Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801 – 1890) to be Beatified September 19, 2010

John Henry Newman, attributed with the founding of Catholic Student Clubs on college campuses, is in a process toward beatification this Fall.  Pope Benedict has had a particular attentiveness to the writings of Cardinal Newman, and therefore has chosen to make an exception to his own policy of not presiding at beatifications, but instead having the cardinal of the diocese perform the beatification.  The ceremony will be part of the Papal visit to England, September 16-19. 

Cardinal John Henry Newman, once an Anglican cleric who founded the Oxford Movement to bring the Anglican Church back to its Catholic roots, became Catholic at the age of 44.  He is a figure of great literary culture, a poet, and a pastor.  Because of his firm belief that faith and academic scholarship needed to be in honest and searching dialogue in the pursuit of truth, he has often been called the patron saint of critics who love the Church.  As a Newman Center living within the heritage of Cardinal Newman, we rejoice with the church in this recognition of his life.