Ohio Widower Pursues Sainthood for Wife

Vatican to consider canonization for mother of 12 who co-founded Catholic Familyland ministry:

There are men who say, "My wife is a saint for putting up with me." But an Ohio man, Jerome Coniker, may prove it.

The Vatican has given approval to pursue sainthood for his late wife, Gwen, who was 62 when she died in June 2002.

"When the church looks for sanctity, they don't seek phenomenal signs or revelations or apparitions. They just look for the virtuous life. She sure qualifies for that," said Mr. Coniker, co-founder with her of the Apostolate for Family Consecration in Bloomingdale, Ohio. Together they raised 12 children, and have 65 grandchildren.

A 10 a.m. Mass today in the chapel of Catholic Familyland, a resort-retreat center that the Conikers built, will open the investigation into whether Mrs. Coniker exhibited the "heroic virtue" that the church requires of a saint. For six months investigators will interview more than 100 witnesses and examine everything ever written by or about her. She will then become known as "Servant of God Gwen Coniker."

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My Comments:
One of these days, we'll get around to visiting Catholic Familyland. On our recent trip from Ohio to Virginia, we stopped for fuel and a bathroom break in Pennsylvania and met a family that was on their way from Virginia to Ohio to go to Catholic Familyland.

This family had 9 children ranging from newborn up to 11 years old. When they first walked by us, Sarah stared incredulously and asked "Are ALL of these children yours?" The mother looked back in disbelief and responded "Hey, wait a minute, we were just commenting on the pro-life stickers and 'Viva Pope Benedict' magnet on the back of your minivan, and now you're going to give me a hard time about my kids?"

Of course, we all laughed when the misunderstanding was cleared up (Sarah was just amazed to see so many kids so close together in age, especially since we get a hard time from people - e.g., our own non-Catholic family members - sometimes because we have 4 kids all under the age of 5). We had a very nice conversation with this family and compared notes on raising large families.

Needless to say, their 9 children were all much better behaved than the 4 Anderson youngsters.