Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Cardinal Newman's Legacy is at Brompton Oratory where there's Trouble

No doubt, there's already a lot of rumpus about just how much a strong advocate the great Cardinal Newman was to the cause of belle lettres and literary genius. A Los Angeles Priest has tried to do his part to exonerate the beleaguered cause of Sainthood. Cardinal Newman's contemporaries weren't quite as keen about his Orthodoxy as are Cardinal Newman's latter day would-be hagiographers. Even Lord Acton, whose liberal Catholicism the Cardinal stood in good stead, found his personal orthodoxy suspect, perhaps even, distasteful.

Even a mix-up at Brompton Oratory won't put a damper on this.

Can a man about whom, for those who really know anything about him, be described as anything but catty, vengeful and petty? Many people look at Cardinal Newman as a herald of Vatican II. He certainly set an example for others of his Liberal set; we've got too many of his type already in the clerical state and we need more Cardinal Mannings.

Just how much will get out about the Cardinal's personal Orthodoxy remains to be seen, but perhaps there is something to the genius of the Papacy that perceives things as they are but not as they seem. Cardinal Newman, his literary genius notwithstanding, might not have been the most friendly and gregarious of men, but perhaps he was more than that, a Saint perhaps?

Hopefully, the Cardinal will have better defenders than he has opponents, because he really needs strong advocates to defend his honor and the honor of the Church.

So far, owing to the prurient interest of our modern world, the question of Cardinal Newman's sexuality far outweighs any considerations of his orthodoxy.

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