November 1889 — “The Cadbury Girls”

Abstract

NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 81 PASTORAL VIGNETTES In its original meaning, a “vignette” is a decoration of vine leaves and tendrils that are used to ornament a picture frame or home furnishings, a wall or a ceiling, etc. The word “vignette” has come to mean any type of picture, but especially a portrait that merges into its background. In an extended sense, “vignette” might also be applied to stories that portray a person’s inner self or spirituality in a way that biographical facts do not and cannot. In this latter sense, “vignette” seems an appropriate way of describing stories about Newman’s pastoral activities. Pastoral work was an essential element of his life; indeed one might say that he saw all his activities—in education, literature, theology, philosophy—as forms of what today would be called pastoral ministry: his pastoral ministry blended into all his other work. Some of Newman’s pastoral activities are recorded in his writings, especially his Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864); accounts of his other pastoral activities have been provided by his biographers or can be found in his letters, diaries and autobiographical writings. Stories about these pastoral activities often present facets of Newman’s personality in striking ways.Thus, pastoral vignettes are “little stories” that help to tell the larger story of a person’s life. In other words, Newman’s cardinalatial motto cor ad cor loquitur (“Heart speaks to heart”) is exemplified not only in his writings but in the stories or “vignettes” about his pastoral activities. November 1889 — “The Cadbury Girls” Christmas 1889 was the last time that the aging and ailing Cardinal was able to celebrate mass.The previous month,however,Newman acted as a mediator in a labor dispute at the Cadbury factory in Bournville near Birmingham.The Catholic women who worked at Cadbury’s were at odds with their Quaker employers, who insisted that all their employees should attend daily Bible study—reading of Scripture with commentary—before beginning work. The employers did not understand why the local parish priest had forbidden the women to attend the morning Bible study. The women, who were following their pastor’s instructions, were understandably afraid that they would be fired, if they did not attend.The employers,in turn,thought that the parish priest was unreasonable and were sure that Cardinal Newman would agree with them. So Newman went to the factory to see the Cadbury owners,even though there was heavy snow on the ground and he had to walk some distance after getting out of his carriage to get to the factory. Newman argued persuasively on behalf of the Catholic workers by defending their right of conscience—a belief particularly cherished by Quakers, who in the past had often been persecuted for their conscientious refusal to obey the official religious laws of England.In the seventeenth century,for example,Quakers,seeking religious freedom for themselves and for all, had established the colony of Pennsylvania under the leadership of William Penn. NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 82 Cardinal Newman conceded that the Cadbury employers might think that the Catholic women were misguided in refusing to attend Bible study. However, were the Quaker employers to demand attendance at Bible study as a condition of employment, they would in effect be violating the freedom of conscience of the “Cadbury girls,” as they were called.Accordingly, Newman proposed that the workers be allowed to say their own prayers in a separate room and the Cadbury employers agreed. In the carriage on the way back to the Birmingham Oratory, Cardinal Newman reportedly remarked to Fr.William Neville, the Oratorian who had accompanied him during his visit to the Cadbury factory:“If I can but do work such as that, I am happy and content to live on.” Sources:MeriolTrevor,Newman:Light inWinter (Garden City,NY:Doubleday,1963) 64041 ;Ian Ker,John Henry Newman:A Biography (Oxford:Clarendon Press,1988) 744-45. John T. Ford c.s.c. The Catholic University of America [Contributions for this section of “pastoral vignettes” are welcome; vignettes should be one to five pages in length and indicate the source(s) for stories about Newman’s pastoral activities; submissions should follow the guidelines for...