Faith Today travelled to Boston to spend time with Jack and his wife Carol to find out more about the amazing events which unfolded and which have played such a major part in the beatification process which will climax when Cardinal Newman is declared Blessed by Pope Benedict on September 19.
On August 15 2001 Jack Sullivan, a Boston lawyer, magistrate and ‘deacon in training’ languished in a Boston hospital bed recovering from spinal surgery. He was not in good shape. He knew what lay ahead: months of rehabilitation and months of continual pain. 
This combined with the prospect of withdrawing from his diaconal training made him utterly depressed and despondent. It was precisely into this moment of despair that God intervened.
From the depths of his heart he cried out in prayer to Cardinal John Henry Newman. He had only learnt about Cardinal Newman a few months before after watching a programme about him on EWTN (a Catholic TV Channel in the US). On making this prayer and in an instant Jack was miraculously cured.
On arriving in Boston I realized that one of the lenses in my glasses had fallen out. I am utterly lost without them - I cannot read, I cannot write, I can do absolutely nothing without them. I called Jack and we retraced our journey from Logan International Airport to Jack’s house in Marshfield. We had taken the commuter ferry and I wondered if the lens had fallen out while I was out on the top deck enjoying the Boston nightline. Of course, the idea of actually finding my lens was a classic case of a ‘needle in a haystack’ and certainly a one in a million chance.
Jack Sullivan will proclaim the Gospel at the beatification MassJack said he would call the port authority on my behalf. He insisted I leave it to him. As I put the phone down Jack said that he would pray to Cardinal Newman to help us. I was to learn over the next few days that Jack Sullivan had every reason to have confidence in praying to Cardinal John Henry Newman.
For Jack and Carol September 19 will be one of the most happiest and memorable of their lives - the culmination of years of tribunals, investigation and scrutiny by the Vatican into the veracity of Jack’s claim that he was cured through the intercession of Cardinal Newman.
Jack’s recall of the miracle is as fresh today as it was then.
‘I remember it so well it was August 15 2001, the Feast of Mary’s Assumption. I was afflicted with a serious spinal condition, causing intolerable pain with utterly no prospect of relief. One surgeon told me that I was on the brink of complete paralysis! You see, five days earlier, I had undergone spinal surgery because my lumbar vertebrae and discs were literally squeezing the life out of my spinal cord.
A surgeon told Jack that I was on the brink of complete paralysis!‘During the procedure the surgeons unfortunately encountered serious complications. My dura mater or protective lining surrounding the spinal cord was very badly torn. It had been that way for several months. For days after the surgery I was still suffering incredible pain with no relief in sight. If I was lucky, my recovery would take, at a minimum, six to eight months. My affliction was made more serious, because it would prevent me from completing my formation classes to be ordained a deacon in the Archdiocese of Boston.
‘I was scheduled to begin my fourth and final year in less than one month, and I was completely devastated when it became obvious that my ordination was no longer possible! After I was told I couldn’t return to classes, I was so upset that I felt compelled to get out of my hospital bed, and attempt to walk. But the pain was so agonizing that it took me more than ten minutes merely to slide to the edge of my bed, and with a nurse’s help, to put my feet onto the floor, leaning on my bed for support.
‘I was completely helpless and the
situation now seemed really hopeless! It was into this moment of desolation that lead me to finally cry out in prayer! I called upon my very special intercessor and faithful friend Cardinal John Henry Newman. I prayed: “Please Cardinal Newman, help me to walk, so that I can return to classes and be ordained”.
‘As soon as I had finished making this prayer I felt a tremendous sensation of intense heat all over, and a strong tingling feeling throughout my body. This feeling of heat and tingling seemed to last a long time! In addition I felt an indescribable sense of joy and peace, as though in the presence of God. I also had a renewed sense of hope and confidence that finally, I could walk! When this beautiful moment subsided, I realized, much to my surprise, I was standing upright. I said to the nurse: ‘I have no more pain,’ whereas minutes before, I was bent over in complete agony! During these precious moments, I was totally captivated, totally transfixed by God’s loving presence! I realized that I could walk pain free, when I couldn’t for months! I could walk upright! I could walk with strength in my back and in my legs!
Jack prayed: ‘Please Cardinal Newman, help me to walk, so that I can return to classes and be ordained.’‘I was so totally invigorated that I sprinted out of my room and then up and down all the corridors on my floor of the hospital. The poor nurse tagging behind kept shouting ‘Jack slow down – slow down!’ Immediately thereafter, I was discharged, and to everyone’s astonishment I returned to my classes on time!
‘One year later, on September 14, 2002, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, I was ordained a deacon at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. And without knowing the date of my ordination, the Postulator for Newman’s cause notified me, on that same day, that the Fathers at the Birmingham Oratory had voted to formally initiate the process for the beatification of their founder, the Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman, and to take my case to Rome.
‘Was this notification a providential sign from God that my prayer to Cardinal Newman was miraculously answered? I know that it was a beautiful sign, affirming not only that my remarkable healing came from God at Cardinal Newman’s intercession, but also through my suffering, some greater good, some higher purpose might be achieved. I now believe that that greater good and higher purpose is the beatification of Cardinal Newman.’
On Tuesday June 2 2009 the Congregation for the Cause of Saints recognized Jack’s healing cure as a miracle and opened up the way for Cardinal Newman to be beatified and declared Blessed.
Jack has been married to Carol for 41 years and for her he is so grateful. ‘Carol is the great blessing in my life. Without her I do not know where I would be.’ Carol is very down to earth and very practical and takes everything in her stride. Jack and Carol have three children, Brian, Jennifer and Jessica and a granddaughter Jack calls ‘Miss Nora.’ Jack and Carol were told of the birth of baby Nora, (Brian and Lauren’s daughter) when they were visiting the Birmingham Oratory in November 2009.
I could walk with strength in my back and in my legs!... Jack is considering retiring as a magistrate this autumn after a long and distinguished career as a lawyer and magistrate. His real passion however is in serving God as Deacon at St Theckla’s Parish Marshfield, Boston. He also has a ministry to the inmates at Plymouth Correctional Facility. His prison ministry is underpinned by a simple principle which he explains: ‘For me prison ministry is such a privilege and blessing. I know in my heart that but for God’s grace go I. This is easy to say but it is true. I have learnt that no one is beyond redemption and that God loves everybody no matter what they have done. The prisoners I serve have taught me so much. Yes they have done wrong and they must pay their debt to society but I always encounter in them the desire to change, to live better lives and they are always so grateful to receive Holy Communion. 
‘I have dedicated my diaconal vocation to Cardinal Newman in gratitude for the many gifts God has given me. But you know I recognize in the prisoners the same anguish, fear, despondency and hopelessness that I experienced in that hospital bed many years ago. I want to share with them the gifts I have received and hold out to them the message of hope that God loves them, cares for them and that he will intervene in their lives in the way he intervened in mine bringing them to the same healing and grace.’
Jack Sullivan is an amazing man. He truly is a great example of love and devotion to God, the Church, his wife Carol, his children and his parish. It has been a real pleasure and privilege to spend time with him not least because he is a living, breathing sign that miracles really do happen.
Jack is a living sign that miracles really do happenThe phone rings and it’s Jack on the end of the line saying that my lens has been found. He says with the confidence of a man speaking of a dearly loved friend, ‘You see Mike I told you if I prayed to Cardinal Newman he would help us and he did!’
