Honour from Pope sparks building plan to cardinal (From thisisoxfordshire)

Honour from Pope sparks building plan to cardinal

3:40pm Friday 10th September 2010 in

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PLANS have been made to build a chapel at The Oxford Oratory in memory of a cardinal who is set to be beatified during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain.

The extension in memory of Cardinal Newman will form the centrepiece of a £5m development at Woodstock Road church.

A new library and a cloistered courtyard are also proposed.

The city refused to permit a memorial to Cardinal Newman when he died in 1890.

But the Pope last year cleared the way for beatification – the last step before sainthood – after accepting that an American deacon overcame a spinal condition in 2001 after praying to Cardinal Newman.

The Pope visits Scotland, London and Birmingham from September 16 to 19.

Father Robert Byrne, Provost at the Oxford Oratory, said: “This is an exciting development not only for the parish but the whole of Oxford.

“It will be a fitting memorial for Cardinal Newman.”

Father Jerome Bertram, director of fundraising, said: “The designs break away from the conventional glass-and-concrete style, which is well represented in Oxford and explore the heritage of Roman Barque architecture.”

The Newman chapel would be suitable for children’s liturgy, pilgrimage masses, weddings and an overflow congregation from the main church.

It will be linked to the main church through a baptistery.

A new cloistered courtyard would be built to provide a sheltered meeting place after mass, and to link the new chapel with an improved parish centre.

The development would also provide a new accommodation block with five study-bedrooms, along with a common room.

The designs have been prepared by Anthony Delarue, a prominent young architect.

The Oratory has launched an appeal to pay for the Newman Chapel and other new buildings. So far £1m has been raised.

The public has until September 16 to comment on the proposals, which will be decided by Oxford City Council.

The plans and a model of the scheme can be viewed on Saturday and Sunday at the Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga, 25 Woodstock Road, as part of the Oxford Open Doors weekend, where historic buildings open to the public.

It was at first hoped the Pope might visit Oxford, where Newman had been vicar of the Oxford University Church of St Mary, in High Street.