One of the most significant contributions of the Second Vatican Council lay in its appropriation of the tria munera—that is the threefold office of Christ as priest, prophet, and king—as an architectonic structure for reflection on the church. 

It's one of Newman's most notorious lines, and a claim I for one wish were untrue: "The Catholic Church holds it better for the sun and moon to drop from heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many millions on it to die of starvation in extremest agony, as far as temporal affliction goes, than that one soul, I will not say, should be lost, but should commit one single venial sin, should tell one wilful untruth, or should steal one poor farthing without excuse."

The Grammar of Assent, published in 1870, represents Newman's last major work. As a religious epistemology, it provides systematically thought-through answers to questions that had preoccupied him since his early twenties

This month, many teachers like myself will be returning to our classrooms. It will be, like many things right now, challenging and uncertain. While some about our schools will be unfamiliar and new, much will remain the same.

Newman tended to talk about wealth and commerce in two ways: one prophetic and denunciatory, particularly of nations of shopkeepers, and one with applause—this is the nation of free enterprise.

Recently, a friend and I realized over a beer that we did not know what a good confession looked like. We had seen good (and bad) Masses; we had witnessed the efficacious baptism and confirmation. 

A deep dive is not required into Newman's writings to find his sober assessment that in Christianity, and particularly in the Catholic Church, we can, sadly, find ample incidents of corruption and failure.

In celebration of St. John Henry Newman's canonization in October of 2019, Franciscan University of Steubenville had various events in honor of Newman during the 2019–2020 academic year. One of those events was a faculty group, led by classics professor Dr. Theodore Harwood...

Dr. Timothy O'Malley presented this lecture as the keynote address for the National Institute for Newman Studies Spring 2020 Newman Symposium. The full lecture is posted at the end of the blog article.

This article does not take a firm stance on the question of whether the COVID-19 pandemic should be seen as a chastisement sent by God. If we were to follow John Henry Newman's lead, we would certainly have to remain open to that idea.