Seminars to mark Newman recognition by the Pope

Oriel College is co-hosting a series of academic seminars with the Oxford Newman Network about the teaching of Saint John Henry Newman to mark his proclamation by Pope Leo XIV as a Doctor of the Church, in recognition of his contributions to theology and doctrine.

Newman was a Fellow of Oriel College from 1822 to 1845 and is distinct among all other saints declared Doctors of the Church as the only former Protestant.

Oriel College has announced details of the first four seminars, which will be held during Michaelmas term 2025:

• 20 October: Professor Mark Wynn, Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion, Oriel College, ‘The emotions in the religious life: some perspectives drawn from Newman’s Grammar of Assent’
• 3 November: Dr Joshua Bennett, Fellow and Tutor in History, Lady Margaret Hall, ‘Newman and the Oxford Movement in context’
• 17 November: Dr Marie Daouda, Lecturer in French, Oriel College, ‘The apologetics of the novel: Callista, the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Roman Empire’
• 1 December: Dr Paul Shrimpton, Magdalen College School, ‘“The most dangerous man in England”: Newman and his theology of the Laity’

The seminars will take place at 5.30pm in the MacGregor Room at Oriel College.

During his time at Oriel College, Newman was ordained as an Anglican priest and became the vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. He also became one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.

Predominantly comprised of Fellows of Oriel College, including John Keble and EB Pusey, the Oxford Movement sought to revive the Anglican Church and restore its catholic and apostolic heritage. Eventually it led to the emergence of Anglo-Catholicism.

In the 1840s Newman resigned his posts at St Mary’s and Oriel College. He had come to believe the Roman Catholic Church, not the Anglican Church as he previously thought, had stayed truest to early Christian faith and doctrine.

He converted to Catholicism in 1845 and was ordained as a Catholic priest two years later. And in 1879 he was made a Cardinal. He died in Birmingham in 1890.

During his state visit to the UK in 2010, Pope Benedict presided at Newman’s beatification in Birmingham.

Pope Francis presided at Newman’s canonisation in 2019. Newman was the first English person born since the 17th century to be canonised, and thousands of Britons and many alumni of Oriel College travelled to Rome for the occasion.

Lord Mendoza, Provost of Oriel College, also attended the canonisation. In December 2023, he wrote to Pope Francis supporting the petitionary process to honour Newman as a Doctor of the Church.

In the letter Mendoza mentioned Newman’s “contribution as an educationalist that particularly shapes daily academic life at Oriel College — and, indeed, the whole University of Oxford — today”.

Newman is only the second Doctor of the Church to be born in England. The first was Saint Bede, also known as the Venerable Bede, who was born in 672 AD and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.

The Pope will proclaim Newman a Doctor of the Church in Rome on 1 November 2025, coinciding with the Catholic Church’s Jubilee of the World of Education.