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."
Again, I repeat:
I find it interesting that protestants individually pick and choose which statements are symbolic, which are literal, but seem to deny the same privilege to the Catholic Church.
As far as this goes:
>>>>The general rule is are you looking for the consistency of the application. IOW, is it consistent with other passages of Scripture.<<<<<<
Is that from “General Rules for Catholics”?
Was that a question?
The Mary which some think is the Mary of the Roman Catholic Church (and of the other Catholic Churches as well) is not in fact the Mary of the Roman Catholic Church(or of the other Catholic Churches). This leads to our spending almost equal amounts of time clarifying that we don't believe what people say w e believe and explaining what we DO in fact teach.
Any powers Mary has, just like any powers you have, are gifts from God and maintained by God's grace and by nothing else.
It would be a nice change to talk about what what the Church actually teaches rather than the splendid craziness we are accused of believing. Why we are expected to trust people to tell us the truth about God when they don't trouble to tell us the truth about ourselves is something I don't get.
It's like the cold call I got from a brokerage house: they lied to me about a previous call and then expected me to trust them with my money. The one thing they said to me that I actually knew something about was false, and they were asking me to trust them about what I couldn't verify.
Similarly with the Mary Ann Collins article, or whatever her name is. If "she", claiming to be a former nun, no less, doesn't understand or misrepresents papal infallibility, something which takes about 15 minutes to nail down, why should I believe anything she says?
Thanks. I have to go back and look at the web page. Every point was supported by Scripture. I thought it was very well written.
I would like to say that I at least attempted to address the arguments which Manfred put up
I kinda skipped thru because of all the static.
As I understand it, it is by your church's "Tradition" that the assumption, immaculate conception, perpetual virginity and ability to magnify prayers is based on. Ottofire posted an interesting thread today and on the section about Sola Scriptura the pastor mentions that "Tradition" is never said to be inspired in Scripture.
I am a Christian that believes the Scriptures are "God Breathed" and inerrant. Thus, if these beliefs about Mary are only supported by "Tradition" I don't put a lot of weight in them.
Do you believe Mary knew who Jesus really was prior to the Resurrection?
If you really want to understand Scripture it is a good rule.
“I don’t believe Mary truly knew who Jesus was until the Resurrection.”
Luke l 46-55
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid,
for behold from henceforth ALL GENERATION SHALL CALL ME BLESSED.
Because he that is mighty HATH DONE GREAT THINGS TO ME; and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.
He hath shewed might in his arm, he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of the heart.
He hath put down the might from their seat and hath exalted the humble.
He hath RECEIVED ISRAEL HIS SERVANT BEING MINDFUL OF HIS MERCY.
AS HE SPOKE TO OUR FATHER, TO ABRAHAM AND TO HIS SEED FOREVER.
Mary speaks not of herself but of the knowledge that her conception by the Holy Spirit as announced by Gabriel and assented to by Mary herself means salvation as promised to Abraham and his seed forever.
Luke: 1-67/69
“And Zachary his father was filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesied, saying:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the REDEMPTION OF HIS PEOPLE.
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his serant.”
Zachary was a cousin of Mary’s by marriage and a Levite. He is speaking of the horn, his new born son, John, as the one to bring news of the salvation in the House of David.
Mary certainly knew of this prophecy within the family itself. In fact, since Zachary’s muteness was common knowledge along with his wife’s very late conception, a lot of people would have known of this prophecy.
73. The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, that would grant to us, that being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear.
76. And though child (John) shall be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the of the Lord to prepare his ways.
Luke l 41-44
And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutaion of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the HOLY GHOST/
And she cried out with a loud voice, Blessed art thou among woman and blessed is the fruit of they womb.
And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutaiton sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Elizabeth pregnant with John the Baptist is greeting Mary as Theotokos, God Bearer.
To say that Mary didn’t understand is really to lump her in with other pregnant barefoot women trying to hide the cake in the oven because the ring wasn’t on her finger.
The thing that really caught my attention with that thread was the complete avoidance of what she had written and total focus on whether or not she was a nun. It's easy to see why she would want to maintain her anonymity.
Any powers Mary has, just like any powers you have, are gifts from God and maintained by God's grace and by nothing else.
Where in Scripture is her assumption?
Where in Scripture is her immaculate conception?
Where in Scripture is her perpetual virginity?
Where in Scripture is her ability to magnify prayers?
Where in Scripture are we instructed to make beautiful statues to her that we can kneel before and pray to God through her? It sure looks like worship, but RC's say its veneration.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION [...] In Luke 1:46-47, Mary said: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour”. Mary knew that she needed a savior
Indeed she needed a savior, and she has One. Who do you think made her immaculate from conception? The redemption of the Cross works both forward and backward in time.
ALL-HOLY [...] Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. Revelation 15:4 says, “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy”. Romans 3:10 says, “There is none righteous, no, not one”. [...] Jesus is the only person who is referred to in Scripture as sinless
So, Romans 3, if taken literally, contradicts holiness of Jesus also. It is also not true that Jesus alone is described as sinless, so is Noah (Gen 6:9), for example. Romans 3 (and Romans 5, where it is clear from context which mixes "all" and "many") speaks in broad terms of generations of fallen man. There is no reason not to contemplate an exception here for Mary, John the Baptist, and possibly other exceptional people, just like an implicit exception is made for Jesus Himself.
