{"id":462,"date":"2009-07-07T06:46:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-07T06:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/the-newman-miracle-one-deacons-umerited-gift-updated.html"},"modified":"2009-07-07T06:46:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-07T06:46:00","slug":"the-newman-miracle-one-deacons-umerited-gift-updated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/the-newman-miracle-one-deacons-umerited-gift-updated.html","title":{"rendered":"The Newman miracle: one deacon’s “umerited gift” — UPDATED"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>The Massachusetts deacon who was miraculously healed by the intercession of John Henry Newman is talking about the event that has lead to the late Cardinal’s beatification.<\/p>\n

Take a look<\/a>: <\/p>\n

A day after Pope Benedict XVI ruled that John \u201cJack\u201d Sullivan\u2019s recovery had been a miracle, Sullivan, a resident of Marshfield, shared his story with inmates at the Plymouth County jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod doesn\u2019t rise up the mighty. He lifts up the lowly,\u201d Sullivan said.<\/p>\n

Pope Benedict\u2019s decision places Cardinal John Henry Newman, a 19th-century theologian and Anglican convert, a step away from sainthood.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s announcement surprised Sullivan because he wasn\u2019t expecting the the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, the committee of cardinals that reviews the evidence, to discuss the case until later this summer.<\/p>\n

Sullivan was studying to become a deacon \u2013 a lay minister in the Catholic Church \u2013 when crippling pain in his spine interrupted his studies in 2000. He prayed to Cardinal Newman after seeing a program about the cardinal on the Eternal Word Television Network.<\/p>\n

Sullivan said he was not seeking to be cured; he just wanted to be able to complete his studies.<\/p>\n

The pain went away, then returned almost a year later. Surgery didn\u2019t help, and once again Sullivan turned to Cardinal Newman.<\/p>\n

He soon felt \u201ca tremendous warmth and tingling\u201d and recovered in four days, Sullivan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a miracle to happen, all the laws of nature must stop and something supernatural has to happen,\u201d Sullivan said, who was ordained as a deacon in 2002. The 70-year-old now serves at St. Thecla\u2019s Church in Pembroke.<\/p>\n

Sullivan calls his recovery \u201ca gift \u2013 an unmerited gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as he told the inmates during Communion services on Saturday, it is also a sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs difficult as things are and as lowly as we feel sometimes, there is a reality that gives us hope and something to cling to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Later this year, Sullivan plans to make his first visit to Cardinal Newman\u2019s former home, at the Birmingham Oratory in England, to take part in observances celebrating Newman\u2019s beatification. Arrangements have been made for him to stay in the cardinal\u2019s old room.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A nice write-up marred by one glaring inaccuracy: the description of a deacon as “a lay minister in the Catholic Church.”<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/b> I dropped an e-mail to the reporter who wrote the story, noting his error. He wrote back: <\/p>\n

Yours is the second e-mail I’ve had on the subject. I wanted to explain to non-Catholics the role of deacon in the Catholic Church, and how its far from an honorary title. Since I didn’t have a paragraph or two to explain it, I used the word lay to grossly oversimplify it. I expected one word to do too much work. It wasn’t meant as a slight in any way.<\/p>\n

It’s good to know I have readers in Brooklyn other than my friends who work for Newsday.<\/p>\n

Thanks for writing. An while I know deacons cannot hear confessions, I do expect to avoid this sin in the future.<\/p>\n

Fred Hanson <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks, Fred! All is forgiven \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Massachusetts deacon who was miraculously healed by the intercession of John Henry Newman is talking about the event that has lead to the late Cardinal’s beatification. Take a look: A day after Pope Benedict XVI ruled that John \u201cJack\u201d Sullivan\u2019s recovery had been a miracle, Sullivan, a resident of Marshfield, shared his story with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deacons","category-hanging-with-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Newman miracle: one deacon's "umerited gift" - UPDATED - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/the-newman-miracle-one-deacons-umerited-gift-updated.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Newman miracle: one deacon's "umerited gift" - UPDATED - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Massachusetts deacon who was miraculously healed by the intercession of John Henry Newman is talking about the event that has lead to the late Cardinal’s beatification. 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