HONOLULU

Theological consulters to the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes have ruled that the cancer cure of

a Hawaiian woman was due to Blessed Damien de Vuester’s intercession, Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva

announced April 29th.
The decision represents a major step forward in Father Damien’s cause for canonization. The final actions

required to declare the priest a saint are the endorsement of the congregation’s committee of cardinals

and bishops and the approval of the Pope.
Father Damien, the 19th century Belgian missionary of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary who spent

the final 16 years of his life caring for the Hansen’s disease patients on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai,

was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II.
Audrey Toguchi, whose cancer disappeared a decade ago after she began prayers to Father Damien that

included pilgrimages to Kalaupapa where the priest worked and died, said that when she first learned she

had cancer “I put everything in God’s hands.”
She decided to pray to Father Damien, who had given his own life in service to others. “Father Damien

is not going to let me go,” she thought at the time.
The sainthood process generally requires two miracles, one for beatification and one for canonization.
An alleged miracle – usually a healing – must overcome two hurdles. First, medical experts must declare

it dramatic and unexplainable. Next, theologians must determine that it was caused through the

intercession of the candidate for sainthood.
In Father Damien’s case, the medical commission of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes

ruled last October that the healing was “unexplainable according to available medical knowledge.”

In this latest judgement, the theological consulters determined that the cure was attributable to

Father Damien.
The cure in question involved the disappearance of cancer, without treatment, from Toguchi’s lungs

in 1999. (CNS)

 

TORONTO
 

Jim Caviezel, the star of the blockbuster film “The Passion of the Christ,” told an interviewer that he had been

challenged by a friend who was not pro-life to live up to his professed pro-life convictions and adopt a disabled child.
The friend told Caviezel that if he did that, then he would change to the pro-life position. When Caviezel and his wife

Kerri, went to China to adopt not one, but eventually two orphans suffering from brain tumors, the friend reneged on

the deal. Caviezel, however said, “It didn’t matter to me because the joy that we had from (Bo) – he’s like our own.”
The couple’s first child, Bo, had been abandoned on a train, grew up in an orphanage until he was five and was

diagnosed with a brain tumour. The Caviezels nursed Bo through his surgeries and he remains today at the centre of

the family.
“We took the harder road,” the actor said. “That is what faith is to me; it’s action. It’s the Samaritan. It’s not the

one who says he is; it’s the one who does – and does without bringing attention to himself. I’m saying this because

I want to encourage other people.”
Handsome and a compelling actor, Jim Caviezel has taken leading roles in a number of mainstream feature films –

“The Thin Red Line” and the “Count of Monte Cristo” being the best known. But it is his role as the suffering Jesus in

the “Passion of the Christ” that he has become best known for.
About the adoption of his children, Caviezel was frank about his feelings, saying the challenge “completely terrified” him

at first. “Yes, you do feel fear, you do feel scared but you have no idea the blessings that you have coming to you if you just take a chance on faith.”
When the Caviezels went to adopt their second child, they were first offered a healthy baby girl, but a five-year-old girl

with a brain tumour from the Guangzhou region of China also needed a home. The Caviezels reasoned that a healthy

baby would be more likely to be adopted by another family and that the child with the tumour had a greater need for

a home.
Caviezel’s optimism and self-confidence showed early in his acting career. He was told that as a devoutly believing

Catholic he should be prepared to keep his beliefs quiet. But it was his openness about his faith that attracted the

attention of Mel Gibson and led him to offer Caviezel the role of Christ.
Asked about the challenges of being a publicly Catholic figure in Hollywood, Caviezel responded, “It’s part of the cross

you take up when you choose to believe in him (Christ)…we all have this desire to want to be liked…but what we should be asking God for is the desire for humility.(Lifesitenews)