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On Saturday, Benedict addressed Britain’s politicians in the very hall where Sir Thomas More, the great Catholic martyr, was condemned to death for opposing the reformation of Henry VIII. It was an extraordinary moment, and a reminder of the resilience of Catholicism, across a gulf of years that’s consumed thrones, nations, entire civilizations.

This, above all, is why the crowds cheered for the pope, in Edinburgh and London and Birmingham—because almost five centuries after the Catholic faith was apparently strangled in Britain, their church is still alive.

I think that’s absolutely right. And while grace will lead Britain home, the pope didn’t talk about the obligations of every vocation in life for his health. He was calling on the bishops and the priests and religious, yes, and the politicians, yes, to lead a revival in Britain. But every Catholic man and woman—the laity don’t get to rest on our kneelers—too.
As a priest friend summed up the visit this morning: Pope Benedict “built the foundation for something monumental, but whether it actually becomes monumental depends on what happens from here, whether it inspires Brits more than ephemerally to build on those foundations. I’m praying that it does.”

So am I. And that we learn here, too. When he addressed everyone, he was really addressing everyone.

As a Catholic friend of mine in Lisbon beautifully and faithfully assessed both trips last night: “the Holy Father’s visit was a huge success and I am not surprised. Not only because he has such a gentle, clear, brilliant way of exposing the Gospel message as something fascinating and totally simple and natural (as in: we were created by a loving God so the natural thing is to be attracted to Him and the truth the Son came to reveal . . .) but also because Our Lady was quite clear here in Portugal that She was with him! We are living fascinating times and I am totally confident that after a needed purification we will witness a marvelous rebirth of a united Christianity.”

As I pointed to earlier, he did not pass up the opportunity to talk about another priest’s love of Mary yesterday.

There’s a hermeneutics of continuity to Pope Benedict.

And there are other similarities between the two trips, too. Fatima didn’t get the pre-trip gloom-and-doom and threats coverage the British trip did, but both Portugal and the United Kingdom both wound up warmly welcoming the Holy Father, despite all kinds of crazy secular things going on there.

Pearce also did an excellent job this weekend as a papal color commentator on EWTN.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: What was it like being there today for the beatification of John Henry Newman?

Leoni Caldecott: It was incredible. The rain let up just as the Holy Father arrived, and the beatification was extremely moving for those of us who had awaited it for years—to get to this moment at last! Even more so because this most Newmanian pope actually came here, to England, and to our diocese, to beatify a man in his own place and among his own people.

Lopez: Why is Blessed Cardinal Newman important to Catholics and specifically British Catholics?

Caldecott: He encompasses the whole reach of the British Christian experience in his 90 or so years of life. Evangelical, mainstream Anglican, Anglo-Catholic, Catholic. Also he stands in a prophetic place in the 19th century which was such an important cultural moment for the British, the height of the industrial revolution, the challenges to religious faith, Darwinism, which Newman understood and was well-placed to respond to (An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, the book in which John Henry Newman wrote himself into the Catholic Church, is a kind of origin of species for theology). He embodies the best of what it means to be British — intellectual integrity, pragmatic approach, a sense of courtesy particularly with regard to debate and contention. But he is a gift to the Church universal because he prophesied and understood the crisis of modernity, he responded in a balanced way, and if not exploited by either side, is a force for meaningful discourse between right and left tending positions among Catholics. This is why he gets ‘claimed’ by both conservatives and liberals. Yet he saw very keenly the perils of liberalism, just as he says the perils of rigid (as opposed to “ressourcement,” can’t think of another way of describing it) conservatism.

Lopez: How integral is he to your historic identity?

Caldecott: As I said above, he embodies a crucial moment in our history, the rise of the modern period, a time when Britain was immensely powerful, yet he saw the seeds of our potential self-destruction too. And right in the middle of the 19th century, the reestablishment of the Catholic hierarchy, the catholic literary revival, all of that is spanned by Newman’s experience and writings.

Lopez: “Heart speaks unto heart,” we have been told, was Cardinal Newman sealing his homosexuality on his grave, in being buried with Ambrose St. John. Well, is it?

