Posted on 04/01/2008 4:23:02 PM PDT by NYer
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February 16, 2004 - Reported in Spirit Daily.com online newspaper. "In 1992 my life changed dramatically," says Father Donald Calloway. "I had a profound conversion experience after reaching rock bottom."
Rock bottom indeed! Now a 31-year-old priest who serves as assistant rector at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Father Calloway had been a runaway youngster who was immersed in everything from drug abuse to theft.
"I had gone through all a boy could do up to the age of twenty," he says. "My mother had been married three times and we had no religion. The family was very hedonistic. There was a downward spiral in my life."
It started in Virginia Beach -- where his stepfather was based in the military -- and continued when the family moved to California. Drugs, sex, smoking, and drinking -- all by the age 11. "It escalated to the point of getting out of control," he now recounts. "We moved near Los Angeles. Then to Japan. That rocked my world."
Uprooted so continuously from friends and his environment, young Donald Calloway had decided to teach his parents a lesson. As soon as they got to Japan, he became a "living hell" for them. He tied in with the wrong crowd and started doing "unbelievable" quantities of drugs -- opium, heroin, alcohol every day, even inhaling the fumes of gasoline.
That escalated to where he ran away from the military base and fled around the foreign country, committing felonies -- stealing "massive amounts" of money, cars, mopeds. He even got involved running errands for the Japanese "mafia."
"I had no concern about anything or anybody," says Father Calloway, whose mother had a breakdown, ended up consulting a priest, and became a Catholic -- something young Donald knew nothing about. She was also forced to return to the U.S. without him. Police even tapped phones to the military base to try to get the youngster, and finally did apprehend him. When they did, Calloway spat in the face of one of the military cops. By now he was 15 with long hair and a profane mouth -- so wild that he was shackled and deported.
Thrown out of Japan, Calloway returned to the United States, where he told his mother he hated her but agreed to enter a rehabilitation center. In short order he ran away from there too and went back to drugs on an even grander scale. Heroin, crack, LSD, uppers, downers. And there were the girls. "There came a point where I started following the 'Grateful Dead' and living in places like a tree trunk," recounts the priest. "In Louisiana, I ended up in jail. It was an absolute mess."
He was a drop out, his hair down to his belt. He was tattooed. It was "a life cycle of death." There was another attempt at rehabilitation, but of course, that fell short again. In fact, the drug use got even heavier.
"Then one night in 1992 I knew that my life would radically change, that something was going to happen in my life to cause a radical change," he says. "I knew something was going to happen. Something was coming."
It was this peculiar, sudden, and powerful intuition that changed his life -- a feeling so powerful that he turned down the calls from friends to come out to party as he did on a nightly basis. He still has trouble explaining exactly what happened. The prayers of a mother?
For a while Calloway remained in his room waiting for this unknown "something" to arrive, then went to the hall looking for a magazine or book to read as he waited, guided by an amazing internal feeling. "I wanted to look at some kind of magazine with pictures while I was waiting, something like National Geographic, with pictures, and I went out there and there was a book that caught my eye," he says. "On the binding it said, The Queen of Peace Visits Medjugorje."
It was a book about the apparition site in Bosnia-Hercegovina by Father Joseph A. Pelletier and Calloway couldn't comprehend what the words meant. He wondered if his parents had taken up a foreign language! Looking at the pictures, he saw six children staring up into nothing. It was the seers during an apparition -- something he had never even heard about. He read the caption and it said they were looking at the "Blessed Virgin Mary." He was so poorly versed in religion that he didn't know who the Blessed Mother was. "I thought Jesus was like Santa Claus," he recalls. "I was a blank slate." Looking at more of the pictures, he saw other words like the Rosary, Communion, and the Eucharist that he had little idea about.
There was all this Catholic lingo, but he began to avidly read it. He couldn't put it down. "I read that whole book by 3:30 or 4 a.m. in the morning," he says. "I ate that book like it was life. I consumed it. And I said to myself, 'That is true. Everything in that book is true.' She was saying that Jesus was God, and I thought, anything she says is true. She seemed so beautiful and flawless. She captivated my heart. And I said, 'I give myself totally to this woman.'"