PERPETUAL VIRGINITY
knew her not till
"Till" MAY mean that the situation changed after the event controlled by "till", but it does not necessarily mean so. There are several usages in the Gospel including in the book of Matthew of the latter kind. This verse does not say anything of Mary and Joseph's marital relations after the birth of Jesus.
Jesus had brothers and sisters
As you yourself note, the word could be used generically. It is not true that it cannot be used generically in Greek, especially in reference to a collection of half brothers, cousins, second cousins, step brothers, etc. which most likely was the case. It would be simply tedious to enumerate all these precise terms of relation when not even giving the names, and when it is not called for by context. In two instances where names are given, from another gospel we learn that the same Joseph and James are children of Mary Cleopas. The scripture certainly allows for the interpretation that Jesus had uterine siblings, but it also allows for the historically accepted interpretation that they were relatives of some other kinds.
MOTHER OF GOD [...] He existed before Mary was born
No one disputes that Jesus pre-existed Mary. However, Jesus is one person and Mary gave birth to Him. To say that Mary gave birth to His human nature but not to His divine nature tears in two Jesus as single person. It is an old heresy, that denies the essence of the Trinity.
MOTHER OF THE CHURCH
No contradiction is even alleged here.
ASSUMPTION
No contradiction is even alleged here. In addition, "There is no biblical reference to the assumption of Mary" is plain wrong, Mary is shown as Queen of Heaven fighting Satan on behalf of her Church in Apocalypse 12.
CO-MEDIATOR [...] There is only one mediator and that is Jesus
No one disputes that. If Mary co-mediated, say, Mohammed, the critic would have a point, but she leads to Jesus, Who alone mediates before God. A scriptural case for such mediation is the miracle at Cana, as well as the simple fact that Jesus came to us through Mary.
QUEEN OF HEAVEN
It is not clear where the alleged contradiction is. In the instance where Mary is venerated by a woman in the crowd, Jesus did not tell her to stop venerating Mary, but rather urged to venerate all saints as well. The direct prooftext for "Queen of Heaven" is Apocalypse 12.
And if I disagree, is that because I don't really want to understand Scripture?
Your statements attempt to define my "understanding" of scripture as necessarily being dependent on your definition of "how to." I am one of those Catholics who refuse to be so limited.
No it's not.
In the passage you quote She is thanking God for the blessing of being a part of His plan for Israel. It doesn't mean she had a full understanding of what was going on. If you read further:
Luke 2:49-50 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" But they did not understand the statement which he spoke to them.
I think she knew Jesus was meant to do something special in God's plan, but did not comprehend who he was.
You believe Scripture is inerrant. So do I.
Where is the Trinty in Scripture?
God bless them!
Oh please. She’s visited by Gabriel, one of the four angels directly in front of God.
She is told she will bear “Luke 1 35
And the angel answering said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also THE HOLY THAT SHALL BE BORN OF THEE SHALL BE CALLED THE SON OF GOD.”
Do you believe Mary knew who Jesus really was prior to the Resurrection?
I don't even know who I am.
I think Gabriel told her right much, but I don't think Mary knew all that it meant. I think the bearer of the Word, experienced Him as a continuing revelation -- something like that.
And check MAnfred's post again. Some points were not verified or indeed verifiable by Scripture - like her misleading references to Catholic doctrine.
"Ability to magnify prayers"? It's funny, but I odn't think of it that way. See, part of my lead in to the whole notion of Mary as intercessor is my MIL who is not Catholic and is very devout and, who can explain this, when she prays, stuff happens.
So I don't think of Mary goosing up my prayers so much as her ding what my MIL does.
Gotta go.
Of course she did.
“QUEEN OF HEAVEN
It is not clear where the alleged contradiction is. In the instance where Mary is venerated by a woman in the crowd, Jesus did not tell her to stop venerating Mary, but rather urged to venerate all saints as well. The direct prooftext for “Queen of Heaven” is Apocalypse... “
No contradiction, Anna. The title Queen of Heaven is foreshadowed in Psalm 45
6 - 11 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of they kingdom is a right sceptre.
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, they God hath annointed thee with the oil of Gladness above they fellows.
All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the Ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad
Kings’ daughters were among they honourable women; upon thy right hand did STAND THE QUEEN IN GOLD OF OPHIR.
Hearken, O daughter and consider and incline thine ear, forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty; for he thy Lord; and worship thou Him.”
The Kingdom ruled by God is the same Kingdom ruled eternally by the Son of David. The Queen of that Kingdom is the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Mother of the Lord, God, Jesus.
No contradiction.
Ann is my wife. You can call me Alex.
Of course there is no contradiction.
Sorry! Thank you, Alex.
You find it throughout Scripture.
John 15:26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
John 8:42 Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love Me, For I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but he sent Me.
John 10:30 I and My Father are one.
But her actions don't indicate she fully comprehended what was happening.
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