Peter Conley
ABOUT
I was until July 2024 the Assistant Catholic Chaplain at Warwick University and Assistant Priest at St Joseph The Worker Church, Canley, Coventry (2019-2024).
I am now the Priest in Charge of Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Gregory The Great Church in Bearwood, Birmingham. The parish was where the first Vice-Postulate for the Cause for the Canonisation of John Henry Newman, a European scholar of him, Mgr. H. Francis Davis was based. I am continuing his research work of writing and giving conference papers on behalf of the Archbishop of Birmingham.
For 19 years (1993-2012) I combined parish and university ministry with lecturing undergraduates at St Mary’s College, Oscott, which is affiliated to Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL).
RESEARCH
I study the letters and diaries of John Henry Newman, the Victorian Anglican clergyman who, after his conversion in 1845, became a Catholic priest. He was canonized in 2019. I write creatively about Newman’s humanity, using the hermeneutic for interpreting a saint’s life he recommends in his Fragment of the life of Saint Philip (1853). This methodology was, he said, so that alongside a saint’s heroic deeds, they can be appreciated, more fully, as “living and breathing“ people with “peculiarities of habit, feeling and opinion”-rather than “bloodless ideality.” Newman humorously explains: “To find a saint sitting down to cards, or reading a heathen author, or listening to music, or taking snuff, is often a relief and encouragement to the reader, as convincing him that Grace does not supersede nature”. These, “lights and shades” he says, “while not directly and immediately spiritual” are necessary for “understanding what a Saint is.”
Newman’s vast correspondence (over 20,000 letters) and diaries are full of such personal details which shed light on his distinctive character and pastoral attributes. These aspects reveal how he could relate to people, from all walks of life, so effectively. His humanity is seldom explored by scholars and I begin to address this lacunae in my book Newman a Human Harp of Many Chords (Alive Publishing (2019).
I also research Newman’s teaching about the nature of his own grief and that of others; am affiliated to the Comparative Religions and Literatures group in English; and collaborate with Emma Mason, Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies, on projects based Catholic theology, literature, ecology and the late nineteenth century.
I am currently writing a pastoral guide to the letters written by Newman reflecting upon his own bereavements and to comfort others.
PUBLICATIONS
With David Warren, '“Education for Boys”: The Role of sports, Arts and Music', in John Henry Newman the Educator: Formation, Philosophy, Legacy, ed. Fr Juan R. Vélez (Gracewing, 2025).
“Eastern Promise: Newman’s Patristic Thought”, The Newman (Issue 116), May 2023: 17-22.
A series of Monthly articles for The Portal Magazine (a publication of the Ordinairiate who have St John Henry Newman as patron) March 2022–to present.
“The ‘Charm of Reality’: Newman’s Letters and Life-Writing”, The Newman (Issue 113), November 2021: 7-12.
“Newman’s Pandemic Ministry Balm for the Bereaved”, The Newman Review, ejournal of the National Institute of Newman Studies, 5th May 2021: 1-13.
“Newman: A Saint for All Seasons”, The Newman (Issue 112), May 2021: 7-22.
Newman: A Human Harp of Many Chords (Alive Publishing, 2019).
“Newman, Barberi and Billiards”, Bible Alive, September 2019: 12-17.
“St John Henry Newman: ‘Our Heavenly Friends’", Bible Alive, October 2019: 6-10.
“Laudate Si: A Study Guide to Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment”, Maryvale Institute, 2016.
“Exploring Blessed John Henry Newman’s Bereavement Letters”, Newman Studies Journal, Vol 13 (2) Fall 2016: 69-81.
“Exploring Blessed John Henry Newman’s Bereavement Letters”, Newman Studies Journal, Vol 12 (2) Fall 2015: 76-85.
CONFERENCE PAPERS
'“I love him not as a proposition but as a person” (JHN, LDXXIV,12): Echoes of Newman’s friendship patterns in his ‘Grammar of Assent’ Letters within the correspondence of Louis Bouyer, H. Francis Davis and C. Stephen Dessain', Association Francophane des Amis de Newman, Confrere Institut Catholique de Rennes, April 2025.
'“Balm poured into the wounded mind”: Engaging with the pastoral impact of Newman’s bereavement letters', St John Henry Association, University of Dallas, 2024.
“Detecting Newman’s Humanity: Discovering fresh clues to his Pastoral Effectiveness”, St John Henry Newman Association, Catholic University of America, Washington, August 2023.
“Newman’s Barometer and the Synod”, CMS Conference, Nottingham, September 2023.
“The Lights and Shades of a Saint: Newman and Ignatian Contemplation”, (with Scott Goins, McNesse University), St John Henry Newman Association, Holy Cross College, Indiana, August 2022.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
British Association of Victorian Studies (BAVS).
Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain (CTA)
European Society for Catholic Theology (ESCT)
St John Henry Newman Association (SJHNA)
EDUCATION
CTS (Certificate of Theological Studies), Birmingham University
STB Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
MA Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
STL Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
MPhil Newman/Leicester University
PGPCertTL (Aston University)
FHEA