In Worcester, Massachusetts, Ruth Pakaluk is remembered first as a neighbor — the woman who baked brownies for every kid on the block, who ran a home full of activity, and who treated anyone’s child as her own. But this week, her legacy took a significant step beyond the boundaries of her community. The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has formally authorized the Diocese of Worcester to begin an inquiry into whether the late mother of seven should someday be considered for sainthood.

Pakaluk died in 1998, at age 41, after a long battle with breast cancer. In the years since, stories about her life — her work as a pro-life advocate, her activism in Worcester, and her quiet, daily habits of faith — have grown into a broader narrative about a woman many admirers consider a model of Christian virtue. On Sept. 29, the dicastery issued a nihil obstat, meaning nothing stands in the way of a formal investigation into her life. It is an early step, but one that signals the Church’s recognition that her reputation for holiness deserves examination.

Born Ruth Van Kooy in 1957 in New Jersey, she excelled from a young age. She was a straight-A student, a multi-instrument musician, an athlete, and a natural performer in school plays. She arrived at Harvard in 1976 identifying as an atheist and a firm supporter of legal abortion. But there she met her future husband, Michael Pakaluk, and the two began a shared intellectual search that eventually led them to Christianity. Both entered the Catholic Church in 1980, early in their marriage.

Pakaluk’s adult life unfolded against the backdrop of raising a growing family. Friends describe a home constantly filled with children — her own and many from the surrounding neighborhood. Concerned that local students lacked access to books, she required visiting kids to read before they could play. She organized makeshift field trips, hauled carloads of children to nearby ponds in an aging Oldsmobile, and ran prayer gatherings for mothers and kids at a local cemetery.

Her activism was similarly rooted in the everyday. She led a pro-life group at Harvard, eventually becoming president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. In Worcester, she helped organize opposition to a Planned Parenthood sex-education curriculum and encouraged civic engagement, even recruiting and managing a successful school-committee campaign for another local mother. Colleagues recall her not for self-promotion, but for careful thinking, warmth, and a quiet intensity.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991, she lived with the disease for seven years, raising her children, continuing her volunteer work, and even climbing Mount Washington despite significant pain. Her family says she avoided calling attention to her illness, determined that her children’s lives remain as normal as possible.

Her example drew admiration from friends, clergy, and local Catholic leaders. Bishop Richard Reidy, who served as rector of Worcester’s Cathedral of St. Paul during her lifetime, described her religious education program as unusually substantive and joyful. He recalled how she organized parish “Quiz Games” and inexpensive trips for groups of children that blended faith, learning, and adventure.

Canonization is a long process, requiring documented evidence of heroic virtue and, eventually, two verified miracles. Supporters of Pakaluk’s cause acknowledge that the path ahead is uncertain. But they also point to a life shaped by deep conviction, intellectual seriousness, and a steady, unadorned commitment to caring for others.

For her family — now spanning dozens of grandchildren — the Vatican’s approval for a formal inquiry brings both pride and humility. Her husband, Michael, said he has always held an intuition about her path but knows the final judgment belongs to the Church.

In Worcester, many who knew her see the same possibility. As Reidy put it, she remains “a great example, somebody to be held up.”

If the diocesan inquiry proceeds, the U.S. bishops will first vote on whether to allow the process to begin. Only then will investigators start gathering testimony, reviewing her writings, and documenting the details of a life that, for many, already feels extraordinary.