Caldecott: In a word, no! It is taken from St. Francis de Sales, another remarkably balanced spiritual figure. It refers in the first place to the discourse between the human and the Divine heart. So to prayer, understood as a personal relationship with the Lord, the experience of being perfectly understood by our creator, of being truly ourselves with Him. However it extends to human relationships, in that dynamic correspondence indicated by Jesus when he summed up the commandments in two moments: Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. Also we need to pay attention to the “Loquitur” of the phrase: closeness to God ultimately makes it easier for us to communicate with one another, to hear one another. The heart of God makes eloquence possible…

Newman loved Fr. Ambrose with a very intense love, the love of two compagnons de guerre who had been together since conversion at Littlemore and through all the trials thereafter. I believe somewhere he wrote, when it was suggested that this kind of friendship risked being a “particular friendship” discouraged in enclosed religious houses, that he did indeed love Fr. Ambrose more than the others, but that it was his fervent prayer that he would come to love all of them as much as him. I believe he meant this and put it into practice: he had too much integrity to do otherwise.

Lopez: How deep has this theme taken hold in Britain?

Caldecott: Deep. The two major television “documentaries” about the pope shown in the week before he arrived, were made by openly gay men. One of them was just over the top, the other was good in parts, but the gay issue seems to be such a sticking point wherever you turn. (I believe it is, for example, one reason Anne Rice gave for quitting the Church again). It’s a particular fault-line in British culture. Not sure why — that needs a deeper analysis than I am capable of now.

Lopez: Is it an outgrowth of something going on there, and in the West? About the state of love in the Western world?

Caldecott: Yes, definitely! We have ceased to understand pure love, by which I don’t mean in the puritanical sense. I mean purified, as described most pertinently by Pope Benedict in Deo Caritas Est when he says that even Eros has its part to play. Disinterested for oneself as much as possible, not self-gratifying. Yoked to the love of God. Contained within the love and presence of God. Given by God, not taken for ourselves. The Victorians had deep friendships which they were not ashamed to speak of in fairly intense terms, as Newman speaks of Fr. Ambrose especially after the latter’s death. The Romantic Movement was just an extreme of this but I sometimes wonder whether all Victorians were to some extent in the sway of the Romantic idiom in speaking of those they cared for. You need to understand Victorian culture to understand what is going on here. The contemporary gay “rights” culture is ahistorical in its grasp of something like this, as much contemporary commentary is. Plus we are now obsessed with sexuality in isolation from the rest of the personal/psychological landscape, which makes it impossible to believe that one can live deep friendship without a physical (self-gratifying/genital/whatever) component. Result we ricochet from Puritanism to absolute license and back, without ever passing by the person and having confidence in God’s plan for the interaction of persons with all their dignity.

Hence the crucial importance of both John Paul II and Benedict XVI: One continues and fills in where the other left off, there is a continuity and complementarily in their anthropology and understanding of human nature. I believe these two pontificates give us the opportunity to understand all this much more deeply in the light of Christ — there is more work to be done. Certainly the scandals, not just the child-abuse ones, but the apparent license some priests have accorded to themselves, which is no different from the world, are symptomatic of what JPII called “the culture of death” just as much as abortion and end-of-life contempt. Added to this, a kind of covert homosexuality (even if not active) can cause an unbalanced emotional response to the “other.” which prevents a priest developing fully into a father. And we have never needed fatherly priests as much as we do now. Or fathers in general. There is a crucial question that the Church needs to answer: what is the place of “sexual orientation” in the holy soul? Or to put it another way, if the culture is putting the cart before the horse, how can we switch that around in a salvific context, without knee-jerk condemnations or, on the other hand, complacency about the status quo?

Lopez: Has your impression of this pope changed during the course of the visit?

Caldecott: I love him more than ever! My husband and I happened to have an experience of him before he became pope, which made us ready to celebrate when he was elected. He is a Mensch, as they say over the pond. A fine mind, a fine soul and a fascinating man.

Those who didn’t like him before the visit, though, may have had their pigeonholing slightly knocked, at least, by his demeanor during this visit. If only all priests and bishops had this quality of humanity (many do!) we would have no problems!

