Saint John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church. Fiat! Fiat! Let it be so!

Saint John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church. Fiat! Fiat! Let it be so!

• https://thecatholicherald.com/could-new-leo-elevate-leo-xiiis-cardinal-newman-to-a-doctor-of-the-church/

A few days ago in the Sistine Chapel, another Leo took up Newman’s cause, making his own the profession of St Peter to the Lord in St Matthew’s gospel, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The result of Peter’s confession, Pope Leo XIV said, is that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God: the one Saviour who alone reveals the face of the Father.” In this, our own Pope Leo made with Newman a commitment to the uniqueness and truth of the Gospel, and to the full and complete path of salvation which is alone offered to the human race in and through the person of Jesus Christ, by communion with and in his mystical body, the Church.

A reminder.

November 15, 2023 | OSV News

The U.S. bishops voted (240 'yes') almost unanimously (with two “no” votes) Nov. 15 to support of a request by the the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales that Pope Francis name St. John Henry Newman, the 19th-century British cardinal, a doctor of the church. 

Additional Reading

• https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2020/08/saint-john-henry-newman-doctor-of-church.html
• https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2019/02/fr-ian-ker-doctor-newman.html
• https://catholicvote.org/usccb-overwhelmingly-supports-naming-john-henry-newman-a-doctor-of-the-church/
• https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/przywaras-case-for-newman-as-saint-and-doctor-of-the-church/
• https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/newman-possible-saint-and-modern-doctor-of-the-church/
• https://www.exaudi.org/interview-growing-consensus-newman-to-be-doctor-of-the-church/
• https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2020/01/please-next-doctors-of-church.html

Why should St. John Henry Newman be a doctor of the Church?

Interview: Bishop Daniel Flores

Nov. 14 press conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

JD Flynn/Pillar Media

Well, I think first of all, his erudition is unquestioned. His faithfulness to the Church, even in the midst of suffering, at a very difficult time and often with a great deal of misunderstanding.

That suffering only spurred even deeper reflection upon, especially, the ecclesial mystery which he was able to elucidate not only because he was widely read, but also because he had experienced sort of his own personal movement, ecclesially. 

For Newman, theology was a movement of life, and I think the depth of his work, and the complexity of it itself, was a sign that there are real things which he was able to elucidate by his writing.

That having been said, to be declared a doctor of the Church is a recognition by the Church of one’s importance as a teaching voice in the Church. It's a high honor, and there's no guarantee the Holy Father will grant it at this time, and maybe he will only do it later. 

But at least for us to have made the request, and we joined with the bishops of England and Wales on that, it was a sign that we perceive that a mark of applicability and of depth is there [in Newman’s work]. 

It's a petition to the Holy Father. He may decide it's an opportune time, or he might not. But this came to us as a request to support a petition, and we supported it.

• https://www.pillarcatholic.com/i/139021208/why-should-st-john-henry-newman-be-a-doctor-of-the-church

The Significance of St John Henry Newman for Catholic Theology

H.E. Marc Cardinal Ouellet Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

Vatican City, October 12, 2019

In what way does Newman confront the Catholic theology of his time and of all eras, if we want to consider seriously the possibility of his candidacy as a Doctor of the Church? It seems to me that the English master ranks among such Doctors of the Faith as Athanasius and Augustine, whose lives were confessions of faith at the cost of great sacrifice, and who provided decisive insights on either its content or its act. Now Newman excels in exploring both fides quae and fides qua, but his most original and innovative contribution consists mostly in his describing faith as a personal encounter, as an emotional but also as a rational adherence which involves a unique certainty as well as a non-delegable responsibility that imposes a conscious commitment to vital and sometimes dramatic decisions: "When we pray, we pray, not to an assemblage of notions, or to a creed, but to One Individual Being; and when we speak of Him we speak of a Person, not of a Law or a Manifestation”. The stance of 19th century Catholic theology tended to a noetic dimension of faith at the expense of an emotional and personal dimension, often reducing faith to an intellectual acceptance of abstract proposals. Argumentation suffered a struggle with rationalism, and as a consequence tended to impoverish the vital and nourishing dimension of faith that precedes and sustains all knowledge, and which cannot be reduced to clear and distinct ideas.

"In addition to exploring the laws of the existential logic of faith and to defending its rationality, Newman spends a long time studying the development of Christian doctrine, which consists in the third area of meriting consideration to becoming a Doctor of the Church. From his acquaintance with the Fathers of the Church, especially Athanasius, he discovered that, in order to keep its integrality, the faith of the Church must adapt its language to the cultural challenges and the dangers of heresy. It must therefore discern doctrines compatible with the deposit of faith, eventually adopting a new language, not necessarily scriptural, while remaining faithful to the revelation established once and for all by the determination of the canon of the New Testament Scriptures. Thus, although the deposit does not change, the Church’s knowledge of it progresses, deepens and is expressed in a new way, always faithful to the original idea. In his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Newman passionately analyses the criteria and conditions for ensuring a doctrinal fidelity not only compatible but also in harmony with the new dogmas of the Roman Church since they express the Church's progressive knowledge of the deposit of the faith."