11/23/2025
A saint from Worcester in the making? Advocates on path to canonization
Kinga Borondy
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Pakaluk and her husband, Michael, lived in Worcester.
Ruth Pakaluk died at 41 of breast cancer in 1998.
She opposed both s*x education in Worcester public schools and abortion.
WORCESTER - In a quiet move heralded by the Catholic community, the friends and relatives of Ruth Pakaluk, a woman who lived in Worcester for a decade, have been given permission by the Vatican to investigate her life in order to determine whether she qualifies for sainthood.
“It is the first local cause out of Worcester,” said Dwight Duncan, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Massachusetts School of Law in Dartmouth. “This is not an everyday occurrence.”
In a letter dated Sept. 29, Pakaluk's supporters, called postulators, were granted permission through a nihil obstat, Latin for "no obstruction," to pursue her canonization.
Duncan told the Telegram & Gazette that he was a longtime friend of Pakaluk's family. He met Ruth and her husband, Michael Pakaluk, on his return from Rome, where he studied canon law. He was working at the Harvard University Law Library when Michael Pakaluk was there studying for his doctorate.
The 'Block Mom' of Worcester
The family of six moved to Worcester from Cambridge in the 1980s after Michael Pakaluk accepted a job at Clark University. Ruth Pakaluk was known in Worcester as the “Block Mom,” who welcomed her children and their friends home from school with freshly baked treats. She died of breast cancer in 1998 at 41.
“They were as poor as church mice,” Duncan said of the couple, who had four children at the time. He remembers marveling at the way she reused wax paper and washed tinfoil in the family’s efforts to make ends meet. “It was incredible.
According to accounts of Ruth Pakaluk’s life, the family moved into a poor section of the city, into a home with 40-year-old carpets that lacked hot water. However their days were described as cheerful and full of life.
“She was low-key as a person, not aggressive or even assertive,” Duncan said, calling her an exemplary wife, mother and homemaker. Duncan also found her to be “articulate, talented, logical and beautiful.”
Opponent of abortion, s*x education
Born in New Jersey in 1957, she met her future husband while attending Harvard. During those years, the couple explored spirituality together, eventually adhering to the Catholic faith and finding a home in Opus Dei, a controversial organization that believes faith is integral to daily life.
Ruth Pakaluk opted to stay home with her children after her first son was born. Eschewing a career outside of marriage, she remained at home, giving birth to seven children, one of whom died of sudden infant death syndrome at 7 weeks old.
On some levels, Duncan said, she lived an ordinary life as a mother raising children, running a household. But he found her to be deeply spiritual and devout at a time when those attributes were not valued.
As she grew into her Catholic faith, she took on the fight against abortion rights. In debates on the topic, Duncan described her always seeking the truth. When confronted by a student and accused of lying and in spreading anti-abortion propaganda, Duncan remembers, “She didn’t get mad, just asked the person to tell her what lies she was spreading. She was always open to discussion.”
“She was active in politics,” Duncan said, adding she defended and debated her anti-abortion stance at events on college campuses across the region. She served for a period as president of the Massachusetts Citizens for Life.
In 1992 and 1993, along with former Worcester School Committee member Mary Mullaney, Ruth Pakaluk tried to stop the city from adopting a comprehensive s*x education curriculum in city schools, according to published reports.
The curriculum was defeated then, and again in 2019, with Mullaney spearheading opposition then as well. A comprehensive s*x education curriculum, called Rights, Respect, Responsibility, finally passed in 2022.
Before her death, Pakaluk had hoped to establish a sanctuary for pregnant women and their children in Worcester. Although she died before it came to fruition, her supporters opened Visitation House on Endicott Street in 2005.
Path to sainthood
Pakaluk has already been elevated to the status of servant of God, the first step in the canonization process. However, the path to sainthood can take years, and in some cases centuries. A person who has been elevated to servant of God may be declared venerable, or heroic in virtue.
Miracles are needed for the next steps – one for beatification, in which a figure becomes blessed, and a second for canonization. This process is the purview of the Vatican, under the guidance of Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, appointed to the position by Pope Francis in 2020.
“My hope, that there will be a miracle that can be attributed to Ruth,” Duncan said.