Lopez: The Holy Father had some clear messages for laypeople, youth, religious. What do you take your marching orders as in the wake of the visit?

Caldecott: Keep a hold of the truth—but in charity and with attentiveness to the position and concerns of your interlocutors. Do not be afraid to witness—but make sure that witness is witness to Christ, and not to your own preoccupations. Let Christ transform you and trust He will not let you down. Do nothing without prayer. Only Love will overcome . . .

Lopez: What makes you happiest as your reflect on this visit from the pope to your homeland?

Caldecott: It is always easier to carry on a struggle when something holy has entered into the context of that struggle. I just need to think of his face in the places I know, in Scotland and in London and in the beautiful surroundings of an English park surrounded by English oaks, to take heart in the future. And to remember him talking to my compatriots, interacting with everyone from the Queen to the smallest schoolchild, to feel I too, even as a Catholic, a pariah in many circles, do have a meaningful role to fulfill here.

It made me happy to hear our prime minister say: “You have challenged the whole country to sit up and think. And that can only be a good thing.”

Besides, one of my favorite games is “bust the stereotype.” It always makes me happy to watch him do that one!

Ratzinger is no Johnny-come-lately to his fondness for Newman. He studied the Grammar of Assent in the seminary, and a fellow student at the time, Alfred Laepple, has said that for him and the young Ratzinger, “Newman was our hero.”

During a workshop for American bishops in Dallas in 1991, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger reflected at length on Newman’s legacy, arguing that Newman’s emphasis on conscience rests on a prior commitment to truth.

“Conscience is central for [Newman] because truth stands in the middle,” Ratzinger said then. “Conscience signifies the perceptible and demanding presence of the voice of truth in the subject himself.”

In that sense, Ratzinger argued, it’s a mistake to style Newman as a patron saint of dissent.

For Newman, Ratzinger argued, “A man of conscience is one who never acquires tolerance, well- being, success, public standing, and approval on the part of prevailing opinion, at the expense of truth.”

That led Ratzinger to identify two standards for a genuine sense of the role of conscience.

“First, conscience is not identical to personal wishes and taste,” he said. “Secondly, conscience cannot be reduced to social advantage, to group consensus or to the demands of political and social power.”

That, in effect, is the version of John Henry Newman whom Benedict beatified this morning. In some ways this was a classically “Ratzingerian” moment, a theologian-pope embracing and extolling another towering Catholic intellectual, rather than a devotional figure who embodies popular religiosity.

That last bit being said, Allen also acknowledges that which may have been key in making the visit to the United Kingdom a successful one: the Britishness of it all. A proud people wanted to celebrate their John Henry Newman! He also acknowledges that the Holy Father ultimately honored Newman for being a father.

Benedict ended his beatification homily with:

The warmth and humanity underlying his appreciation of the pastoral ministry is beautifully expressed in another of his famous sermons: “Had Angels been your priests, my brethren, they could not have condoled with you, sympathized with you, have had compassion on you, felt tenderly for you, and made allowances for you, as we can; they could not have been your patterns and guides, and have led you on from your old selves into a new life, as they can who come from the midst of you” (“Men, not Angels: the Priests of the Gospel”, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, 3). He lived out that profoundly human vision of priestly ministry in his devoted care for the people of Birmingham during the years that he spent at the Oratory he founded, visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison. No wonder that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here. One hundred and twenty years later, great crowds have assembled once again to rejoice in the Church’s solemn recognition of the outstanding holiness of this much-loved father of souls. What better way to express the joy of this moment than by turning to our heavenly Father in heartfelt thanksgiving, praying in the words that Blessed John Henry Newman placed on the lips of the choirs of angels in heaven:

Praise to the Holiest in the height
And in the depth be praise;
In all his words most wonderful,
Most sure in all his ways!

(The Dream of Gerontius).

He may be a towering intellect, but the most important part of the life of this Blessed man is that he was a man of holiness. One who loved Mary.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: What has the mood been like in Birmingham?

