With the forthcoming Papal Visit to our countries looming (September 2010) – during which His Holiness will beatify Cardinal Newman – the present monograph is apt indeed. Fr. Rear, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of East Anglia, whose own spiritual journey clearly owes much to the writings and witness of Blessed Newman, ought to be praised for having produced in this short compass such a well-researched and thought-provoking work.
It is particularly refreshing to read that Fr. Rear recognises the debt of the Catholic Church to Newman’s influence on the shaping of the Second Vatican Council (pp.31). From a personal perspective, it is pleasing to note that Fr. Rear makes mention of Newman’s devotion to the Fathers (pp.13); it is to be regretted that Newman, one of the great authorities on the Fathers (especially in regard to St. Athanasius and St. Ambrose), is rarely cited for having been such. If one slight criticism could be drawn from a work so short in length it would be on grounds of style: grammatical and typographical errors are frequent often threatening to break the fluency of the read.
For those planning on attending the Beatification Mass of John Henry Newman on Sunday the 19th September 2010 in Birmingham, and who in their reading have thus far missed the myriad of literature written on Newman, this is a good place to start. Fr. Rear is to be commended for recognizing with great sagacity that Newman was first and foremost a humble priest for whom everything else came a firm second. On the inauguration of the Year for Priests in June 2009, the Pope urged Christians “to hold up to your priests his example of dedication to prayer, pastoral sensitivity towards the needs of his flock, and passion for preaching the Gospel”: Fr. Rear both echoes this call and reminds us, should it be necessary, of precisely why Cardinal Newman is so special.

Dan McNamara for TheGoodBookStall