Grace Abounds - Episode 12: Bishop James D. Conley, Bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska

Well, I, I met Newman before I was ever be- before I was ever a Catholic.

Um, I was at the University, uh, of Kansas, and I was in a great books program.

And, uh, one of the readings we had in the second year of, uh, university undergraduate were, were the great works of the modern era.

And w- we did, I mean, the first year were the Greek and the Romans, so we were in the pagan world the whole first year.

And then the second year we had, uh, ear- early Christian medieval, and the last semester, the f- of the second year was we did the moderns.

And one of the selections was, um, um, uh, several essays by Newman from the idea of a university.

And, um, our professors, um, pointed to Newman as, as someone who articulated, um, the intellectual tradition of the West.

And, um, so I didn't really think much of it, um, although I was attracted to, to his writings.

He was talking about knowledge as its own end and the integration of knowledge.

And, and, and that I remember kind of struck me.

Again, I, I wasn't Catholic yet.

And then, uh, the next year I, I did become Catholic, um, and began reading more and more, and I had to, I had to do a paper.

This is kind of an interesting story.

I had to do a paper for-- I ended up being a, a, a...

I, my degree was in English literature, and I was focusing on the, on, uh, 19th century, uh, British authors, and I had to do a paper.

And so I said, "I remember this character, Newman, I read last year.

Let's see if he's got anything interesting." So I ended up doing a paper on Newman from those passages, the idea of university, and I remember I couldn't type very well and I had my mother type the letter for me.

And, um, that was really the beginning of it.

I, I then began to read more of Newman, and it's just been a lifelong love affair, um, to this very day.

Mm.

Now, y- y- I was gonna say, regarding the, uh, y- the qu- the original question about why I chose his, uh, his own episcopal motto, it's funny because, you know, they don't tell you this when, you know, uh, when you become a bishop, you've got to choose a, um, a coat of arms and a motto and, you know, and I didn't know, I didn't know what, I didn't know anything about the to- her- heraldic, um, um, you know, artistry.

So anyway, I, I talked to a few people and when I was thinking about what my, the motto would be, a lot of bishops will choose passages from scripture, and I was kind of racking my brain for something.

And I talked to one of my good priest friends, uh, and he said, "Well, why don't you just use Newman's? You love Newman and he's been a big inspiration your whole life." And I said, "You're right." And the, and I said, "That'd be perfect." And so I knew Newman's, um, motto was Cor ad cor loquitur.

Heart speaks to heart.

And I really thought that was a-- I've always thought that was a beautiful thing.