University professors as Tutors, Card. Newman

In his first articles for the University Gazette of the Catholic University of Ireland Newman had indicated the primary role played by university professors. Newman’s friend objected: “I cannot help thinking that your Gazette makes more of persons than is just, and does not lay stress enough upon order, system, and rule, in conducting a University. ” He argued […]

Filling University Chairs, Cardinal Newman

After noting that good professors make a university, Newman addressed the question of whether professors from other countries would be welcomed to the University in Ireland. Newman tells of a conversation with wealthy old friend, a retired widower who selfishly lived closed in on his own estate. His life consisted in “Easy circumstances, books, friends, literary […]

Good professors make a University, Card. Newman

Universities need tranquility and freedom to thrive just as the Church needs these conditions to teach its doctrine and form its children without prohibitions. Newman told the Irishmen for whom he wrote that they enjoyed those circumstances. The university of his time did not need a Charlemagne but as in all times it required well-known […]

Starting a University, Card. Newman

Any group that begins a university today is met not only with the difficulty of the actual organizational task; it is met with incredulity and pessimistic remarks on the part of many. Newman and the Irish bishops faced this in Dublin, and today other Catholic groups face similar criticism. He writes: “WHEN the Catholic University is […]

Athens, the first University, Card. Newman continued

Today one cannot conceive of a university without many libraries filled with books and data bases. But what is essential in a university? What is at the very heart of university education? Newman continues describing the life of students at Athens, the first university. The student goes out of his poor lodging early in the […]

Articles on Newman

Fr. Velez defended a doctoral dissertation at the University of Navarre titled: Death, Immortality and Resurrection in John Henry Newman, in Excerpta e Dissertationibus in Sacra Theologia, XXXVI (1999) Only this listed publication is not available online. He has published the following articles on Newman: “Cardinal Newman A Precursor of Vatican in The Southern Cross (2010) “Newman and Last Things” […]

Passion for Truth – Various Reviews

Homiletic & Pastoral Review The book, Passion for Truth, the Life of John Henry Newman, focuses on Newman’s intellectual roots and religious formation, culminating in his conversion to Catholicism, and entering the Church of Rome.  The first half of the book describes his life, friendships, family and early career path. The second half delves into […]

Mary Moran Interviews Fr. Juan on Conscience

Mary Moran discusses with Fr. Vélez Newman’s teaching on Conscience on San Diego Catholic Radio.  (click the > play button to play audio interview) IntCathRadioOct2011  

Links to Websites

About Cardinal John Henry Newman

National Institute for Newman Studies

Centro Internazionale degli Amici di Newman

The Oratory, Birmingham

Archdiocese of Birmingham, England

Our Books

About Cardinal John Henry Newman

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A Guide to John Henry Newman will interest educated readers and professors alike, and serve as a text for college seminars for the purpose of studying Newman.

Review by Catherine Maybanks
(Catholic Herald, April 1, 2023)

Review by Serenheed James
(Antiphon, April 2023)

 This book is being currently considered for reprinting, all enquiries to the Sales Team general@alivepublishing.co.uk
 

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Endorsement by Neyra Blanco (Amazon)
I bought this book for my son and he loved it, he wrote this review and urged my to submitted: “I think this book has a very beautiful message, because it shows how the young Newman was so determined to achieve his dream of becoming a priest, but even after his dream he continued to work in the church with passion until the day he died, it’s so admirable that even Newman so old and so weak still had that urge to continued his work of being a priest. And the book is well written with words not too complicated with very enjoyable texts and well illustrated pictures. I highly recommend this book for a 5th grader.  

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What is a Classical Liberal Arts Education? Why is it so important for the development of a person?

Fr. Juan R. Vélez answers these and more questions you might have about University Education in the 21st century. This book is aimed for parents, prospective University students, and educators. It will help you discern why adding Liberal Arts electives to your education will help it form it better, and help the student learn to reason, and not just learn.

He also explains how many Universities have changed the true meaning of Liberal Arts, and the subjects, and gives advise on how to choose College Campus, Subjects, and Teachers.

A wonderful book that every parent should also read way before your children are College bound. A Liberal Arts education can start earlier in life, even from home.

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Endorsement by Christopher Moellering (Goodreads, September 14, 2019)
In Passion for Truth Fr. Vélez gave us an outstanding biography of Cardinal Newman. In this work, he provides a concise overview of his thought and his devotion. This is a great work for someone who, perhaps hearing of Newman for the first time because of his beatification 13 October, 2019, wants to know more about this English saint.Vélez is a wonderful writer in his own right, and the frequent quotations from Newman round out the work nicely. I especially appreciated the frequent citing of Newman’s Meditations and Devotions, which show a different side of his spirituality than his more well-known works, Development of Christian Doctrine and the Grammar of Assent.

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Review by Gregory J. Sullivan (Amazon, May 25, 2012)

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Take Five: Meditations with John Henry Newman, endorsement by Illow M. Roque (Amazon, September 3, 2010)
“There is a time to put direct inquiry on hold and give ourselves to prayer and practical duties.” Sound advice from one of the earlier, thought-provoking reminders in this sparkling gem of a book: Take Five | Meditations with John Henry Newman, written by Mike Aquilina and Fr. Juan R. Vélez and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This particular paragraph, referenced above, which begins with a direct quote from soon-to-be canonized priest, cardinal and poet, John Henry Newman: “Study is good, but it gets us only so far . . .” is actually the 15th in a series of 76 concise, logically organized meditations moving from the elementary to the sublime. Each meditation–one per page–is built upon the great man’s writings and remarkably rich spirituality. Whether taken whole in one reading or in part page-by-page over a course of weeks and months, these wonderfully insightful meditations will open up, even to the busiest reader in the midst of the world, a unique pathway into prayer and contemplation. My advice to spiritual inquirers at all levels, from the novice to the spiritually adept, is to follow the authors’ recommendation to use this book as a guide for daily prayer and meditation. The structure of the book itself is ideal: first, the authors introduce us to Cardinal Newman, the man, where we are given the opportunity to get to know him through a brief sketch of his life and spirituality at the beginning of the book. This is something readers will likely find themselves referring to again and again, prompting many, I suspect, to even wider explorations of this most gifted Christian leader. Then comes the meditations, consisting of a short summary of Newman’s thoughts on subjects taken, as the authors explain, from various salient points for which Newman is justly remembered: The pursuit of objective religious truth; Teaching on the Virtues; Defense of the Catholic Church; A devout spiritual and moral life; and Generosity and loyalty in his friendships, which sets the topic and tone for each meditation to follow. Each meditation consists of an excerpt taken from Newman’s thirty-plus volumes of writings and diaries. Next comes three brief and extremely useful sections entitled: “Think About It,” which establishes a prayerfully resonant tone throughout the book; “Just Imagine,” which provides a vivid, prayerful experience of the Scriptures that tie in, and finally, “Remember,” a pithy summation which the authors suggest may be used as a daily aspiration. Each meditation is given its own page, which makes it ideal for daily reflection for readers on the go. This book is a must have for every serious Catholic who wants to take their faith to the next level, which is to respond appropriately to the universal call to holiness and seek interior union with God.
Meditations and Devotions
David Warren

The Gift of Piety

The word piety has a negative connotation for many people today. The word is associated with people who are only outwardly righteous, overly-religious or even pharisaical. That’s a shame, because piety is really about living as a child of God, and children are normally guileless.

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David Warren June 5, 2026
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