American-born Cardinal John Foley, formerly President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (1984-2007) and now Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, visited the Birmingham Oratory earlier this week.He had just come from the Holy Land where he had accompanied Pope Benedict .
On his arrival on Sunday evening, Cardinal Foley paused in prayer before Newman's relics which were transferred to the Oratory last November in anticipation of his possible beatification later this year.
A miracle in the US attributed to his intercession is being investigated.
On Monday the cardinal celebrated Mass in Newman's private oratory, visited his library and room and saw the desk where did his writing.
On Tuesday he presided at a Solemn Latin Mass for the feast of the sixteenth century founder of the Oratory, St Philip Neri, at the Oratory Church.
Cardinal Foley expressed the hope that the combined power of St Philip Neri’s joyous spirituality – the saint was known for his sense of humour – and the theological gifts of Cardinal Newman, might “yet stimulate that Second Spring so needed in this island and in our disillusioned and often very unhappy world.”
Speaking of his long-standing interest in Newman and enthusiastic support for the cause of his canonisation, he said: “Cardinal Newman believed that faith and reason are compatible and complementary. I too believe that effective apologetics – the explanation of our Catholic faith to the modern world – has to be based on reason. God gave us reason, but he also gave us revelation, and revelation doesn’t contradict reason but rather completes it. This is central too in the theology of Pope Benedict XVI.”
“I love the motto Newman chose when he became a cardinal – cor ad cor loquitur ('heart speaks to heart'). You might have expected an intellectual to choose ‘mind speaks to mind’, but he was able to see that there has to be personal communication too – we find Jesus in others who reveal him to us.”
He expressed the hope that he would be declared a doctor of the Church.
Cardinal Foley said his interest in Newman dated from his contact with the Newman Movement in Philadelphia in the 1950s. "I read the Apologia pro Vita Sua, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, and The Idea of a University, as well as some of Newman’s sermons.”
Fr Paul Chavasse, Provost of the Oratory and postulator of the cause for Cardinal Newman’s canonisation, said: “Cardinal Foley's presence here is a sign of the interest in, and devotion to, the Venerable John Henry Newman, all over the world.”
“At this moment, I ask for the prayers of Catholics throughout the world for the successful conclusion of Newman’s process of beatification. I pray that Newman will be more and more understood as a theologian of penetrating insight, as well a heavenly intercessor for the Church today.”
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