Lead Kindly Light - By Averthanus L. D’Souza

GOA, Sept. 16, 2010, 11:00 Hrs (Averthanus L. D’Souza):

The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain in mid September has a very special significance for the entire world. The focus of his visit will be the beatification on September 19th of John Henry Cardinal Newman, who is acknowledged to be one of Britain’s most towering intellectuals on par with St. Thomas More, G.K.Chesterton, Hillaire Belloc, and Ronald Knox. Britain should feel proud that such an outstanding thinker will be included in the pantheon of men and women, whom the Catholic Church proposes for emulation by people all around the world – whether Catholics or not. Of course, the conferment of the title of Blessed or Saint is an endorsement of the person’s sanctity – not his intellectual achievements. In Newman, however, like in St. Thomas More, the qualities of mind and of personal sanctity are eminently combined. It is precisely because of this that Newman stands out in today’s world as a person to be venerated as well as emulated.

Cardinal Newman is more relevant today because of the widespread conspiracy to create a barrier between faith and reason. According to many popular articles which appear in the Press, and also in many so-called specialized journals, the argument is proposed that faith and reason are mutually exclusive and incompatible. It is said that faith is contrary to reason and is based on blind acceptance of dogmas which cannot stand the scrutiny of reason. It is also asserted that those who accept or profess any belief are irrational and ignorant. According to these arguments any belief should be rejected which does not pass the test of reason. It is precisely this kind of flawed reasoning that Newman addressed in his many writings and sermons. In his most outstanding treatise on “The Grammar of Assent” Newman showed, quite conclusively, that reason itself is based on certain assumptions which are taken as axiomatic. All arguments are based on axioms or presuppositions which are not established by reason. He goes on to show that belief is not only not contrary to reason but is in fact demanded by Reason.

Interestingly enough, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, one of the most eminent Indian philosophers and statesmen shared Newman’s view of the mutual relationship between Reason and Faith. In his widely read book “The Present Crisis of Faith” (Orient Paperbacks, Delhi 32.) Dr. Radhakrishnan observes that “A philosopher’s loyalty to reason does not commit him to the proposition that the nature of Ultimate Reality can be apprehended only as an object of reason. Many philosophers both in the East and the West have reached the conclusion that reality is suprarational, that it is not in its ultimate nature accessible to conceptual understanding, that religious insights are also genuine revelation of Ultimate Reality.” (pg.35) He goes on to observe: “Authentic religion is based on the consciousness of being in direct relationship with the Supreme. This experience transcends all forms, all images and concepts. The union is effected in the central self which is the root of intellect and will alike. All religious utterances are vain attempts to deal justly with the meaning of the experience which has been attained.” (pg.36)

John Henry Newman had the unique distinction of stressing the importance of the role of the laity in the Church at a time when the laity were practically relegated to the periphery of the Church’s life. Newman emphasized the fact of the consensus fidelium in the process of determining what the Church teaches as demanding implicit obedience. He gave an elaborate description of the unwavering loyalty of the faithful to the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus at the time of the Arian heresy; even when many theologians and Bishops were in error. In a defence of an article which appeared in the Rambler, Newman asserted that “the body of the faithful is one of the witnesses to the fact of the tradition of revealed doctrine, and because their consensus through Christendom is the voice of the Infallible Church.” He cites St. Augustine’s observation that “in matters whereupon the Scripture has not spoken clearly, the custom of the people of God, or the institutions of our predecessors, are to be held as law.” (“On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine” Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1961, pg.23). Newman was obviously decades ahead of his contemporaries in the matter of recognizing the important role of the People of God in the development of Doctrine. His influence was palpable during the Ecumenical Council, Vatican II (1962-65). The Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity – Apostolicam Actuositatem- is indelibly marked by the insights of Cardinal Newman. Bishop Gordon Wheeler, retired Bishop of Leeds wrote: “Those of us who took part in Vatican II became very aware that Newman had not only come into his own but the whole mind of the Council was imbued with his thought.” In his reflections on the theologian John Duns Scotus, Pope Benedict XVI (July 7th 2010) pointed out that valuable theologians […] “enriched with their specific thought what the People of God already believed spontaneously about the Blessed Virgin, manifested in acts of piety, in the expressions of art and, in general, in Christian living.” He noted how “faith in the Immaculate Conception or in the bodily assumption of the Virgin was already present in the People of Goa, while theology had not yet found the key to interpret it in the totality of the doctrine of the faith. Thus the People of God precede theologians and all this thanks to that supernatural ‘sensus fidei’, namely, that capacity infused by the Holy Spirit, which qualifies us to embrace the reality of the faith, with humility of heart and mind.” Pope Benedict XVI gently invited theologians to “listen to this source of faith and have the humility and simplicity of the “little ones.” “In this sense, the People of God is ‘magisterium that precedes,’ and that later must be deepened and intellectually accepted by theology.” (Pope Benedict’s address on July 7th 2010 when he spoke of Blessed Duns Scotus at the general audience in Paul VI Hall.)

Cardinal Newman who was born in 1801 was described as “that shining light, and pride of the English race,” came into prominence as one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, which endeavoured to spread Anglo-Catholic ideas in the Church of England. A pamphlet called Tract 90 published in 1841 in which he tried to reconcile the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England with the Catholic doctrine of the Council of Trent, aroused great controversy. He was received into the Catholic Church on 9th October, 1845 and was ordained priest in Rome in 1847. He was elevated to the rank of Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879. He died in 1890. Preaching at the London Oratory, Cardinal Manning said: “The history of our land will hereafter record the name of John Henry Newman among the greatest of our people, as a Confessor for the Faith.”

Amid the confusion which is being spread in our times about the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, the complementarities between the sexes and the mutual reinforcement afforded by faith and reason, Cardinal Newman stands out as a beacon of light. We need to pray: “Lead Kindly Light amid the encircling gloom. Lead Thou me on. . . .”