The young man went to his mother the next morning and told her he wanted to see a priest. She was shocked. He knew there was a chaplain on the base, and that's where he ended up going -- skipping with joy like a little boy, his long hippie hair flowing past marching Marines.
When Calloway caught up with the Navy chaplain, the priest told him to go to church and sit in the back while he said Mass, and then they would talk to him. Donald did as he was told, waiting as a small group of Filipino women recited a repetitious prayer -- which of course was the Rosary. Then came the moment that changed his life. The priest came out with robes. Calloway thought it was some kind of performance. He had no idea what was going on. "I was amazed. All these ladies were kneeling and standing at the same time."
But it just clicked. All of a sudden, this young man -- this drug abuser, this runaway -- "knew" what was happening, that what was transpiring was a "real" re-presentation of what had happened 2,000 years ago, and that it was being poured out again. "Time ceased," he says. "I saw myself at Calvary with the faithful beholding the sacrifice of the lamb." Everything about it captivated him. He felt the Presence of Christ -- knew He was there -- as the priest held up the "white circle."
He was twenty, going on 21, and "all I knew was that I was madly in love with God and Our Savior."
So touched was he by the Mass that Calloway was ready to go door to door to tell everyone about it. The enthusiasm exploded. After Mass he went home, tore down all his posters, grabbed several big black trash bags, and threw away just about everything in his room -- replacing it all with a picture of the Pope and another of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which the priest had given to him (along with a Crucifix).
"I don't remember ever having said a prayer in my life," he says of his return to his room. "I looked at the book, the six children, who were on their knees with their hands folded, and I did the same thing and just looked. I had no idea how it worked. I didn't know what was supposed to happen next. My eyes focused on the picture of the Sacred Heart and as I looked at that image something within me knew that was the God-Man hanging on the Cross -- and that everything the Blessed Virgin Mary said was for people like me.
"I cried profusely. You could have filled a bucket. I was so remorseful for the things I had done. Everything came on me at once. It was like every fluid in my body was coming out of my eyes. Yet at the same time I knew there was hope, and I was crying tears of joy. I was almost laughing. I knew that this Jesus died for me and loved me.
"After a long time I laid on the bed and for the first time in years I felt free. An unbelievable peace came over me. Something happened to me that I don't know how to explain. Right on the verge of sleep, something came from behind me and knocked me out of my body. My soul or spirit or whatever was leaving my body. I couldn't say anything, I couldn't move. The only person I knew to cry out to was Mary, and I cried out spiritually. I was terrorized with fear. I screamed with everything I had, "Mary' -- and all of a sudden I was pushed back into my body with the force of a universe come crashing down upon me and I heard the most beautiful feminine voice I have ever heard and will ever hear say, 'Donnie, I am so happy.'
"No one called me Donnie but my mother," he notes. "It was unbelievable."
And so was what was to come next:
Instantly, Calloway had lost his craving for all his vices -- from impure thoughts about women to cigarettes. There was no more desire to do anything he had been doing! "God had simply changed me, and it was unbelievable," he says. "Christ just overwhelmed me with His love. I started 'living' in the church, saying the Stations of the Cross until I was worn out, even slept in the pews. I began reciting the Rosary, wearing a scapular, reading everything I could on the saints."
He says he experienced a supernatural "infusion of knowledge" about the faith and became a Catholic within nine months.
Shortly after, he joined the Marians of the Immaculate Conception and discerned a priestly vocation.
Last September, he finally made it to Medjugorje -- where he delivered the homily as forty other priests joined him on the altar. "All I knew was that I loved Jesus," he says. "I loved every minute of Medjugorje. I'm going back in March. It's the edge of Heaven, wonderful." At the seminary, he says, most of his peers had also been there. "Our Lady is building up this army, this whole new generation, layer by layer. Rank by rank they are coming out of seminaries to take their places. There's a whole generation of priests coming, and they're just like me. No nonsense. I always tell people, get ready, because it's coming to a parish near you. We've only known one Pope, and he's a saint. We've been formed by the Blessed Virgin Mary and her apparitions. So many of the guys I knew in the seminary, they loved things like Medjugorje or Betania or Amsterdam or Kibeho. They don't have a problem with it. They bite onto truth like a shark, and they're going to be the guys in the seminaries teaching. They're going to be in the parishes. One cardinal said if it were not for Medjugorje, he would have hardly any seminarians. I compare it to Guadalupe."
