Bl. John Henry Newman Roundup – UPDATED!

The Pope’s excellent address on Newman, in the vigil before the beatification.

And a round up of excellent reads on both the pope’s triumphant visit to the UK, and Newman’s beatification:

America Magazine’s Austen Ivereigh on one of the finest paragraphs of Benedict’s many addresses:

He then quoted Newman’s mediation that “God has called me to some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another”. Only Jesus knows what that “definite service” is, he went on; and he urged young people to “be open to his voice resounding in the depths of your heart: even now his heart is speaking to your heart.”

“Ask Our Lord what he has in mind for you! Ask him for the generosity to say ‘yes!’ Do not be afraid to give yourself totally to Jesus.”

If it weren’t delivered in the Pope’s deadpan, heavily accented English, this might have sounded like an evangelical revival; but this was the Successor to St Peter.

Actually, I thought it sounded quite a lot like John Paul II, but with a much less ponderous accent!

Behind that German accent:

“For me as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology,” Benedict told the crowd in his homily.

“Seventy years later, we recall with shame and horror the dreadful toll of death and destruction that war brings in its wake, and we renew our resolve to work for peace and reconciliation wherever the threat of conflict looms.”

Benedict has the force of his own life-experience to emphasize his words, but he is also very smart to remind the English who they are, and what sort of mettle they possess, as he encourages them in not allowing the forces of “aggressive secularism” to suppress their faith: Catholics today face “dismissal and ridicule

John Allen looks at Benedict’s long “relationship” with Newman

Is Benedict “poaching” amid the Anglicans?

Mission Accomplished

Imagine this awesome prayer, in your daily orisons

News of the World, which a Brit friend characterizes as “the UK’s most salacious Sunday tabloid” gives the Papal Trip a good write up

A nice “best of” article

Any Papal trip requires visits to Rocco, Rocco, Rocco, many, many, many times.

Prayers and Hymns by Newman

“Thank you for the warmth of your welcome.”

And now for something completely different…

UPDATE: An excellent look at how the laity is managing to find solutions to the Catholic Church’s communications problem” This is a must-read; I wonder if the template could be adapted for America?