February 17, 2010

Oxford professor to lecture on Cardinal Newman, Vatican II and Church today

By Julie Filby

In continued celebration of the Year for Priests, Father Ian Ker will present a free public lecture “Rupture Versus Continuity: Newman, Vatican II and the Church Today” at 7 p.m. March 3 at the John Paul II Center in south Denver.

Father Ker, an Oxford University theology professor and prominent biographer of the Venerable Cardinal John Henry Newman, will offer a Newman-esque interpretation of the Second Vatican Council. Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) was an influential theologian and convert from Anglicanism.

The cardinal—who is scheduled for beatification this year, possibly during Pope Benedict XVI’s first pastoral visit to England in September—is sometimes referred to as the silent father of the Second Vatican Council.

“While Newman anticipated the Second Vatican Council in a number of significant ways,” Father Ker said, “he also would’ve been highly critical of the way that some of the Second Vatican Council’s teachings have been interpreted.”
With respect to the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Pope Benedict, who himself participated in the council, has called for a “hermeneutic of continuity.” Father Ker’s lecture will share the pope’s teaching on proper hermeneutics, which the pontiff described as “the correct key to (its) interpretation and application.”

“The Second Vatican Council should be interpreted in continuity with the tradition and the past teachings of the Church,” Father Ker said. “It’s important to Catholics today because we’re living in the Church that comes from the Second Vatican Council.”

Father Ker explained that Cardinal Newman elaborated a mini-theology of the councils, particularly the time of the First Vatican Council (1868-1870).

“That (First Vatican Council) is relevant to our understanding of the Second Vatican Council and how it ought to be interpreted and implemented in the life of the Church,” he said.

Denver’s Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley has known Father Ker for more than 20 years.

“I can think of no other living scholar who is a greater authority on the life and writings of John Henry Newman,” said Bishop Conley, who heads up the Year for Priests committee in the archdiocese. “Cardinal Newman had a huge influence on my conversion to the Catholic Church during my undergraduate years. We are blessed to have him (Father Ker) come to Denver.”

Father Ker is senior research fellow in theology at Oxford and has taught both English literature and theology at universities in Britain and the United States. He has written and edited more than 20 books on Cardinal Newman. Father Ker’s biography of Cardinal Newman originally published in 1988 was reissued by Oxford University Press in 2009.

The lecture will be held in Bonfils Hall of the John Paul II Center, 1300 S. Steele St., Denver.

YEAR FOR PRIESTS LECTURE

Presented by: Father Ian Ker
When: 7 p.m. March 3
Where: JPII Center
Questions: Call 303-715-3123 or e-mail info@archden.org