Hell broke open in the Church, Calloway opines, due to a lack of emphasis on both Mary and the Blessed Sacrament. "You take away the Eucharist, and you take away a priest's passion, his understanding of who he is," he says. "And when Mary was deconstructed -- made just a sister -- it tore priesthoods apart. I attribute a lot of the problems to feminism. We need to go against that."
Homosexuals in the church are the result, he believes, of "the devil twisting" priests and seminarians. "With no Mary, there is a lack of tenderness and they seek in a new way," he asserts. On the current culture, says Father Calloway: "It's not the kingdom of Heaven. We're going back to Sodom and Gomorrah, and we're there. And we better get ready for the Father's discipline. He loves us, and because He does, He's going to chastise us." With youth, the biggest problem is indifference, he notes -- the attitude of "whatever." Everything is okay.
What is the most important thing parents can do?
"The best thing that a kid can see in the parents is for a man, a father, on his knees," says Father Calloway. "That is strength. When a man is on his knees, that is stability. When a kid sees that, it's a confessional statement. It speaks volumes. And when they see a mom and dad being kind and loving to one another, that's also important -- showing kindness to each other."
As for his conversion, Father Calloway notes: "There are no accidents in life. Everything happens for a reason, because of God the Father's plans." And as for Our Lady of Medjugorje: without her, he says, "I might be dead."
I am interested and what you posted poses no contradiction to the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the economy of salvation, as dispenser of all grace, co-redemptrix, Queen of Heaven or any other exalted role she has, according to the Catholic source you posted.
If you have a scripture that you think contradicts all that, kindly make a reference to it and explain where do you think the contradiction is.
I hope you don’t mind my continued posting to you. I can’t use “one-liners” in Scripture. They are useless and it takes me a long time to type.
Just catching up on this thread...so pardon me if this has already been addressed...
Religion Forum Rule 1 Appendix A:
Anybody attempting to caucus a "conversion thread" will be immediately ridiculed and harassed. The caucus designation will be removed forthwith.
If a person converts from "religion 'A'" to "religion 'B'," supporters of "religion 'B'" must not 'caucus' the thread with the story, as those members of "religion'A'" must be allowed to:
Naturally, members of "religion 'C'," "religion 'D'," or 'religion "E"' will need to be afforded the opportunity to chime in...even though they were simply taking a break from a thread castigating 'religion "A"'...after all, they must maintain solidarity.
What I am looking forward to, though, is the long-awaited implementation of Free Republic draft Rule 1 Annex E:
Caucus/Devotional status may be revoked if a doctrine advocated through that devotional are found to be offensive to another confession.
Ah. Now it's all becoming clearer why and how the RCC keeps its members in such a fog.
The RCC teaches nonsense and then tells the world to disprove it.
When it is disproven by the Scriptures, the RCC says "so what?"
When asked for Scriptural proof of its nonsensical beliefs, the RCC responds, "you first."
LOL. Come on, Alex. Show us where the Bible says Mary is a co-redeemer and a mediator and a reconciler. While you're at it, show us where priests are "another Christ." (Because you know that one can be disproven in a heartbeat.)
I asked you a simple and logical question. You say, Catohlic Mariology “is disproven by the Scriptures” and I ask you to show me. When you are done — you love quoting scripture do you not? — we can discuss all these other subjects.
Diabolical. Interesting choice of words. That's exactly what I think of the motivation of all the Catholic Thread disrupters. Not everyone who disagrees with Catholic Doctrine just those who go from thread to thread looking for arguements.
The Order of Melchezidek, Christ our High Priest, the Eucharist
Mark 14-22/26 “While they were eating, he took bread,said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body. Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
Matthew 26-26
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread,and said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it all of you, for this my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the Kingdom of my Father.”
(Mark uses the term “blood” as the seat of life which placed on the altar makes atonement.)
The Eucharist is not simply the bread alone. It is a sacrament that is so many other things besides. Because it is the eve of the Passion, it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.
