Gently but firmly, Pope Benedict called Catholic education to a greater fidelity to its evangelical mission. In several of his addresses, especially one at St Mary’s College Twickenham, he recalled the teaching of Cardinal Newman in his “Idea of a University” that the ethos of a place of learning is at least as important as its curriculum. Throughout the papal visit, dogged by the press reports of clerical child abuse, Benedict’s still, small voice called for a return to the gentle Christian humanism that was so characteristic of Newman. Compared to the hectoring and intolerant tones of Hitchens, Dawkins, Fry et al, Benedict had all the appeal; and the papers ended up admitting it.
Let’s hope that Blessed John Henry Newman’s prayers will help the Catholic educational establishment in the UK “sit up and think”, to borrow Prime Minister Cameron’s phrase, so that Catholic schools can once again be places of prayer and fidelity for our young people.
Catholic boarding schools 