NEW DOCTOR FOR THE CHURCH

 

This  past week, the Holy See announced that ST. JOHN HENRY NEWMAN will be formally proclaimed a DOCTOR of the CHURCH on November 1. He will join the rank with such saints as Hildegard of Bingen, Therese of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas.

There are only 38 Doctors of the Church (four are women), a title granted to saints whose theological writings are considered authoritative and of particular importance in understanding Catholic doctrine. 

The title was first given in the Middle Ages, and originally, there were four great Doctors of the Church: St. Ambrose, 4th century bishop of Milan, St. Augustine, 5th century bishop of Hippo, St. Gregory the Great, who was pope at the start of the 7th century, and St. Jerome, the 5th century biblical scholar and translator.

In recent years, we have seen saints named as doctors of the Church. Pope Benedict  understood deeply the requirements and the highly unusual nature of the doctors. He named two of them himself in 2012: the 12th-century abbess and mystic St. Hildegard of Bingen and the 16th-century priest St. John of Ávila.

Many believe St. Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) should also be added. 

 St. John Henry Newman, only recently canonized by Pope Francis in 2019, has long been a towering figure in Catholic thought. His writings on conscience, truth, faith, and reason have shaped generations of believers and stand as a bridge between faith and intellect. He is considered one of the greatest and most faithful theologians in the history of the Church

His chosen motto, Cor ad cor loquitur—“Heart speaks to heart”—reflects his conviction that authentic faith is not merely intellectual assent, but a living dialogue with Christ at the core of human life.

MUSIC LEADS TO GOD

 

One of our closest neighbors, several hay fields away, gets a wonderful British music magazine, which he shares with us. We then pass it on to Father, who passes it on to the past chamber music festival director on Orcas Island. Often mentioned in the magazine is the Scottish composer and conductor SIR JAMES MacMILLAN.  I did a Blog on him in May (16) 2021. Sir  MacMillan and his wife are lay Dominicans.

Sir James MacMillan CBE is one of today’s most successful living composers, an international conductor, and also founder and artistic director of The Cumnock Tryst, a music festival in East Ayrshire in Scotland, where he lives. He composes regularly for The Sixteen, one of the world's most renowned choirs, and has been described by The Guardian as "...a composer so confident of his own musical language that he makes it instantly communicative to his listeners."

In an interview, earlier this year, at The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. he spoke of the responsibility that composers have to be true to their work in the face of God.

 ‘‘ It’s a great responsibility for the composer when he or she writes the liturgy … you are writing to carry the thoughts and prayers and meditations of the people of God, to the altar of God.

 The Church has to be aware … that music is part of the liturgy. It’s not an add-on for aesthetic values. It’s an absolute central core part of what it means to be a creative Church.”

Sir MacMillan posed the question: “What is beauty?” “To a Catholic, to the Church, beauty is God. God is beauty. God is also truth and goodness. And these three attributes, the three attributes that are closely connected, cannot be dissolved and divided. You must have truth, you must have goodness, and you must have beauty. They’re all attending and serving each other. I have heard some great sermons throughout my life on truth and on goodness, [but] not enough on beauty yet. So maybe the Church needs to address that, to inculcate a love of beauty, a search for beauty amongst people of God.”

 Sir MacMillan explained how cultural art is “an important part of the search for God. Music is intrinsically a spiritual art form. I don’t say that just as a Catholic believer. There’s something in the music itself that seems to connect to the infinite, that opens a door or a window [to] the divine".

Living on a small, very beautiful island, and singing the Chant in our, very beautiful, chapel, we certainly are daily aware of beauty in our lives and are grateful we can offer this small piece of paradise to all who come.