Church investigates alleged miracle attributed to late Cardinal Cooke

Published: 2005-07-20

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (CNS) -- In the first event of its kind in the history of the Metuchen Diocese, Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski presided at the closing session of an investigation into an alleged miracle attributed to the late Cardinal Terence Cooke. The investigation involved a cancer survivor who claims he was cured through the intercession of Cardinal Cooke. The cardinal was archbishop of New York from 1968 until his death in 1983 at age 62. He died of leukemia. A year after his death the Cardinal Cooke Guild was established to promote his sainthood cause, initiated by Cardinal Cooke's immediate successor, Cardinal John J. O'Connor, who is also now deceased. At the June 28 closing ceremony in the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center chapel in Piscataway, Lori Brower, diocesan chancellor, notarized facts of the case, which were then sealed and sent to the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, which will investigate the claim and decide if it was a miracle. Brower said she could not identify the survivor because of the rules of confidentiality, but said he was a resident of the Metuchen Diocese at the time of the alleged miracle.

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