Annual Dr. Keith Cassidy Lecture: "Cardinal Newman among the Doctors"

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College welcomed Dr. Topping, our Executive Director, to deliver the esteemed annual Dr. Keith Cassidy Lecture.  

Dr. Topping delivered an insightful talk to a packed crowd of students, faculty, clergy, and local community members on ways that Newman can offer guidance for the Church today. 

He proposed an analysis on the chief ills of modernity through the lens of Newman’s thought, and suggested that "if the pathogen of modern life is fragmentation, Newman's antidote is integration." 

Topping suggested three ways St. Newman offers us integration against a world of fragmentation, by: 

1. Adopting Newman's understanding of the Church’s development of doctrine - to counter unbalanced historical narratives and the experience of rootlessness; 

2. Replicating Newman’s experience of the liberal arts, which can offer us a deepened sense of our Tradition, and 

3: Mimicking Newman’s sustained efforts at genuine friendship - to counter our endemic isolation.

We hope you enjoy this lecture, and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khY3GiEBXno