Deacon Jack Sullivan got up from his seat next to Bishop David Zubik at the front of St. Paul Cathedral and walked to the pulpit to deliver the homily during Thursday evening's Mass. His message to the more than 300 worshippers in attendance was simple: They had just witnessed a miracle.
For more than a decade, doctors had been telling Deacon Sullivan, 71, of Pembroke, Mass., that his spinal degeneration would require surgery to prevent paralysis.
Even after having surgery, they told him, he would be unable to walk for at least four months.
Deacon Sullivan said he turned to prayer, asking Cardinal John Henry Newman, who died in 1890, to relieve his pain and help him to finish his studies to become a deacon in the Catholic Church. The pain, he said, went away, and he was able to walk through the corridors of the hospital that same day.
His doctors, who had diagnosed his condition as being among the worst they'd ever seen, said there was no medical explanation for Deacon Sullivan's recovery.
And the Catholic Church has agreed, saying that it was the miracle necessary for the beatification of Cardinal Newman in a ceremony attended by Pope Benedict XVI next month in England.
Deacon Sullivan's story served as the welcome to those attending the three-day National Newman Conference in Pittsburgh, during which more than 25 speakers from all over the country and Europe will share their thoughts on Cardinal Newman's life, writings and teachings.
The National Institute for Newman Studies in Oakland and the nearby Oratory congregation in the Ryan Catholic Newman Center is hosting the conference.
"It's significant because John Henry Father Newman is such a strong force in the Catholic Church, and we're especially blessed in the Diocese of Pittsburgh to have the presence of the Oratorians who are so devoted to the work of Cardinal Newman," Bishop Zubik said after the Mass.
"I think this strong academic and spiritual conference is another way for us to welcome people of faith to the city of Pittsburgh, and an opportunity for people to be able to come to know John Newman so they can become more like him."
Born in London in 1801, Cardinal Newman became an Anglican priest, rector of the parish at Oxford University. He was founder of a renewal movement that encouraged Anglicans to explore the biblical roots of their faith and the writings of the early church.
His studies led him into the Catholic Church. He became a priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Birmingham, England, and ministered to the poor while writing books that remain influential. He was never a bishop, but in 1879 Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal.
He has long been a candidate for beatification, but his cause was stalled for lack of a miracle. Deacon Sullivan's recovery is considered to be that miracle.
"I'm just an ordinary guy -- nobody special," Deacon Sullivan said after the service. "And if I can be healed, anybody can. What we're saying is hang in there, have faith, there are better days ahead. So many out there are suffering. So many people are living in sorrow. And Newman is telling them, through me, perhaps, that there is hope if we can just persevere, trusting in God's providence even though we're suffering."
The Rev. Drew Morgan, director of the National Institute for Newman Studies, said Cardinal Newman's life and lessons were worth studying since they remain relevant today "because he was a man of holiness and devotion -- something we can all emulate."
Next month's beatification makes this year's National Newman Conference at the Gaillot Center for Newman Studies as much a celebration as an annual gathering of scholars discussing writings, research and philosophy. And perhaps, Father Morgan said, it will lead to further examples of what faith can do.
"We hope that the prayers that go up for the next great miracle, we certainly hope that some of them come from Pittsburgh."
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