Relaxed in the back seat of his black limousine, Richard Cardinal Gushing, Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, riffled through the newspaper as the car rolled through the Massachusetts countryside. He was on his way to dedicate the first Catholic church in the town of Doverred brick St. Philomena's, which Pastor Joseph J. Boyle and the members of his three-year-old parish had just completed. Suddenly a news item riveted Cardinal Cushing's attention: the Vatican's Sacred Congregation of Rites had stricken St. Philomena, "the virgin martyr," from the roster of saints. For the cardinal, who...
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