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Cardinal Newman Intercessor and Special Friend The Story of a Miracle by Peter Jennings To Deacon Jack and Carol Sullivan Brian, Jennifer and Jessica
All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE
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Contents Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Miracle Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 An Ordinary Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Jack’s Illness and Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Proclamation of the Decree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Newman . . . . . . . . .56 A Meditation by Cardinal Newman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
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Foreword The Gospel of St John presents us with the formal prayer of Jesus to his Father. In the course of this prayer, we hear the following words: “I have given them the glory you gave to me that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:22) At this point Jesus is praying about us. In his prayer he asks that we share in his glory. Now the glory of Christ is the same as the glory of the Father. It is the glory of heaven; the glory of God’s majesty. Throughout the bible, there are many expressions of this glory of God. It always is a glory that stands as a corrective to human glory. Whereas we tend to the glory of our own achievements, to self-satisfaction and self-exultation, the glory of God is always different. Indeed the glory of God in Christ can be found only by way of Calvary. When Jesus is raised on the cross then his glory, and that of the Father, is truly revealed. His glory is always a gift of the Father. It is brought to its fullness in his victory over suffering and death, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the glory of heaven. This booklet is a story of the glory of God. In the life of Jack Sullivan, about which we read here, there is remarkable testimony to the power of God, to God’s glory.
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This testimony is found, as we should expect, in the life of one man who was walking the pathway of intense suffering. In telling the story of Jack Sullivan, this booklet also introduces us to John Henry Newman. It was in response to the invocation of Jack Sullivan to Cardinal Newman for help, for his prayers alongside those of the sick man, that this glorious miracle took place. Jack had already opened his heart to Cardinal Newman, finding in him a spiritual friend and protector. Now, in the hour of his greatest need, his friend did not let him down! We give thanks to God for the decision of the Church that John Henry Newman will be declared Blessed. This is a great encouragement and an inspiration to people all round the world. In a very special way it is so for everyone in the City of Birmingham, in Oxford and throughout England. We are so proud that one of our own will be declared to be among the blessed. And this is true, too, for so many in the Anglican Communion, for Cardinal John Henry Newman is, in a very real sense, a person whom we share. So many people know the name of John Henry Newman. We know him through his hymns, through the accounts of his life, with its struggles of conscience and the pain of his decisions. Many are familiar with his writings and the widespread influence of his words. His was an extraordinary intellect, dedicated to the search for truth and the service of God in the Church.
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Not many people today are aware of the many years Father John Henry Newman spent as a parish priest in Birmingham. These years and this ministry are an eloquent testimony to his holiness. Indeed the declaration of this holiness is a great encouragement to all parish priests, especially in this Year For Priests, called for by Pope Benedict XVI. So many people, therefore, can identity with these different aspects of the rich life of John Henry Newman. The forthcoming declaration of his sanctity encourages us all, in our prayer, in our study, in our quest for unity among Christians, in our efforts to proclaim our faith to our contemporaries. He is indeed a holy man for our age. May John Henry Newman intercede for us as we strive to open ourselves to receive God’s glory in our lives, even as Jesus promised. Cardinal John Henry Newman, pray for us! 9 The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster July 2009
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John Henry Newman.
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Introduction In this booklet we find recorded in ordinary words a most extraordinary event. We find we are witnesses to a miracle. To the modern mind a miracle can be an uncomfortable event. We read of miracles in the pages of the New Testament, those acts performed by Jesus Christ Himself, or by His apostles. We can also read of various miracles performed by the saints of later centuries. With all of these we can say that they happened a long time ago, but now knowledge has developed, science has moved on, we can explain things differently. A miracle which happened in the 21st century is what we are considering here. People will ask: does God still work miracles in the age of computers, the internet, space travel and all the other wonders we accept so easily? The answer would seem to be “Yes”. Such an answer challenges our ideas of how the world goes, and perhaps that is no bad thing. Anyone involved in the process of promoting an individual as a candidate for canonisation by the Catholic Church knows very well that for this to happen there is the necessity of a miracle of physical healing which can be ascribed to that candidate’s intercession. When Pope John Paul II altered the rules for beatification and
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canonisation in 1983, he legislated that one miracle is required for each stage, apart from the cases of martyrs, where just one miracle is required prior to actual canonisation. It is interesting to note in this regard that, although it would normally be the case that it is a miracle of physical healing that is presented for consideration, the regulations do make mention of “wonders of another kind”, without actually specifying what these might be. Pope John Paul canonised and beatified more men and women than any of his predecessors. Under his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, a large number have also been advanced - most noticeably several hundred martyrs from the Spanish Civil War. Apart from the martyrs, for each and every one of these new saints, a miracle of healing will have occurred through their intercession. So, rather than saying that the age of miracles is something which belongs to the Early Church or medieval times, we can assert with great confidence that we live in an age of miracles. Indeed, the miracles of modern saints have only been declared after the most painstaking medical and scientific investigations, which earlier centuries could not have imagined being possible. Jack Sullivan’s story, as it unfolds in these pages, is a part of that wonderful proof of God’s love for us which every miracle speaks about. Jack’s story also tells us a great deal about how the Church investigates the claims that a miracle has occurred. It is not just a matter of
