This paper explores John Henry Newman’s significance for the contemporary efforts of Christian unity, particularly as it relates to his epistemological insights. Newman notes within his Grammar of Assent that there is, “something deeper in our differences than the accident of external circumstances”. Applying this insight to the topic of ecumenism, this paper will argue that our current ecclesial divisions go beyond doctrinal or structural differences and include the tacit—the image one holds of the church. This claim is not to further the complexity of our ecclesial divisions. Instead, it is to suggest a way forward that includes, following Newman, a consideration of the background that makes up one’s ecclesial image and the need for attention to both the theological and religious habit of mind that might affect faithful conversion towards ecclesial unity. This paper will close by arguing for Receptive Ecumenism as a path forward that engages both the notional and real, theological and religious, realities of the churches and offers a fresh option for imaging the church reunited.

Nathan Smith serves as the Director of Ecumenism for Glenmary Home Missioners where his ministry seeks to enhance understanding, reduce alienation and foster reconciliation between the Catholic Church, Evangelicals and Pentecostals. Nathan is completing his post-graduate research at Durham University (UK) under the supervision of Paul Murray and on the topic of Receptive Ecumenism and John Henry Newman. In 2024 he was awarded the first Newman Fellowship through Durham University and in partnership with the National Institute of Newman Studies. Currently, he serves as a theologian on the USCCB-PCCNA national dialogues, and has served with the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity at the 2024 Global Christian Forum gathering. He has published in various journals such as Religions, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Ecumenical Trends and Review for Religious. Nathan lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and two children.

For modern historians, interpreting the life and legacy of Cardinal Herbert Vaughan, the third Archbishop of Westminster, is challenging. This is partly because of efforts by Vaughan himself to control and alter the historical record in the final years of his life, resulting in more than a century of hagiography and caricature, precluding more accurate academic work from being undertaken.

Vaughan’s relationship with Cardinal John Henry Newman is one such overlooked area, despite original source material indicating its importance. It is an area of scholarship almost entirely omitted from the field of Newman Studies, specifically with regard to Vaughan’s role in the attacks on Newman’s work and reputation in connection with the Rambler, the Oxford Oratory scheme, and the Vatican Council, all of which took place from the 1860s onwards. This paper will address this lacuna and shall seek to explain possible reasons how and why it came about and has persisted for nearly a century and a half.

Lawrence Gregory joined the NINS team as archivist in December 2016 and works remotely from the United Kingdom. Born in Lancashire, England and educated at St Bede’s RC College, Manchester, UK, Lawrence graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2017 with a Master’s Degree in Archival Science. He has many years of experience working in the records and archival profession, including fifteen years as assistant Archivist to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford, UK, 2002-2017 and concurrently nine years as Corporate Records Manager at the Danwood Group Ltd 2007-2016. Lawrence is also a nineteenth-century English Catholic historian with expertise in the Northern Dioceses, UK, and in particular the career of Cardinal Herbert Vaughan. He has published two volumes of the lives of the historic clergy of the Diocese of Salford as well as a combined two-volume history of his alma mater – St Bede’s College, Manchester, and is Chairman of the Catholic Archives Society (UK) and the Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society. He is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of British Mensa.

As Senior Archivist and UK Agent, his role with NINS is to act as archival advisor, to catalog and undertake research into the digitized papers, to seek out further relevant archival material, developing relationships with future archive partners, overseeing, and managing the digitization projects to their conclusion. Lawrence recently began his doctoral research in the Dept. of Theology and Religion, Durham University, where he has been awarded the second Newman Fellowship sponsored by NINS.