Very exciting for the Birmingham Oratory, and indeed the whole of English Catholicism, is the process of beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who founded the church we attend in the mid-nineteenth century.Just a couple of days ago, the local rag the Birmingham Mail reported further on this matter. Of particular note is this paragraph:
The priest, who lived from 1801 to 1890, will be given the title "blessed" in a ceremony later this year and be only a step away from Sainthood.
The Roman Catholic Church has accepted that he was responsible for a miracle in which an American clergyman was "cured" of a crippling spinal disorder.
Just how much truth there is to the article, is anyone's guess, but we certainly know that things are moving swiftly indeed. Yesterday evening, this news seemed to have been confirmed by Fr Gregory Winterton (of the Birmingham Oratory), announcing before Mass that the medical investigations have come to a conclusion.
It always amuses me the way the media, when reporting on this matter, uses the word "cured" in apostrophes, obviously highlighting scepticism. The word 'cure' does not necessarily imply miraculous and supernatural causes. It is simply a state of fact: someone is free of previous disease. In this case, of course, a supernatural and spiritual cause is the only possible explanation, and medical science is not able to provide any other. Deo Gratias!
For more about Newman, see my previous post, or the Oratory website.
It always amuses me the way the media, when reporting on this matter, uses the word "cured" in apostrophes, obviously highlighting scepticism. The word 'cure' does not necessarily imply miraculous and supernatural causes. It is simply a state of fact: someone is free of previous disease. In this case, of course, a supernatural and spiritual cause is the only possible explanation, and medical science is not able to provide any other. Deo Gratias!
For more about Newman, see my previous post, or the Oratory website.
Praise God!
ReplyDelete