VATICAN CITY, APRIL 14, 2010 (Zenit.org).-Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York was in Rome today to deliver the position paper for the cause of canonization of his predecessor, Cardinal Terence Cooke.
Cardinal Cooke served as the archbishop of New York from 1968 to 1983. Archbishop Dolan delivered the «positio» to Benedict XVI after the weekly general audience.
«Cooke maintained serenity in the face of storms; he was always close to the people, despite his grave illness. His testimony of strength and truth encourages above all the bishops of today,» the archbishop said in statements published by L’Osservatore Romano.
The report, which relates the life and virtue of the cardinal, will be submitted to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, where a commission of theologians will study it. The report will then pass to another commission of cardinals and bishops.
If the report successfully passes examination by these two commissions, the next step would be for the Pope to promulgate a decree of heroic virtue and proclaim Cardinal Cooke «venerable.»
For beatification, a miracle attributed to the intercession of Cardinal Cooke must be submitted and decreed.
Terence Cooke was born in 1921 in New York. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New York in 1945. In 1965, he was named the auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese, and that same year he was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia.
In 1968, he was named archbishop of New York, and simultaneously as the vicar apostolic for the U.S. Military. He was made a cardinal the next year.
The cardinal died in 1983 at the age of 62. He revealed his illness to the public only months before he died, and his doctor revealed to the New York Times that he had spent the last five years of his life »on almost constant chemotherapy.»
The remains of Cardinal Cooke are interred in the crypt of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
The cardinal was named a Servant of God in 1992.
