John Henry Cardinal Newman to be Beatified!

Cardinal Newman has always been one of my favorite saints and among my greatest intellectual influences. Today it was announced that he shall be beatified! His book, "The Idea of a University" has given me much to think about regarding the nature and purpose of Catholic higher education today. Reading his "Apologia Pro Vita Sua" on an 80 hour Greyhound bus trip inflamed my passion for the life of the mind and motivated me to give my life over to Catholic education. It also elicited from me a strong interest in apologetics. His "Grammar of Assent," especially his concept of "the illative sense" has fascinated me since the spring of 1991 when I studied it as a seminarian at Notre Dame.

Very soon we'll all be able to say, "Blessed Cardinal Newman, Pray for Us!"

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