Update from Patrick Reilly on Newman Declaration

Today, Our Patron Is Patron for All the Universal Church.

 For more than three decades, The Cardinal Newman Society has championed the educational vision of our holy patron, Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman.

Our Newman Guide is the hallmark of fidelity and truth in Catholic education, a service to families seeking education that carries out Cardinal Newman’s vision.  We help schools, colleges, and other educational programs achieve Newman Guide recognition by meeting high standards that Newman himself embraced.

While Cardinal Newman has long inspired educators by his wisdom and articulation of the mission of faithful Catholic education, The Cardinal Newman Society works to bring that vision to reality.  We strive for the reform of Catholic education according to the models of Newman’s own Catholic University of Ireland and Oratory School.

We rejoice, then, that The Cardinal Newman Society’s holy patron is now declared patron of Catholic education for the universal Church! Deo gratias!

Today, in his apostolic letter, Disegnare Nuove Mappe di Speranza (Drawing New Maps of Hope), Pope Leo XIV formally identified Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman as “co-patron of the Church’s educational mission together with Saint Thomas Aquinas.”

In this, he follows the footsteps of his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, who in 1880 declared Saint Thomas Aquinas the “patron of Catholic universities, academies, faculties, and schools” (Cum hoc sit).

When we launched The Cardinal Newman Society in 1993, Cardinal Newman was for us a wise and holy visionary for the reform of Catholic education.  Then, we had the great joy of leading the official American pilgrimage to Newman’s beatification in England in 2010.  Cardinal Newman Society pilgrims also attended in his canonization in Rome in 2019.  This Saturday, we will witness Pope Leo’s declaration of Newman as Doctor of the Church and Patron of Catholic Education.

It is a great week for the Church, for Catholic education, and in a special way for The Cardinal Newman Society and all our members, contributors, and partners who have toiled to make Newman’s great vision of faithful Catholic education a reality for Catholic families!

This is the first in a series of updates from Patrick Reilly, founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, as he departs for Rome to participate in the Jubilee of the World of Education ceremonies, and the naming of St. John Henry Cardinal Newman, Doctor of the Universal Church and Patron of Catholic Education. Reilly is a noted speaker on St. John Henry Newman and his vision for Catholic education. He is available for media interviews and speaking engagements.

If you are interested, contact Kevin Murphy, Chief Content Officer at The Cardinal Newman Society: kmurphy@cardinalnewmansociety.org or call 816.863.8880.