"Absurd" Attack on Newman Miracle Condemned
Article Falsely Portrays Cardinal as Liberal Dissident
BIRMINGHAM, England, MAY 11, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Birmingham Oratory is condemning recent accusations that a miraculous healing attributed to the intercession of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who will be beatified in September, was a fake.
In a press release today, the oratory stated that the accusatory article, written by John Cornwell and published two days ago by the Sunday Times, is "seriously flawed."
The miracle that was approved last July by Benedict XVI as a step in the cause of Cardinal Newman's canonization was the 2001 healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan of the Boston, Massachusetts, area.
Sullivan had a debilitating back injury that interrupted his diaconal studies and threatened to leave him paralyzed. After praying for the intercession of Cardinal Newman, he experienced an immediate healing from the pain, and doctors stated that there was no medical explanation.
In Sunday's article, Cornwell attempted to demonstrate that the healing was not miraculous, but rather medically explicable due to surgical treatment that Sullivan received.
He suggested that Benedict XVI and the Congregation for Saints' Causes "conspired to suppress the truth about Sullivan's healing to portray it as medically inexplicable," the oratory communique noted.
"The suggestion is absurd," it added. "The Church's procedures have been faithfully adhered to and everything is in the public domain."
Misleading
The communiqué asserted that Cornwell's arguments, quoting "experts" in order to claim that "improvements in Sullivan's underlying condition can flow from purely natural influences," are "very misleading."
Members of the Birmingham Oratory, which was Cardinal Newman's community, underlined the "instantaneous, complete and lasting" cure of Sullivan after his prayer six days after his surgery.
"Nothing in the expert testimonies adduced by Cornwell show that such a recovery, in such a time period, can be attributed to surgery, or natural causes in general," it added.
In fact, the communiqué noted that Cornwell clearly states his agenda: "discrediting Pope Benedict XVI and Papal teaching, to promote a 'progressive' view of Cardinal Newman as a 'dissident,' above all concerning individual conscience in relation to the teaching of the Catholic Church in faith and morals."
It added, "The Pope however is the leading authentic interpreter of Newman's teaching on conscience, which Cornwell and other 'progressive' Catholics misunderstand and misrepresent."
Members of the oratory warned that this attack "is not only unfounded, but another attempt to recruit Newman to the factional cause of 'liberal' Catholicism."
They affirmed, "Newman's doctrine of conscience, in fact his lifelong contribution to Christianity as both an Anglican and a Catholic, are in opposition to the rejection of authority in faith and morals which 'liberal' Catholics are determined to promote."
The oratory stated its plans to publish another article later this week in order to give more details about the "failings of Cornwell's arguments."
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7 comments:
Only an anti-anti-Protestant would post this kind of hateful hate.
Rhology,
Why don't you just go and worship John Calvin or something?!
Oh, don't worry. I already did today. Twice.
Scott Clark has an interesting take here:
http://heidelblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/rome-pentecostals-and-credulity/#more-7518
He even uses a great icon!
Peace.
Why do RCs pray for healing from people who aren't yet canonized, anyway? Wouldn't they consider it a "safer bet" to pray to someone who's already been canonized? Maybe they do it because they figure if they do get their miracle, they'll get some glory for being responsible for the canonization of someone they like. How do we really know, though, that they didn't also pray to someone who's already been canonized? Or maybe someone else prayed to another canonized saint for them and they're not even aware, and that person convinced Jesus to heal them. (And presuming that they really did receive miraculous healing, I suppose it's not even worthy of their consideration that the Lord Jesus Christ might have just heard their prayers Himself and healed them without anyone else egging Him on.)
Excellent points Ree.
I know I don't have to worry though. I just go straight to Jesus and let Him make the decision. There's no need to ask dead people who can't hear me for their help. Only God is omnipresent, so He is the one that hear's our prayers.
I pray that all Roman Catholics understand this someday. Just put your hope and trust in Jesus. He is the Way.
Ree,
You need to read Sullivan's story. He said he felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to call on Cardinal Newman's intercession. He felt a personal connection with him after hearing about his story and reading some of his writings.
This is typical of how a devotion to a saint gets started. People just feel like this person is a saint and that God wants to use their intercession to help them.
If he had felt that about a live Christian. That he needed to get a certain person to pray for him then when that person prayed he was healed. Would you buy that? Is it just the fact that Cardinal Newman has died?
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