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asserting that something miraculous has happened. It has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt that what has happened cannot be explained by modern, scientific medical knowledge. For the Church to be able to do this a great deal of evidence has to be submitted to the body responsible for investigating such claims, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. One of the first things that must happen after a claim of a cure has been made is that the local Bishop must set up a Tribunal to investigate what has happened. The Tribunal has to interview the one who claims to have been cured and other witnesses who can vouch for what happened before and after the event. It is absolutely essential for the Tribunal to gather together all the relevant medical documents and, if possible, depositions from the doctors involved in treating the patient. This can often be difficult, given the understandable reluctance on the part of many doctors to ascribe what happened to their patients as something inexplicable or the result of divine intervention. For the Newman Cause it was extremely fortunate that the cooperation of Jack Sullivan’s doctors was freely and fully given, and access to the medical records posed no insurmountable problems. The Tribunal to investigate Jack Sullivan’s case met in his home diocese of Boston, Massachusetts, under the auspices of Cardinal Sean O’Malley. The length of time required to hold the various sessions, to interview the
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witnesses and collate their evidence and to gather the medical documents, was rather longer than had been originally anticipated, but by November 2006 all the necessary work had been done and copies of the hundreds of pages that had been assembled were finally forwarded to Rome. It would not be feasible for everyone involved in the Roman process to read over every one of the pages of evidence submitted in any given case. Therefore, one of the first tasks that has to happen, once the Congregation for Saints is satisfied that the Diocesan Enquiry has done its work properly, is that the Roman Postulator of the Cause has to produce a summary of the findings - in fact, the document he edits is called the Summarium. The Roman Postulator for Cardinal Newman’s Cause is Dr Andreas Ambrosi. He is a well-known and much respected member of the College of Postulators and has helped many Causes reach a successful conclusion. Dr Ambrosi and his secretarial team worked very hard and the Summarium of the Sullivan case was soon published, a feat all the more remarkable because much of the original English had to be translated into Italian. After the completion of the Summarium the next stage of the Roman process involves the doctors. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has a list of medical experts whom it can call upon to evaluate and judge the cases of presumed miraculous healing that are
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submitted. If these doctors feel they lack expertise in any given area they are permitted to bring in another expert from outside their ranks. Initially two doctors are nominated, neither knowing who the other one is, and these are required to give a preliminary verdict on the evidence. This is helpful as an indication of what informed medical expertise has to say about the case under review, and is also crucial because at least one of the two must give a positive opinion for the case to be referred to the full Medical Council. After these initial soundings, the case is handed over to this council, the “Consulta Medica”, as it is known in Italian, and from this long list of doctors, five come together to give a final verdict, which is reached by majority vote. We know that when the doctors voted on Jack Sullivan’s case on 24th April 2008, they were unanimously in favour of the view that what had happened to him was inexplicable in terms of medical knowledge. Obviously a lot depends on this vote of the Medical Council. If it is not successful - as sometimes happens the case must be rejected. If it is successful, as it was for Jack Sullivan, things move to the next level, that of the Theological Consultors. Seven theologians are appointed and these have the task of examining the case to see whether the inexplicable medical event was indeed miraculous. They must needs examine who was invoked, by whom, for how long, and with what end in view. Their
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verdict will indicate that there was a direct link between the invocation of the Servant of God and the resulting miraculous cure. After this important milestone was passed, on 23rd April 2009, the matter was referred to the Ordinary Session of the Congregation as it is known, when the Cardinals and Bishops, who form the highest level of any Vatican department, met and voted on the cure. This took place on 2nd June 2009, and, as it was unanimously in favour, the whole case was sent to Pope Benedict XVI for his approbation and the issuing of the Decree announcing the miracle and formally accepting it as of God. Moving rather quickly, the Papal Decree was promulgated on 3rd July 2009, only a month after the decision of the Cardinals. The Decree also opens the way for the fixing of a date and place for the Beatification or Canonisation ceremony. Very early on in his Pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI reverted to earlier custom and announced that in future while Canonisations would normally be done in Rome, as acts of the Universal Church, it was better to do Beatifications locally, in the Diocese where the candidate lived. This change is designed to involve the local church more and to encourage the faithful in devotion to the particular saints of their area. Even though the Beatification ceremony will be in the city where Cardinal Newman lived for so many years, his significance is much more widely felt than in Birmingham alone. The
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interest in his Cause has been worldwide, as shown by the growing calls for him to be made a Doctor of the Church, which have come from all quarters of the globe. The Beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman, as a result of the miracle described in these pages, is an event which many in the Church have longed for and worked towards for a considerable period of time. The great Popes of the twentieth century praised his life and writings. Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul II all wrote and spoke about their hopes that one day Cardinal Newman would be raised to the honours of the altar and be a light and a guide for the whole church in difficult times. It is under Pope Benedict XVI, who has also studied and admired the “great English Cardinal”, that the event is finally taking place. When John Paul II declared Newman “Venerable” in January 1991, thereby recognising his eminent holiness of life, many thought that the Beatification would follow on very quickly. It was not to be. It is not possible to produce a miracle to order, as I hope I have shown, and although various earlier cases were examined - all of them interesting and moving in their own right - none ultimately stood up to the intense scrutiny the Church requires. Patience and prayer proved necessary, until Jack Sullivan, almost accidentally, discovered Cardinal Newman and turned to him in the great crisis of his life.
