Cardinal Newman on Consulting the Faithful

by Christine Schenk csj, Executive Director, FutureChurch

On Sunday September 19, Pope Benedict beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman before a crowd of 60,000 gathered in cold and rainy Birmingham, England. Newman, an intellectual giant of the 19th century, was a prominent Anglican vicar and leader who converted to Catholicism at the age of forty-four. He brought many Anglican intellectuals into the Church with him.

As is often true of holy people, Church functionaries did not always appreciate Newman. In 1859 he was forced to resign as the editor of a lay publication known as The Rambler, for defending an article written by a Catholic layman.  The writer was a school inspector who believed that if Catholic schools received money from the British state, they should also welcome state inspectors. Newman apologized to irritated British bishops, but he also published his opinion that since bishops had recently sought lay consultation in defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, they should also be open to lay perspectives on more practical matters. This angered the bishops even more and they quickly called for his resignation.

As his last act at The Rambler, Newman published an unsigned article, “On Consulting the Faithful in the Matter of Doctrine,” listing 20 examples from church history in which the hierarchy got it wrong while the laity did not. The most well known is the 4th century Arian heresy denying Jesus’ divinity. At the time most bishops were Arians but the laity overwhelmingly maintained a staunch belief in Christ’s divinity. Of this period Newman wrote, “the body of bishops failed in their confession of faith” and argued “the voice of tradition may in certain cases express itself, not by Councils, nor Fathers, nor Bishops but ‘the communis fidelium sensus’ ” —that is the shared sense of the faithful.

Newman’s writings would become very influential in subsequent years. On Consulting the Faithful was reprinted in the mid 20th century and was foundational to Vatican II teaching on the dignity of the laity. Pope Paul VI went so far as to call Vatican II “Newman’s Council” because his thought was at the root of so many conciliar ideas. Newman believed that church teaching is the result of both the laity and bishops “breathing together” (conspiratio). Therefore, a primary responsibility of both bishops and popes is to listen carefully to the faithful before teaching doctrine.

Newman spent much of his life trying to win over Catholic laity, priests and bishops to his enlightened understanding that all the parts of the church need each other: “I think I am right in saying that the tradition of the Apostles, committed to the whole Church ... manifests itself variously at various times: sometimes by the mouth of the episcopacy, sometimes by the doctors, sometimes by the people, sometimes by liturgies ... customs, disputes, movements, and all those other phenomena which are comprised under the name of history. It follows that none of these channels of tradition may be treated with disrespect.” While Newman met with scant success in his lifetime, he had a major impact on Vatican II thinking about the laity, the development of doctrine (church teaching develops over time) and the primacy of conscience.

The beatification of this wise and holy man of letters is a fitting prelude to the coming celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. Blessed John Newman is in a special way a patron of reform and renewal groups such as Voice of the Faithful, FutureChurch, Call To Action, Bishops’ Accountability, SNAP and others seeking full participation of all Catholics in church life and ministry.

We work hard to transform passive Catholics into active ones. Our prayer, education and advocacy efforts empower faithful Catholics to discern and give voice to the Sensus Fidelium on matters pertaining to the good of the church.

FutureChurch is celebrating our 20th anniversary year. In 2012, the whole Church will celebrate Vatican II’s call for an increasingly empowered People of God. 

We celebrate secure in the knowledge that we stand on the shoulders of giants.