At the breaking of the bread, the disciples will once again recognize Jesus when he is present with them at the supper when he appears to them to them after His Resurrection on the road to Emmaus.
Luke 24-28/3 “As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. Buth they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him but he vanished from their sight.”
It is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies. By doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form one body with him.
It is the Memorial. It is the Holy Sacrifice because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ and includes the Churches offering.
It is the offering of bread and wine that was prefigured by King Melchizedek. The multiplication of the loaves to feed the multitude, and the wine at the wedding in Cana all lead to the hour of Glorification of our Lord.
But above all, it is His Body and His Blood of the new and everlasting covenant.
“Do this in memory of me” the command of Jesus to repeat His actions and words “until He comes again” does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what He did, It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their successors of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection. From the beginning the Church has been faithful to the Lord’s command. Acts 2-42/46
Our great truth is “Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again.”
But those who did not understand his teaching walked away from the Bread of Life.
“John 21-24/25
It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”
So not everything is in Scripture. The Apostles had knowledge and tradition and experiences that weren’t written down but probably oral tradition at first.
Ask a bibliolator a biblical question, and she scatters. Figures.
Those disciples who detested the teaching of Body and Blood of Christ and walked away,
John 6-24/71 When the crowd saw the neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here?
Jesus answered them and said, “Amen amen, I say to you, you are looking for menot because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled (multiplication of the loaves). Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God has set his seal. So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God.” And Jesus answered:
“This is the work of God that you believe in the one he sent.”
So they asked him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
So they said to him “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
So, Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of heaven is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
“So they said to him: Sir give us this bread always. Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me and I will not reject anyone who comes to me because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.
The Jews murmured about him......I am the living bread from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world......unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you....As a result of this many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”
(The greek verb to eat was to gnaw or munch and it was more indicative of the concept of eating food. The verb changed over time to to eat.) It doesn’t mean Word or knowledge. It means eating.
We are gathered together for the Paschal mystery that is Christ present in the Eucharist Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is His memorial and His command. It is not a re-inactment, or a re-sacrifice it is not something happening over and over. It happened once for all time.
“Ask a bibliolator a biblical question, and she scatters. Figures.”
This is why I hate to argue. In order to discuss apologetics, the WHOLE passages and their related passages which could be anywhere from Genesis to Revelation back and forth must be written and discussed.
I just can’t pluck a verse, well I can, but it doesn’t make much sense to just throw something out there out of context or incompletely.
Catholics KNOW the bible. It is just that we know it cannot be captured in sentences unconnected to everything else.
If I speak of Revelation, I have to refer to Isaiah, to Genesis to Psalms, to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, to Jude, to so much and so on. It takes a lot of time (and typing).
I have it pointless to argue Truth with people wed to their religion, be it RC or Hinduism. Read the Bible with a humble heart and ask God (not His “mother”) to reveal Truth to you. He can do that, I can’t. I tired of trying.
I swear I read:
“Caucus/Devotional status may be revoked if a doctrine advocated through that devotional are found to be offensive to another confusion.”
Just when I have the time and inclination to really discuss Scripture, everybody bolts.
Is it something I said?
To Dr. Eckleburg’s comments, I would add John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Is that clear enough? Born again, saved unto life eternal, converted, et al. - not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Paul makes this explicitly clear in Romans 9:
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
God is SOVEREIGN.
That’s nice. What’s your point. Do you have one?
Actually, Romans 9 1-13 is not quite as facile as just stating God is Sovereign.
Paul was concerned that he needed to explain to the Christian community the rejection of Christ by the Jews. He grieved over their unbelief. It also points to some concepts about election, Jacob who was chosen and Esau who was not.
Election in this case means that the gift of faith is an enactment of God’s mercy.
But, Lex, of course, you know passages.
A lot of it was in Polycarp's laptop which he carelessly left at a bistro in Actium. Somehow it got to Geneva ... and the rest is history.
If the post was intended for you, you would know the point. If you want to pick up a conversation mid-way through it, read the related posts. I seriously doubt you are actually interested in the point, as Truth is what most people try to hide from.
If I say often enough one thing that Calvin said and about which there is little difference of opinion, then maybe you’ll come to see that everything else he said is true too. I think that’s the point.
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