He gave a series of public lectures, arguing the case for a Catholic university (such as existed elsewhere in Europe) and also that a university should include theology among its subjects. Newman, as the leading intellectual Catholic convert, was appointed its founding Rector. The pope of that time, Pius IX, urged the Irish bishops instead to found a Catholic university. The issue was particularly acute in Ireland with its majority Catholic population, so the British government decided to found some non-denominational colleges there which would admit all but which also were not allowed to have Catholic theology faculties in them.

At that time Catholics were banned from attending the ancient British universities. John Henry Newman (1801-90) was an Anglican clergyman and Oxford academic whose study of early Christianity led him to convert to the Catholic Church in 1845. Knowledge is capable of being its own end.' 'įor a full copy of the transcript please click on the link above right.Download cover art Download CD case insert The Idea of a University ' 'When then I am asked what is the end of a Liberal or University Education, and of the Liberal or Philosophical Knowledge which I conceive it to impart, I answer, that it has a very tangible, real, and sufficient end, but that the end cannot be divided from that knowledge itself. 'However, as he always wanted in life, the last words should be his that summarise the Idea of a University for me:

'Ultimately I believe his intellect and vision would grace any contemporary university, and I contend that there are not many vice-chancellors today whose works will be being discussed in 160 years' time.' The discourses which he wrote for it stand today almost as a Newman-esque Utopia, but he left the University in 1858, with unfulfilled ambitions for the institution.

'Newman - a man for today? Would he be a good Vice-Chancellor? The CV would not look good - the Catholic University was in essence a failure. In the sermon the Vice-Chancellor discussed the relevance of Newman's discourses to the university of today and whether Newman, a pioneering university head of his day, would have made a good Vice-Chancellor of, say, a Russell Group University in the 21st century? He was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland, which evolved into University College, Dublin. In 1845 Newman left the Church of England and was received into the Roman Catholic Church where he was eventually granted the rank of cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. John Henry Newman, also referred to as Cardinal Newman, was originally an evangelical Oxford academic and priest in the Church of England. The sermon was the last in a series of seven which focused on 'Newman's Legacy: 'The idea of a University'.

John newman the idea of a university