In Brief: Church beatifies nun for saving boy’s eye

NEWARK, N.J. – A New Jersey nun credited with curing a boy’s eye disease moved a step closer to sainthood Saturday in what church officials said was the first beatification Mass held in the United States.

A beatification Mass for Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, who died in 1927, was led by Cardinal Angelo Amato at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. Beatification is the third in a four-step process toward sainthood.

Demjanovich is credited with curing a boy’s macular degeneration in the 1960s, the Archdiocese of Newark says. The boy, Michael Mencer, was given a lock of the nun’s hair and prayed to her. The effects of the eye disease soon began to fade, Roman Catholic Church officials say.

Mencer, who is now 58 and lives in Nebraska, and members of the Demjanovich family were among the hundreds of clergy members, nuns and worshippers who attended the beatification Mass.

Activist, bubble plucked from sea

ORLANDO, Fla. – A longtime endurance runner and peace activist whose latest goal was to reach Bermuda in a homemade floating “Hydro Pod” was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday after he began suffering from fatigue.

Coast Guard air crew were able to safely pick up Reza Baluchi and the bubble Saturday morning, Coast Guard spokeswoman Marilyn Fajardo said in a statement. He was transported to a nearby Coast Guard station and found to be uninjured, Fajardo said.

A statement on Baluchi’s website said the Iranian exile had planned to make the 1,033-mile trip in his self-designed bubble to raise money “for children in need” and “to … inspire those that have lost hope for a better future.”

Baluchi has made headlines many times before with previous efforts to break long-distance running and cycling records, including one six-month journey in which he ran around the perimeter of the United States, and a seven-year bike trip that he said brought him across 55 countries on six continents. His self-professed mission is to promote world peace and unity. His perimeter run was to raise money for a children’s hospital, according to his website.