Birmingham: Newman University installs inaugural Chancellor

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, Professor Lutzeier by statue of Bl John Henry Newman. Pic: Jas Sansi

Newman University continued its celebration of full university title with the appointment of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor as is inaugural Chancellor on Thursday 20 March.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor is the retired Archbishop of Westminster and former spiritual leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. As formal head of the University, he takes on a largely ceremonial role and will carry out ambassadorial and representative duties for the university.

Speaking during his inauguration, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said: “It is a great honour for me to be invited to become the first Chancellor of Newman University. In accepting, I am conscious of the admiration and devotion of so many people to the university Patron, Blessed John Henry Newman, whose lectures on The Idea of a University, I read as student.

“His vision of a university as somewhere that would form students’ minds – teaching them to think, compare, discriminate and analyse – is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it and I’m delighted to become Chancellor of a university that echoes this philosophy.”

Professor Peter Lutzeier, Vice Chancellor of Newman University, said: “As one of the first Catholic universities in England since the Reformation, Newman University is proud of its heritage, which informs our Mission of Service and ethical approach, committed to social justice, tolerance and inclusion.

“As the first member of the Catholic hierarchy to be invited to deliver a sermon to an English monarch since 1690, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor and has been a pioneer in his ecumenical and interfaith work. As a university that is committed to providing students with a formative education, intellectual rigour and an awareness of how their actions and decisions impact and are shaped by the world around them, this fits well with our ethos and we’re delighted he has agreed to become our inaugural Chancellor.”

Source: Newman University