Vatican says cause can move forward for Massachusetts pro-life activist, wife, mother

WORCESTER, Mass. (OSV News) -- This fall the Vatican paved the way for the Worcester Diocese to begin the cause for the potential canonization of a local Catholic -- Ruth V. K. Pakaluk.

Ruth, a wife and mother from St. Paul Cathedral, was also known as an energetic, effective pro-life activist. She died at age 41 in 1998 after a long battle with cancer.

"There is no obstacle on the part of the Holy See to the cause of Beatification and Canonization" of this 'Servant of God,'" said a letter in Latin to Bishop Robert J. McManus, dated Sept. 29. It was from Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. The granting of this "nihil obstat" means that nothing stands in the way of the Worcester Diocese moving forward on the cause.

Ruth can now be called a Servant of God, the first step in a long process that could result in her being declared a saint someday. The title is given to a sainthood candidate when a cause is formally established.

The next step in a cause is granting the title "Venerable" when the Vatican declares the person's heroic virtues. In general, the next steps -- beatification and canonization -- each require a verified miracle -- one confirmed to have occurred through the intercession of the candidate.

Michael Pakaluk, currently a professor at The Catholic University of America, married Ruth when they were college students and they had seven children. He said he prayed for the cause for her canonization to open, but did not credit any one person with initiating it.

"Lots of people have spoken about it … believed a cause should open up," he told The Catholic Free Press, Worcester's diocesan news outlet. "I've always been happy to cooperate" with anyone pursuing it.

Asked why the cause should go forward, he said he views it in relationship to the Second Vatican Council, which set forth a pattern of holiness for laypeople. Ruth corresponded to that in everything: as a wife, mother, friend and citizen, he said, noting that she helped people with their political campaigns and loved Worcester.

"She had a kind of countercultural streak in her," he added. As a youth in New Jersey, "she used to hang out with her friends on the railroad, wearing an Army jacket."

As his wife, "she liked listening to rock and roll. … I think it gave her a lot of consolation" hearing "edgy" music at the end of her life. She "acknowledged" the "superiority" of classical music, which he wanted played. But she maintained, "You can't eat fine food all the time; once in a while you want a hot dog."

On a more serious note, Ruth is remembered for her pro-life work, which included founding pro-life groups, giving talks and serving as president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

Allison LeDoux, director of the Worcester diocesan Respect Life Office, said Ruth received one of the Mother Teresa Pro-life Awards in 1998, the first year the office presented them and the year she died. The next year the office inaugurated the Ruth V. K. Pakaluk Pro-life Youth Award "because she was so good at working with young people."

Visitation House in Worcester, a home for homeless, pregnant women and their children, also has an award named for her. Though she died before the home started, Ruth was its inspiration, noted Joseph Williams, its president emeritus. Last spring, when Visitation House celebrated its 20th anniversary, he was given its Ruth V. K. Pakaluk Legacy Award.

After her death, mindful of her wish for such a place, then-Father Richard F. Reidy, now bishop of Norwich, Connecticut, got him and others to form the board, Williams said.

Williams and his wife, Raeanna, met the Pakaluks at St. Paul Cathedral, when she inquired about meeting other Catholic mothers and was pointed to Ruth.

Mary Beth Burke, of Christ the King Parish in Worcester, also knew Ruth "when we were all at the cathedral; she ran the CCD; I was one of the teachers."

Despite her sickness, "she never stopped," even organizing trips to a park so mothers could pray the rosary and chat while their children played.

"She was just such a happy person" you'd forget she was sick, Burke recalled.

If you asked Ruth, "How did you do that?" the daily communicant would credit the faith, she said, adding that that's why she thinks the long process for canonization has been started.

Msgr. F. Stephen Pedone, the Worcester Diocese's judicial vicar/vicar for canonical affairs, and attorney Dwight Duncan, postulator of the pending cause, explained the canonization process in interviews with The Catholic Free Press.

Duncan said he was good friends with the Pakaluks and is part of the personal prelature Opus Dei, to which Michael Pakaluk also belongs. Duncan has a canon law degree from Rome and has been teaching constitutional law at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for 35 years.

He said Bishop McManus appointed him postulator and that the bishop also approved a prayer card. It includes a brief biography of Ruth, a prayer for private devotion and Duncan's email address, through which to report any favors received.

Attempts are now underway to create the Ruth V. K. Pakaluk Foundation to be the petitioner, or actor, to advance the canonization cause, said Duncan, who is working on that with other people who admired Ruth.

The plan is to, in the next couple of weeks, file with the Massachusetts Secretary of State to establish the foundation as a 501(c)(3) organization and also apply to the Internal Revenue Service for tax exempt status.

Once the foundation has this civil status, a decree signed by Bishop McManus can establish the foundation as a "private juridic person," recognized under canon law.

The foundation would then need to collect Ruth Pakaluk's writings, and testimonies from people who knew her, for historians and theologians to study, then give this material to the Worcester diocesan tribunal.

Three tribunal judges or other canonists would gather evidence about Ruth's heroic virtue. This record would be sent to the Vatican dicastery, which would make a decision about her heroic virtue and could then potentially give her the title "Venerable."

"We don't want to pre-judge the judgment of the church," Duncan stressed. "It's the church that decides whether somebody is in heaven." God decides, but on earth the church proclaims that.