Sainthood cause for Jesuit missionary in Soviet Union takes next step

Published: 2006-03-20

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (CNS) -- More than 20 years after the death of Jesuit Father Walter J. Ciszek, a Pennsylvania-born priest who was a missionary in the Soviet Union, officials in the Diocese of Allentown have completed the preliminary phase of their quest to see him declared a saint. Materials and documentation supporting the canonization cause for Father Ciszek were sent to Jesuit Father Paolo Molinari, postulator general for the Society of Jesus, in Rome Feb. 27. This officially closes the first phase of the process of canonization -- the diocesan inquiry into the priest's reputation for sanctity. Allentown Bishop Edward P. Cullen and Msgr. Anthony D. Muntone, a co-postulator of the canonization cause, sealed the files at the diocesan chancery office before they were sent. The diocesan phase included a series of investigations that began in 1990 under the direction of now-retired Bishop Michael J. Dudick of the Byzantine Diocese of Passaic, N.J.

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