(LifeSiteNews) — Today, LifeSite dropped a stunningly beautiful video about a priest who offered up his cancer diagnosis as an act of reparation for the sins of sexual abuse committed by clergy. More than that, after the priest visited the apparition site of Our Lady at Lourdes, his cancer disappeared.
Joining me on this episode of The John-Henry Westen Show are LifeSite’s own Jim Hale and Michael Hogan to discuss our new video on the life of Father John Hollowell.
Speaking about Fr. Hollowell’s story, Hale notes that “this is a story about how we serve the God of resurrection, the God of miracles.”
Hollowell was an “internet priest” for a while, and continues to post things on YouTube. Hale, remarking on Hollowell’s status, calls him a “celebrity.” Hogan, remembering when Hollowell originally left YouTube to seek treatment for his cancer, recounts saying at the time that he thought it would have been a good idea for LifeSite to cover Hollowell.
“I think I just called him one day and we had a Zoom call for, like, an hour,” Hogan recalls.
“He was all for it,” Hogan continues. “He actually said he was writing… a memoir [about] his journey he had been on just in case… he did die, he’d have some kind of record of it.”
Hale, commenting on what Hogan says about his initial discussion with Hollowell, stresses that Hollowell thought he was going to die, and that at that point he decided to offer his suffering for the victims of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
“We’re just discovering all the beauty in… everything the Catholic Church has to offer,” Hale says, noting what “comes through” the interview with Hollowell.
“But what really makes it unique… is this redemptive suffering,” he continues. “You don’t hear a lot about that when you grow up evangelical Protestant… because the mindset is… you kind of pray your suffering away and that God is going to bless you by removing your suffering.”
“In the Catholic Church, it’s a completely different deal. And as you get a little bit older, you really start to resonate with that.”
Both Hale and Hogan also touch upon Hollowell’s story and their conversions with the crisis in the Church for which Hollowell offered his suffering. While I connect the abuse issue to the infidelity on the part of the clergy who promote sexual immorality and all manner of heresy, Hale remarks that he and Hogan discuss how they attempt to deal with all of the scandals in the Church while remaining joyful Catholics, and offer commentary on the scandals in the Church.
Even so, both Hale and Hogan are joyful about being Catholic, with both noting the access to Christ found in the sacraments. “It’s important not to lose… hope. Even though it looks so bad, there’s still so many signs of great things,” Hogan says.
“Anybody watching this video right now needs to understand that whatever suffering, whatever pain, whatever hardship you are going through, it can be redeemed,” Hale declares. “God can heal your heart.”
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