His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has made a success of his historic state visit to the United Kingdom this week so far. There has been a meeting with Queen Elizabeth and her Royal Consort in Scotland. There has been a speech to all sorts of leaders in Westminster Hall, an ecumenical prayer service in Westminster Abbey with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, a mass mostly in Latin at Westminster Cathedral with the Roman Catholic Clergy and faithful, a vigil at Hyde Park and tomorrow there will be a Beatification of the Cardinal in Birmingham.
John Henry Cardinal Newman was an Anglican Cleric who did a great deal to restore the health of Anglican thought, scholarship and liturgy before spending a long time as a Roman Catholic doing a lot to restore the Roman Catholic Church in England, writing scholarship and poetry and creating a movement of renewal. His writing on the university as an institution has been a very important influence on my own life and thought. Although it has gotten muddled in my mind.
Tomorrow I hope to do a post on the Beatification itself. If not tomorrow then the next day.
Franksummers3ba's Blog 