On the British press

Liberal or conservative, with the Pope or champion of dissent, homosexual or heterosexual: the proclamation of Blessed John Henry Newman by Benedict XVI – next September 19 – is drawing close. Over the past months the news item was given ample coverage. Even the left-wing “Guardian” defended Newman from the suspicions of homosexuality with an article signed by Jack Valero, the press officer of the beatification. From Ruth Gledhill, religious correspondent for the “Times”, to Christopher Howse, columnist for the “Telegraph”, the British press portrayed the deepness of Newman, which our era finds hard to understand. Excerpts follow. A battle for Newman’s soul. In the article published four months ago, titled “Church factions locked in theological battle for the soul of Cardinal Newman” Ruth Gledhill presented the items of the debate due to be covered by the press. In the article, published May 7, the religious correspondent explained that conservatives and liberals “battle for the soul” of Cardinal Newman. She is also the first to bring in the debate the idea that Newman was homosexual because he asked to be buried with his lifelong companion Father Ambrose St. John.No to the opposition between dogma and conscience. In an article issued July 10 by the “Daily Telegraph”, the most popular British daily, Christopher Howse touched the heart of the debate on Cardinal Newman: divided between dogma and conscience. To the question “Was Newman a dissident?” – which is also the title of the article – Howse replies that no, he wasn’t. In 1870, when the new dogma on papal infallibility was adopted, which was likely to prompt his disagreement, Newman said that this dogma “was a truth that requires belief”. Conscience leads to the dogma. The “Telegraph” journalist writes that a righteous conscience should be open to receive the light shed by the dogmas of faith, as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Restless grave. Continuum published a new biography of Cardinal Newman, broadly reviewed by the British press, titled “Newman’s unquiet grave. The reluctant saint”. Its author John Cornwell, maintains that Cardinal Newman was a dissident. The Catholic author is renown for being polemical against the Church. He wrote the volume “Hitler’s Pope”, in which Pius XII is accused of favoring the legitimization of the Nazis in Germany. On these grounds biographer Cornwell maintains: “Newman certainly was a dissident”. Alleged homosexuality. In an article published by the Guardian past July 8, titled “The sad demise of celibate love”, Jack Valero, the Press Officer for the Beatification explains why Newman can’t be considered homosexual. The exhumation prompted suspicions of homosexuality; Valero explains where these suspicions stem from and recalls that in fact they date back to the exhumation of the corpse. In October 2008 the Church decided to transfer Newman’s remains to a marble sarcophagus in the Birmingham Oratory, giving people who wanted to pay their respects easy access to the Cardinal that will soon be beatified. As Newman had asked to be buried with his friend Ambrose St. John, gay rights activist Peter Tatchell objected that the reburial was aimed at covering up Newman’s homosexuality. According to Valero, the idea of “being homosexual” would have been an unfamiliar and even pointless categorization. In his studies on Newman’s writings and life Valero discovered that Newman had “a deep imagination” that God wanted him to be a dedicated celibate. The sad truth – Valero remarks – is that Newman’s intense male friendships are unconceivable today without being suspected of homosexuality. “This kind of celibate love has challenged most ages, but ours seems to have given up the struggle altogether”, Valero writes.A devoted pastor. The pastoral side of Newman, who is primarily renown for his contribution as a theologian, is expounded by Msgr. Michael Sharkey in an article titled “Cardinal John Henry Newman. A very English Saint”, published on the September issue of the monthly “Bible alive”. Hundreds flocked to hear his sermons in Oxford. Sharkey explains that when he served as the Anglican vicar of St. Mary’s church in Oxford, hundreds of students were enthralled by Newman’s sermons. He then reformed the Church of England and reminded to the clergy, whose intellectual engagement brought them to neglect the pastoral and spiritual care of the flock, that they had been commissioned by God and that they had to answer to him and not to the State.