Patrick Reilly: There is great excitement among Catholics, who are not used to getting such positive attention—and more, to be hosting the first-ever beatification in England. Even among Anglicans and others, there is a sort of fascination about the visit. BBC News, for instance, varies between uninformed attacks on Pope Benedict and significant news coverage of his activities here, far better coverage of his message than appeared in the U.S. media in 2008. I had the opportunity to attend the Birmingham town council’s dinner Saturday to celebrate the papal visit, and politicians of all stripes were claiming a culture of accommodation for all faiths—borrowing a key theme of the Holy Father’s visit.

Lopez: What’s been the highlight of the papal visit so far?

Newman Shrine

For the Cardinal Newman Society there was a second highlight, and that was Pope Benedict’s address to Catholic educators. He forthrightly addressed a key problem in Catholic higher education: capitulation to the idea of education as job training. “…[E]ducation is not and must never be considered as purely utilitarian. It is about forming the human person, equipping him or her to live life to the full—in short it is about imparting wisdom. And true wisdom is inseparable from knowledge of the Creator.” Who can argue that Western society today is overrun with technically skilled workers, politicians, lawyers and doctors who often lack wisdom and ethical formation?

Lopez: Tell us something I would never know about this visit from just watching on television or reading the press reports.

Reilly: The most intimate portion of the Holy Father’s visit will remain so, because the media were not permitted to invade the Birmingham Oratory where Pope Benedict visited Sunday. The Oratory was founded by John Henry Newman in 1848, and it is where he died in 1890. Pope Benedict visited to spend time in prayerful reflection in Newman’s personal room, chapel, and library, and to view some of the 10,000 priceless manuscripts in Newman’s archive which remains at the Oratory. As Pope Benedict reportedly has such great affection and respect for Newman, one can imagine the Holy Father’s emotions when holding the original manuscript of Newman’s famous “Tract 90” and some of the yet-unpublished letters and sermons. The Cardinal Newman Society’s pilgrims had the same experience on Friday when we visited the Oratory, upon the gracious invitation of Provost Very Rev. Richard Duffield, Cong. Orat.

Lopez: So what exactly is your connection to the Newman oratory?

Reilly: For years the Birmingham Oratory has struggled to cover the large expense of investigating possible miracles and otherwise advancing the Cause for Newman’s Canonization. Meanwhile Newman’s handwritten letters, diaries, sermons, lectures, poetry, and more remained in need of proper preservation and security. As one part of our Newman Legacy Project to promote and preserve Newman’s legacy—especially as it relates to Catholic education and the problem of secularization—the Cardinal Newman Society is working to raise funds to build a climate-controlled, fireproof archive building at the Oratory. One prominent archivist in Europe described the Newman archive as the most important project in the West. The availability of these manuscripts will have great importance to scholars and will increase appreciation for Newman’s importance in today’s society. We are ten percent of the way toward our goal of just over $1 million for the Newman Legacy Project, which also includes prayer campaigns and educational efforts in the United States.

Lopez: Besides helping the oratory, you’ve got a very clear spiritual component to your trip. Why was that important? What is it centered around?

Duffield Princess Michael Reilly

Reilly: The City of Birmingham and the Birmingham Oratory co-sponsored a conference featuring four leading biographers of Newman. These included the preeminent biographer Rev. Ian Ker pf Oxford University, and also Rev. Keith Beaumont of France whose newly released biography was chosen as the official beatification text by the Oratory.
Lopez: What’s so special about Cardinal Newman?

Reilly: Newman was a prominent nineteenth century convert, priest and scholar who authored The Idea of a University, which defined the liberal arts and Catholic higher education for more than a century. Newman’s other important works—concerning faith and reason, papal authority, doctrine, conscience and Liberalism—have led many to refer to him as the “Father of Vatican II.” Newman’s critique of secularism is extremely important to the Vatican’s efforts today to re-evangelize Europe and the United States.

Lopez: You’ve been involved in higher education since longer than I’ve known you—and we’ve known one another for at least fifteen years. Why is Cardinal Newman so essential to it—in both Catholic and secular schools?