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What is described in this fascinating pamphlet, much of it in Jack Sullivan’s own words, is not the end of the story as far as the Cause of John Henry Newman is concerned. It is marvellous to have reached the moment of the Beatification, but those who love the Cardinal will not rest until he is a canonised saint of the Church. So the work will go on and many prayers will be said to achieve that end and to realising another miraculous cure through his intercession. When that will happen we do not know; where it will happen we cannot say; that it will happen is the fervent prayer of so many, and I hope it will be the prayer of all who read this booklet and are inspired by what they find in its pages. Fr Paul Chavasse, Provost, The Oratory, Birmingham, July 2009
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Miracle Healing The Feast of the Assumption, Tuesday 15th August 2001 This is Jack’s story in his own words: “This morning the pain was just as intense as the day before; it was so horrifying that I was put on morphine. It would come in waves, with intervals about 20 seconds apart during which I had to adjust my position slightly. Earlier than I anticipated the same therapist came in and announced that it was time for my walk. I was surprised that she had arrived so early and wanted me to walk with the aid of a walker. I was upset because I hadn’t been given any medication to help control the pain. I asked her to come back and see me later but she told me that it was now or never, meaning it would not happen until she came back the following day. “I found it excruciatingly painful just to move onto the right side of my bed. Even with her help it took me more than five minutes. At times I had to stop and catch my breath the pain was so severe; with her help I finally twisted myself over the bed with my legs touching the cold floor. I had to stop in this position with my elbows and forearms supporting me on the bed. “My situation appeared to be hopeless because the classes for my fourth and final year of formation were
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Jack Sullivan.
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scheduled to start in three weeks’ time. I silently, but fervently, prayed to Cardinal Newman for his urgent help. I will never forget the simple words that I said that morning: ‘Please Cardinal Newman, help me to walk so I can return to my Diaconate classes and be ordained.’ “Suddenly, I felt a very warm sensation all over my body and a sense of real peace and joy. I began to shudder and felt a very strong tingling sensation, which gripped my entire body. It lasted for what seemed a very long time, and was very strong. Then I felt a surge of strength, confidence and a tremendous sense of peace and joy that I could finally walk, and I was completely free of the crippling pain. “My healing became remarkably and unexplainably accelerated in one moment of time - the doctors had previously estimated that my recovery would take anything between eight months and a year. I smiled and refused the walker that I had been given. For the first time in several months I was now walking upright, normally, and felt real power and strength in both my legs. “Having been in bed for so long I still needed the cane for support. I walked with my therapist for more than 30 yards down the corridor past the nurse’s station. I then descended and ascended a flight of stairs without any difficulty pain free. I was supremely happy and my whole person was filled with a sense of love, peace, and well-being that I had never before experienced.
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“The therapist was truly amazed and she turned and said: ‘Jack, you have passed with flying colours this morning and can now go back to your room and I will authorise your discharge from the hospital.’ I just wanted to walk and walk. I wanted to walk down to the other end of the corridor where there was a large window, plants, and chairs, much like an atrium. The therapist told me that this was not necessary. I insisted because I had not walked normally and free from pain for many months. “I stood by the windows thrilled with the beautiful scenery. She suggested several times that I sit down in an easy chair. I replied that it wasn’t necessary because I was just so thrilled to be standing upright and not bent over double. We stood there for about 15 minutes and then walked back to my room. The nurse telephoned my wife Carol and asked her to come to the hospital and take me home. “From that moment, on the Feast of the Assumption 2001 to this day in 2008 the pain has never once returned and I continue to walk normally with no restrictions and with full mobility. “I got dressed and Carol arrived shortly afterwards. The nurses insisted that I sit in a wheelchair to be taken to the entrance but I insisted that I could walk out of the hospital unaided. They told me that I would not be discharged unless I complied, and so I reluctantly agreed to be wheeled.
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“The head nurse warned me to be extremely careful about bending, turning or twisting. She also told me that I should use a cane when getting up from my bed or a chair. I was given a bottle of painkillers and told to take two every four hours. I took two pills before bed that first night just as a precaution, for I was pain free. Since that moment I have never needed to take any further medication for the pain caused by my extremely serious spinal disorder.