As the announced beatification of Cardinal Henry Newman draws nearer, some Catholic circles are becoming more nervous about the statement sustained by the TIA website that Newman was a liberal, a precursor of Modernism and Progressivism. "Unless you exibit evidence, you cannot be taken seriously!" a reader from England tells us. "You are slandering a great traditionalist! Prove what you say or take your accusation from the Internet!" shouts a sede-vacantist...
As if it were difficult to prove what is obvious for anyone not under the spell of Progressivism. So, to accomplish this easy task and help remove the blinders from the eyes of self-deluded Catholics, we will present some documents in this section showing Newman to be a liberal.
In the first one below, he declares his solidarity with Lord Acton and Johann Dollinger, liberal leaders in 19th century England and Germany respectively.
The source for this document is the book The Life of John Henry Newman Based on His Private Journals and Correspondence (London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1912, 2 volumes). The author is Wilfrid Philip Ward, the son of a William George Ward, a close friend of Cardinal Newman. The document below is the facsimile of pages 438-439 of volume one.
|
