Years ago, sandwiched between work and a commute, in the ambient silence of the Newman University Church, I learned about John Henry Newman for the first time. I was stirred by his motto “Heart speaks (un)to Heart”. Recently, two things propelled me to prioritise learning more about his contribution to the faith. First, he is our new Doctor of Church, second synodality beckons us to continuously deepen, learning from, with and through the entire community of faith – past and present – men and women.
So, I spent a day with a small selection of Newman’s many sermons and letters, finding his letter writing style personable and engaging. From this limited exposure, I glimpsed a few interesting things putting Newman in dialogue with our synodal journey.
Before ever he was a Cardinal, Saint and Doctor of the Church, Newman was a man. Authors and correspondents described him variously as ascetic, sensuous, loner, social, pastoral, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, humorous, workaholic, kind, prickly, simple, complex, humble and melancholy. He was a complex and ordinary human being, who gave of himself in an extraordinary way. Sainthood is not beyond reach!
Newman’s decision to convert to Catholicism after 20 years as an Anglican priest heralded a painful withdrawal from the heart of his community. Letters from his siblings all but ceased for many years after his conversion. There was also some hostility toward him within Catholicism. All of this cut deeply. The cost of his commitment to truth was high. Conversion for him was not a one-time thing, but a wholehearted commitment to truth wherever it led him. It stretched across an entire lifetime.
Connection to Ireland
Newman crossed the Irish Sea 56 times in 7 years in the quest to establish the Catholic University of Ireland. The initial project while judged a failure by the narrow metrics of finance and immediacy, was foundational to future developments. In the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin he spoke to his ‘Idea of a University’ and a vision of education that went beyond narrow utilitarian. It was a vision that focused on enabling human flourishing in service to the world. Newman’s letters describe ordinary encounters across Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork and Dublin. He shares small human moments — being flustered when asked to address schoolgirls unexpectedly, or returning home to find his housekeeper had reorganised all his papers — glimpses that reveal his humour and relatability.
Pastoral and pragmatic
Newman urged that objective truth be put in dialogue with personal experience. He also stirred people to a realisation of God’s indwelling through conscience. He wrote “…we must…interrogate our own hearts…interrogate our consciences…interrogate the God who lives there….”
His stunningly beautiful ‘Lead Kindly Light’ is a testament to his trust in how the Spirit moves.
Newman’s letters also show a deeply pragmatic and pastoral nature. It is interesting how he anticipated but did not ultimately resist the introduction of compulsory secular education. He sought to dialogue with it and encouraged others to do the same. He also calmly advised a women distressed by her son who had fallen away from the faith and wrote “I feel strongly, though it may seem cruel, that it is decidedly the best treatment to leave him quite to himself…..leave him alone – let nature act.”
In another letter he wrote how God does not require the impossible of us: “if we are perplexed, we are perplexed. What is our duty under that perplexity? Is it not to wait on Him?”
Passionate over polite
He was not afraid to set out his stall, to ask and respond to hard questions. While still an Anglican, Newman wrote “Has not all our misery, as a Church, arisen from people being afraid to look difficulties in the face?”
It suggests to me that a culture of politeness will never build a deep communion within our Church. Politeness cannot help us reveal and live more deeply our response to Jesus’ question “but who do you say that I am?” (Matt 15:16). Only authentic and courageous journeying together with kindness and openness can do that. Synodality calls us beyond both keeping in line and toing the line. Looking to Newman’s example, the obedience in question is the commitment to interrogate and journey deeper into revelation.
Newman may have gotten burned by conflict at times, but in the end did not fear it. He wrote to a woman troubled by discord over doctrine saying:
“I do not feel our differences to be such a trouble as you do, for such differences always have been, always will be…..Christians would have ceased to have spiritual and intellectual life if such differences did not exist.”
Newman and justice
Intimate time with the Gospels reveals the centrality of a love filled justice. This surely must be at the heart of synodality. Newman’s “Heart speaks (un)to Heart” is thus essential to ponder. There is an essential reciprocity and mutuality in it. While not directly engaged in the social movements of his day, Newman saw the promotion of holistic education as a means by which social justice and transformation could be achieved. That is where he personally put his energy. Can we, from the perspective of our own unique charism and giftedness, examine how each can renew a commitment to this loving justice of the Gospels? Fidelity to both is possible.
The elephant in the room
In Newman’s story I see a profoundly beautiful elephant in the room. That is his 34-year relationship with Ambrose St John. It was clearly one of deep spiritual and emotional intimacy.
It does seem clear that a more expansive ethic of friendship prevailed in Newman’s time. It makes me wonder about the gradual narrowing and shallowing of the conceptualisation of friendship that has taken place in our part of the world. How far have we moved from the concept of the anam cara once treasured? What can we do to encourage people (men in particular), to deepen conversations and allow spiritual and emotional intimacy to feature more in personal friendships?
Truth does not change, but our understanding and expression of it must
Newman taught that doctrine develops: truth does not change, but human understanding and expression of it must.
To honour Newman’s life’s work, theology can and must continue to develop in service to deeper revelation of truth in all domains, including in same-sex relationships. Courage is needed to grasp the nettle of our Church’s mutually damaging stand-off with this enduring reality.
I see an invitation to move beyond morality to consider quality and substance in all relationships. Historian, activist and theologian Alan Bray suggested deeper questions i.e. “how do people live faithful lives?” and “how do relationships of affection, fidelity, friendship and love get recognised by the Church?” Our theology of baptism can also be deepened by committing to such enquiries. In general, a collective fidelity to pursue deeper understanding of unchanging truth can surely unlock points of disagreement in our synodal journey?
Looking at Newman in dialogue with synodality, the overall call seems clear to me. It is to perpetually seek and perpetually deepen. ‘Lead Kindly Light’ is a guiding prayer: “I loved to choose and see my path but now, lead Thou me on, keep Thou my feet, lead Thou me on.”
Noelle Fitzpatrick is a humanitarian aid worker with experience of conflict and its impacts in Kosovo, Sudan, South Sudan, Lebanon, and Syria. Currently a student of the MA in Chaplaincy and Pastoral work in DCU.
