Quoting from surviving minute books, Walter Drumm notes: At the twenty-fourth meeting, on 2 November 1890, Mr. Parry (University College) read a paper on ‘Lake Dwellings in Switzerland’.

Bishop Ilsley of Birmingham, the Duke of Norfolk and thirty-two others, which was practically the whole membership, consumed at 10/- per head: lobster bisque, sole dauphinoise, poussin (method of cooking unstated), gateaux and fromage.

In a description of a typical Sunday, Knox wrote: At five or ten minutes to seven the Newman speaker, duly washed, must be taken off to whatever club the Committee is dining at.

Heaven forbid that he should only know Catholics, but he must know some.The society participated in the refurbishing of the Chaplaincy which followed the Second World War; with Newman funds purchase was made of 'a new wireless set and an electrically operated gramophone'.

Karl Rahner, who loomed large in the theological battles of the period, was one of several high-profile speakers at the Newman whose presence served to underline the era's changes.

The situation at the Chaplaincy, then under the authority of Crispian Hollis, was bleak, as the system of catechetical Sunday sermons – established in the time of Ronald Knox for the purpose of promoting students' doctrinal and spiritual formation – collapsed.

[13] In the midst of widespread ignorance, doctrinal confusion, and moral rebellion, the Newman staked out its position in 1973, hosting an address by Elizabeth Anscombe titled "Contraception, Sin and Natural Law" – a philosophical defence of Pope Paul VI's encyclical on artificial birth control (Humanae Vitae).

Yet the society was not so inflexible as to refuse to accommodate some new social realities; a 1972 termcard expressed the hope "that activists, gnomes, ravers and potential saints will be inspired by this ... term's programme."

By 1982 fashions had changed again, so that the year of Pope John Paul II's apostolic voyage to Britain also saw the Newman organizing a "Boaters and Bloomers" event – a prize being offered for the "best Brideshead dress".

Following the election of Pope Benedict XVI, mentions of the Newman Society and its events appeared in the Catholic and secular press on a number of occasions.

[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] During the Regensburg affair of 2006, the society's voice was heard with the publication of a letter in The Daily Telegraph from the then-President: I understand that the Pope's words prompted some Indian Muslims to protest by burning an effigy of the Pontiff.

[23]In November 2007, following Pope Benedict's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, the Society organized a High Mass as in the 1962 Roman Missal to mark the centenary of co-founder Hartwell de la Garde Grissell's death.

In 2009 the society was addressed by Cardinal Pell, archbishop of Sydney, on the subject of religious and secular intolerance, and their implications for contemporary Christian witness.

Giving the inaugural Thomas More Lecture in the university's Divinity School, the Cardinal spoke of the totalitarian tendencies of modern liberalism, and the dangers for the Church posed by the rise of "anti-discrimination legislation" and "human rights tribunals".

Saint John Henry Newman remains very much the Society's patron, with a June 2014 walking pilgrimage to the site of his conversion, at Littlemore on the outskirts of Oxford, attracting an enthusiastic turnout.

[25] There are also special events such as the Catholic Freshers' Fair at the start of Michaelmas, a Christmas party, and visits to historical sites, such as the priest holes of Mapledurham House.

There are annual Society Vs Alumni and Oxford Vs Cambridge football matches, while a rugby team is also in the process of formation, and trains on Saturday mornings during Full Term.

The Society's motto is the phrase first used by Augustine of Hippo (in the Donatist controversy), and subsequently adopted by Cardinal Newman: "Securus judicat orbis terrarum" ("the world's verdict is secure").

"[29] Other distinguished speakers who addressed the society in the course of the 20th century include Baron Friedrich von Hügel, Fr Ronald Knox, Fr Martin d'Arcy, Sir Alec Guinness, Arthur Michael Ramsey, The Princess Royal, Rowan Williams, John Finnis, Malcolm Muggeridge, Lord Longford, Immanuel Jakobovits, Viscount Monckton, Maurice Wiles, Terry Eagleton, William Rees-Mogg, Hans Adolf Krebs, Basil Mitchell, Dorothy Hodgkin, Auberon Waugh, Richard Southern, F. R. Leavis, Ninian Smart, Dan Berrigan, Herbert McCabe and Martin Gilbert.

During the 2013–4 academic year speakers have ranged from Walter Hooper, secretary to CS Lewis, to Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, while the highlights of Trinity 2014 were an inspirational talk, entitled The Menace of the State shall find be Unafraid, on the crucial role played by the Church in the disintegration of Apartheid in 1980s South Africa and the powerful personal testimony of Fr David Branford, From Anglican Vicar to Catholic Priest.

The 2013 St Thomas More Lecture was delivered by Sr Helen Prejean on her work with condemned criminals in the United States, while 2014 saw a change of focus as Oxford's own Prof. Henry Mayr-Harting spoke on Confession: Yesterday and Today.

Since the merger, speaker topics have evolved to reflect the heritage of both groups, with the committee seeking to balance the diverse interests of Oxford's young Catholics.

The conviviality of Mgr Knox's days is combined with a renewed optimism and confidence when the Society meets each Thursday in term-time, for an informal supper at 7pm and a talk at 8pm, followed by prayer, refreshments and conversation.

Since the Coronavirus Pandemic the Society has hosted notable speakers such as John Finnis, Paul Shrimpton, Sally Axworthy, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Alexander Stafford, Mike Kane, George Weigel and Cardinal Pell.