John Henry Newman’s path to Sainthood

One of Monsignor Stark's great works was the study of St John Henry Newman, he was appointed vice-postulator in 1979. Where there is a candidate for canonisation Rome likes to be able to judge whether the candidate is of more than local significance, so Monsignor Stark wrote to Bishops Conferences throughout the world requesting letters of support.

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The most extensive reply came from Germany. The Archbishop of Munich and Freising sent a translation of a recently delivered lecture on Newman and with it a covering letter explaining why, when the process was completed, Newman ought to be declared a Doctor of the Church. That was the first that Monsignor Stark had ever heard of Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), though they met on several subsequent occasions.

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The Guild made financial contributions to the cause and a substantial un-costed contribution in the thousands of documents typed up by the Master’s secretaries which were submitted to Rome in 1986 on the completion of the Diocesan process.