Once again, St. John Henry Newman is in the limelight of my weekend radio program, “Vatican Insider,” because of my special guest, Msgr. Keith Newton. Our new saint has been on my mind for several weeks, going back to my interview a few weeks ago with Sr. Birgit Dechant of the Friends of Cardinal Newman Center in Rome who gave a little card with Newman’s suggestions for A Short Road to Perfection. I share that with you now:
If you ask me what you are to do in order to be perfect, I say, first-
Do not lie in bed beyond the due time of rising;
Give your first thoughts to God;
Make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament;
Say the Angelus devoutly;
Eat and drink to God’s glory;
Say the Rosary well;
Be recollected; keep out bad thoughts;
Make your evening meditation well;
Examine yourself daily;
Go to bed in good time, and you are already perfect.
VATICAN INSIDER, THE ORDINARIATE AND ST. JOHN HENRY
I encourage you to tune in to Vatican Insider this weekend when my special guest in the interview segment is Msgr. Keith Newton. He was an Anglican bishop who, after 35 years of ordained ministry, entered into full communion with the Catholic Church and was ordained a Catholic priest on January 15, 2011 by then Archbishop, now Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster.
At that time Pope Benedict named him as the first ordinary for the Ordinariate. What is the Ordinariate? Well, in 2009 Benedict XVI had created a structure called the Personal Ordinariate, the Catholic Church’s response to requests from Anglicans who wished to enter into full communion with Rome. The one in the UK – the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham – was created in January 2011, and in 2012 a Personal Ordinariate was established in the U.S. – the Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter.
Msgr. Newton and I first met in London just after he was ordained a Catholic priest in 2011. He was in Rome this past week for the canonization of Cardinal John Henry Newman – also an Anglican who converted to Catholicism. Don’t miss our conversation!
I took these photos in my home after Msgr. Newton did the interview. He is standing in my entryway and, as you can see, I have a lovely image of Our Lady of Walsingham on my wall, one of only 100 I was told by the person who gave it to me!
The image depicts the much larger one of the Blessed Mother in Walsingham who is depicted enthroned as a Queen, carrying the Child Jesus and wearing a golden Saxon crown and golden slippers. You also see the book of Gospels and a lily.
Our Lady of Walsingham is venerated by both Catholics and Anglicans who visit this shrine in large numbers. Her title goes back to the 11th century and refers to apparitions received by a pious noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches in 1061 in the village of Walsingham. She eventually built a structure known as “The Holy House,” the precursor of today’s actually shrine.
For more, visit the website: https://www.walsinghamanglican.org.uk/
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Joan's Rome 