Holy Father to Newman Scholars -
Cardinal Newman's thought and example relevant today
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Specialists and
students of the works of Cardinal Newman, holding a symposium in Rome at
"Domus Mariae", were received in audience by the Holy Father,
Paul VI, in the Consistorial Hall on Monday, 7 April.
The St. Philip's
School Choir, composed of about 40 boys, under the direction of Mr. J.
K. Nicholas, sang "A hymn of Joy to the Lord."
To the some 150
participants of the symposium Paul VI spoke as follows:
Dear Friends,
It is with special joy that we have acceded to your wish to be received by us
in audience during the Cardinal Newman Academic Symposium now taking place here
in Rome and of which you are the expert participants. We greet you cordially
and extend to you a warm welcome.
Your Symposium, which is carrying on the tradition of the
previous International Congresses held in Luxembourg, has been organized in
Rome to coincide with the Holy Year. As students of the great Cardinal, you
have come together to deepen your knowledge of Newman's life and thought, and
to draw from his powerful example and teachings practical conclusions and
responses to the many religious problems of the present day. The echo that your
worthy initiative has had among the many admirers of Cardinal Newman throughout
the world and the presence among you of many young people are unmistakable
signs of the great attraction to Newman and of the relevance that he enjoys
today-indeed today perhaps more than at any previous time. We offer a warm
greeting to those among you who are members of the Anglican clergy and who by
your participation in the Symposium emphasize the great ecumenical importance
of the figure and work of Newman at the present time.
He who was convinced of being faithful throughout his life,
with all his heart devoted to the light of truth, today becomes an ever
brighter beacon for all who are seeking an informed orientation and sure
guidance amid the uncertainties of the modern world-a world which he himself
prophetically foresaw. Many of the problems which he treated with
wisdom-although he himself was frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted in
his own time-were the subjects of the discussion and study of the Fathers of
the Second Vatican Council, as for example the question of ecumenism, the
relationship between Christianity and the world, the emphasis on the role of
the laity in the Church and the relationship of the Church to non-Christian
religions. Not only this Council but also the present time can be considered in
a special way as Newman's hour, in which, with confidence in divine providence,
he placed his great hopes and expectations: "Perhaps my name is to be turned to
account as a sanction and outset by which others who agree with me in opinion
should write and publish instead of me, and thus begin the transmission of
views in religious and intellectual matters congenial with my own, to the
generation after me" (cf. W. Ward, The Life of Cardinal Newman, London,
1912, vol. 2, p. 202.). And it is precisely the present moment that suggests,
in a particularly pressing and persuasive way, the study and diffusion of
Newman's thought.
This is not the time for a detailed description of the wide
programme that the needs of the present moment place before you, the expert
scholars and friends of Newman. The very theme of your Symposium, "Newman's
Realisation of Christian Life," is related to the central purpose of the
Council and of the Holy Year. The "realization" of the Christian ideal in
Newman's sense is but another name for a continual effort for the renewal of
personal and community life in the spirit of the Gospel and in accordance with
the just demands of the present moment of history. "Realising" our Christian
vocation means, in Newman's view, making the truths of our faith a living
reality, full of practical consequences for our daily life; it means becoming
true followers of Christ. And, in the lofty and arduous task to which this Holy
Year urgently calls us, the thought and example of John Henry Newman bring a
precious light and a great incitement. May his prayer become ours too: "Enable
me to believe as if I saw; let me have Thee always before me as if Thou wert
always bodily and sensibly present. Let me ever hold communion with Thee, my
hidden, but my living God" (Meditations and Devotions).
It is our hope that your Symposium on Newman's life and
thought will bear abundant fruit and offer its own specific and valuable
contribution to the Holy Year, for a profound renewal in the life of the
Church. We accompany your work with our prayers, invoking upon you all light
and strength from the Lord.
[from L'Osservatore
Romano (English edition),
17 April 1975 (368)]
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