organization should reflect and resonate with the mission of fulfillment of the human person.
These, therefore, should foster and support the process of intellectual maturation and assist in the cultivation of virtue in the life of the university student. This fundamental mission of the Catholic university as defined by the Church’s Magisterium must be boldly proclaimed and affirmed as the guiding principle and goal that resides at the heart of a Catholic education.
The intellectual life of Saint John Henry Newman, which was connected to his religious devotional life, reflects mature intellect and virtue. As such, intellectual maturity and virtue firstly found embodiment in him as a human person, which, consequently, he was able to express in his role as a university mentor, professor, Oratorian priest, and as founder of The Catholic University of Ireland. Newman’s life models the trajectory and the efficacy of the mission of a Catholic university education.
ENDNOTES
[1]Connor, C. Classic Catholic Converts – John Henry Newman. (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press: 2001), p. 43.
[2] Connor, C. Classic Catholic Converts – John Henry Newman. (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press: 2001), p. 37.
[3] Connor, C. Classic Catholic Converts – John Henry Newman. (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press: 2001), p. 41.
[4] Connor, C. Classic Catholic Converts – John Henry Newman. (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press: 2001), pp. 41-42.
[5] Newman, J. The Idea of the University – (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013), p. 135.
[6] John Paul II. Apostolic Journey to the United States of America and Canada. Address of His Holiness John Paul II. (www.vatican.va), 12 September 1987.
[7] John Paul II. Apostolic Journey to the United States of America and Canada. Address of His Holiness John Paul II. (www.vatican.va), 12 September 1987.