Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Father Dowling To The Rescue


So now we know who the mystery priest was who prayed at the Katie Lentz accident and then disappeared.
 
According to this news story from Yahoo News, the mystery priest was Rev. Patrick Dowling, who is indeed a Catholic priest of the Jefferson County Diocese.
 
Father Dowling made the following comment:

I had Mass in Ewing MO as the regular priest was sick. As I was returning, I arrived at the scene. The authorities were redirecting traffic. I waited till it was possible to drive up closer. I parked behind a large vehicle about 150 yards from the scene. I asked the Sheriff's permission and approached the scene of the accident. I absolved and anointed Katie, and, at her request, prayed that her leg would not hurt. Then I stepped aside to where some rescue personnel and the pilot were waiting, and prayed the rosary silently. I left when the helicopter was about to take off, and before I got to my car it was on its way to Quincy. I was amazed at the calmness of the two Highway patrol men. The sergeant was completely in control, amazingly calm. Everybody worked as harmoniously as a Swiss watch despite the critical nature of the scene. I gave my name to one of the authorities, perhaps to the sergeant of Highway Patrol, explaining that I was returning having celebrated Mass at Ewing. It was the sergeant who, at the Sheriff's request, gave me Katie's name as I was leaving, so I could visit her in hospital--I assumed she would be taken to Columbia. I think there may have been angels there too and, in this context, I congratulate the fire team from New London and Hannibal, the Sheriff/deputies of Ralls County, the Highway Patrol personnel, the helicopter team, the nurses and all who worked so professionally. God has blessed your work. I hope the credit goes where it is due.

Some had speculated the good father was really an angel (as in the heavenly beings) in disguise. I saw one article that suggested he might have been Padre Pio (the well known mystic priest who exhibited stigmata) returned from the dead. But I have been watching the news waiting to see when more information would be forthcoming. I suspected there would be a more earthly explanation, and now we know. Highway To Heaven this wasn't, but gosh how I loved that show!

4 comments:

  1. And while the initial story made headline news on TV, Internet, print, only here do I read the TRUTH. We love our myths, our hopes that angels and a loving God exist. Apparently as a collective we will always default to that.

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    1. Thanks, Diane.

      Wikipedia has an interesting article on mythology, from which I quote the following:

      "Myths may arise as either truthful depictions or overelaborated accounts of historical events, as allegory for or personification of natural phenomena, or as an explanation of ritual. They are transmitted to convey religious or idealized experience, to establish behavioral models, and to teach."

      The more I incorporated myth and metaphor into my spirituality the better able I was to make sense of my feelings about life in the universe and our place in it.

      Now certainly the mystery priest story was an overelaborated account, and yet it underscores what you and Zoe both mentioned in your comments on my original post: we all have the potential to be angels, or God's hands, if our hearts are in the right place.

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  2. It's always great to speculate. Wow! I'm a poet and didn't know it! With speculation we're able to let our imaginations run amuck. What a bring down the truth can be at times.

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    1. Ah, imagination. Why does it not seem to be so common nowadays? So many people are so bent on unweaving the rainbow. That's a pet peeve with me. You are so right that the truth can be a downer sometimes, especially when it is stripped down to the bare bones.

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