Archbishop Timothy Dolan will bless what appears to be the first American shrine to Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman on September 23, just four days after Pope Benedict XVI beatifies Newman in Birmingham, England.

The Cardinal Newman Society recently congratulated Catholic author and EWTN host Father George Rutler for erecting the shrine at the Church of Our Saviour in New York City. Cardinal Newman was a prominent 19^th-century Anglican priest and scholar who was received into the Catholic Church and authored many important works, including The Idea of a University.

“What a great tribute to this wonderful priest and scholar, whose example and thought are so relevant to the Church in the United States today,” wrote Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society, in a letter to Father Rutler dated August 19.

“We believe that your Newman shrine is the very first in this nation, and we hope that students in particular at Catholic colleges and at Newman Centers and campus ministries on college campuses will make a special pilgrimage to the Church of Our Saviour on October 9,” Reilly added. That is the date on which Newman was received into the Church by Blessed Dominic Barberi in 1845. It is also the date which has been approved by the Vatican as Newman’s feast day for the Oratories of St. Philip Neri in England, which Newman established in Birmingham and London.

The New York shrine will include a first-class relic of Newman, provided as a gift from Father Richard Duffield, Actor of the Cause for Newman’s Canonization and Provost of the Birmingham Oratory.

“While the full use of votive lights and prayers to a saint must await his canonization, this shrine will be a sign of thanks for all that Cardinal Newman has done for the Catholic Church, by his teaching, his example, and his intercessions,” wrote Father Rutler in an announcement to his parish on July 25.  “[Newman’s] prophetic gifts make him even timelier now, when the Church is being called to a new evangelization and recovery of ancient truths.”

The Cardinal Newman Society will also be leading the official American pilgrimage to Newman’s beatification Mass with Pope Benedict on September 19. Real-time reports on the pilgrimage to Birmingham, Oxford and London from September 16-20 will be available at www.CardinalNewmanSociety.org and on Twitter and Facebook.