Reilly: The solution to secularization in Catholic higher education can hardly be said to depend entirely on the writings of one man, and yet God raises up leaders when they are needed, and the nineteenth century Newman gets right to the core of what is wrong with many Catholic colleges and universities today. When theology is marginalized and provokes embarrassment among faculty as somehow lesser than other disciplines… when professors use their platforms at Catholic universities to provoke doubt in God’s revelation… and when academic freedom is used to justify nonsense and anti-intellectual activity, Newman lucidly provides most of the answers that educators need today in his Idea of a University and related manuscripts.
Lopez: What are the goals and hopes, besides preserving things?

Reilly: Other activities of the Newman Legacy Project of the Cardinal Newman Society include lectures, media outreach, fellowships for Newman scholars, and distribution of short films about Newman in cooperation with Corpus Christi Watershed of Corpus Christi, Texas. I should note that Corpus Christi Watershed did such a beautiful job on the film that preceded Sunday’s beatification Mass, and their director Brother Daniel Varholy has helped substantially with the archive project at the Birmingham Oratory. It’s an outstanding Catholic arts collective that also deserves financial support.

Lopez: How important to you is his conversion story, especially in the work you do?

Reilly: Newman’s conversion could be seen as reflecting the journey that students should experience at a Catholic college or university. He had the desire for Catholicism while an Anglican, but it was by reason and study that he came to the realization that the full truth of Christianity lies within the Catholic Church. Even students who are raised in strong Catholic households and perhaps have studied at Catholic schools often lack the tools of reason to apply and integrate all that they have learned about God and His Creation. Newman’s approach to education in The Idea of a University helps students make their own intellectual and faith journeys—perhaps not identical to Newman’s, but possibly as fruitful.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor-at-large of National Review Online.

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The other matter I touched upon in February with the Bishops of England and Wales, when I asked you to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. This should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics. It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all. Let us continue to pray and work unceasingly in order to hasten the joyful day when that goal can be accomplished.

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As we reflect on the human frailty that these tragic events so starkly reveal, we are reminded that, if we are to be effective Christian leaders, we must live lives of the utmost integrity, humility and holiness. As Blessed John Henry Newman once wrote, “O that God would grant the clergy to feel their weakness as sinful men, and the people to sympathize with them and love them and pray for their increase in all good gifts of grace” (Sermon, 22 March 1829). I pray that among the graces of this visit will be a renewed dedication on the part of Christian leaders to the prophetic vocation they have received, and a new appreciation on the part of the people for the great gift of the ordained ministry. Prayer for vocations will then arise spontaneously, and we may be confident that the Lord will respond by sending labourers to bring in the plentiful harvest that he has prepared throughout the United Kingdom (cf. Mt 9:37-38). In this regard, I am glad that I will shortly have the opportunity to meet the seminarians of England, Scotland and Wales, and to assure them of my prayers as they prepare to play their part in bringing in that harvest.

Keep an eye on the U.K. on this front in the coming years and decade …

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Since your visit to Rome, political changes in the United Kingdom have focused attention on the consequences of the financial crisis, which has caused so much hardship to countless individuals and families. The spectre of unemployment is casting its shadow over many people’s lives, and the long-term cost of the ill-advised investment practices of recent times is becoming all too evident. In these circumstances, there will be additional calls on the characteristic generosity of British Catholics, and I know that you will take a lead in calling for solidarity with those in need. The prophetic voice of Christians has an important role in highlighting the needs of the poor and disadvantaged, who can so easily be overlooked in the allocation of limited resources. In their teaching document Choosing the Common Good, the Bishops of England and Wales underlined the importance of the practice of virtue in public life. Today’s circumstances provide a good opportunity to reinforce that message, and indeed to encourage people to aspire to higher moral values in every area of their lives, against a background of growing cynicism regarding even the possibility of virtuous living.

What does the Gospel mean today? It’s always the same message of Love. And a shepherd spells that up, as we struggle. And if you’re a bishop, the successor reminds you of what you need to be reminding people of and living, even as even you worry about parish finances and struggle with this economy, too.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor-at-large of National Review Online.