A Catholic Eton? Newman’s Oratory School by Paul Shrimpton

Abstract

BOOK REVIEW 115 distinctively British form, made it possible for Anglicans of otherwise disparate views to counter the materialistic outlook associated with natural science, to give a reasoned defense of Christian theism, and to construe the flow of history as meaningful. What it could not do, Gouldstone suggests, was provide a way to cope theologically and religiously with the reality of evil, the tragic dimension of human affairs, or the apparent indifference of nature. However rich and noble the vision it offered of “a world where the cultural intelligentsia of the few would by their Christian idealism transform the civilizations of the globe into the Kingdom of God” (146), it was a vision that faded. Gouldstone portrays the richness, the nobility, and the fading alike in a fair-minded way. Though he suggests that there may be lessons to be learned from his portrayal,he refrains from teaching them himself. At times his grammar leaves something to be desired, and his paragraphs are frequently gargantuan, densely packed with facts and quotations, and difficult to navigate. But the counter-narrative approach of presenting five overlapping case studies,as it were, succeeds admirably. While each of these has an integrity of its own and might almost stand independently, connections with the others are at the same time deftly indicated. Charles Hefling Boston College In the fall of 1858,John Henry Newman departed for the last time from the Catholic University of Ireland after giving a lecture to the medical students. In the year prior, as Newman had sent in his resignation as rector of the university and his permanent departure became immanent, a new educational project arose to which he was drawn.Close friends of Newman,converts to the faith like himself,were searching for a school that would be geared toward forming a Catholic gentleman,a man educated for the world of nineteenth-century England. Sending their sons to seminaries or abroad simply did not prepare them for active participation in the English world and its way of life. In large part the Oratory school was conceived and brought forth to resolve this problem. Shrimpton’s account of the Birmingham Oratory School, its foundations, it personalities, and its early failures and accomplishments reminds one of Fergal McGrath’s book on the Catholic University of Dublin: Newman’s University: Ideal and Reality (London–New York: Longmans, Green, 1951). Shrimpton’s book is one of the most thorough treatments to date of Newman’s significant contribution to the pre-university education of youth in a period in England when educational reforms A Catholic Eton? Newman’s Oratory School. Paul Shrimpton. Herefordshire, United Kingdom: Gracewing, 2005. Pp: 1 + 308. Paper, $29.95. ISBN 0–85244–661–6. A CATHOLIC ETON? NEWMAN’S ORATORY SCHOOL BY PAUL SHRIMPTON NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 116 were at a peak. This was an age when some powerful personalities in Church and culture arose, a number of whom were directly or indirectly connected with the Oratory School. One thinks,for example of Hillaire Belloc or Gerard Manley Hopkins. This book is a magnificent start in uncovering an interesting chapter in Newman’s life, arguable one that lasted to the end of his life. Chapter One begins introducing readers to the various public and private school reforms emerging in nineteenth century England. Private schools in England were profit-based schools and tended to be more“modern,”meaning more willing to adapt themselves to serving the new arising industries and technologies. Public schools were those that tended to “designate a large boarding school in a rural setting that catered for sons of the upper classes; a great deal of liberty was permitted, selfgovernance was manifested in a prefect system, and classics was the main subject taught”(12). The term “public school,” Shrimpton notes, came in at the beginning of the nineteenth century,and underwent various modifications throughout the century (11). As the term, so the way of life and methods within the great public schools underwent significant shifts from being anarchical to more religiously faithful, morally disciplined, and academically rigorous. From the beginning, the Oratory school was conceived as becoming a grand public school,Catholic in its origins and its religious discipline...