My Life was Saved by a Beautiful Woman - Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC

and I Heard a Voice I'm not a Mystic I've never heard it since but I would die to hear it again I heard a woman's voice spoken to me and it was like liquid love pouring over my soul the most feminine maternal voice you could possibly imagine and the voice said to me Donnie I'm so happy [Music] it's my honor to present to you our second speaker this morning a man who needs very little introduction some of you know him from his best many best-selling books specifically his latest best-selling book The consecration to Saint Joseph the wonders of our spiritual father that spread like the fire of the Holy Spirit throughout parishes across the country a convert to Catholicism and a member of the congregation of Marian fathers of the Immaculate Conception let's give a big McHenry County welcome to Father Donald Callaway thank you all right how many did the consecration of Saint Joseph sweet awesome yeah that thing really did spread um a lot of people have come up to me they're like Father you must be rich like now I'm in a religious community I have a vow of poverty so my Superior right now is super stoked we're making mad money off that book um going to build a new Monastery and everything so um yeah that thing is crazy 18 languages now like almost 2 million copies sold just in the English version so all the other ones around the world it's incredible and next year I'm working on right now a graphic novel a comic book basically of Saint Joseph it's going to be so good and it's for everybody it's not just like for kids because it's it looks like it's for kids but it's going to have like deep theological stuff related to Saint Joseph so stay tuned for that that's going to be I think epic um as well okay so when they invited me to this you know I've been a priest 19 years now and I've got like a ton of talks man right I can crank out like 20 talks you know just press play and I just I'll speak to a microphone I can deliver you know and I'm like what talk do you want me to give and they're like your conversion I'm like dang it again right no I get it I understand right I'm like hasn't everybody hurt go to YouTube man right it's free you know um but I get it people haven't heard it or they need you know an injection of Hope or people want to bring their delinquent husbands or children to such events you know and give them a spiritual spanking you know by father Calloway I get it I understand right see that's what you're expecting I know I know okay so that's what I want to talk about so um I am going to talk about myself in this talk but it's actually not about me it's about a god who is so madly in love with you and your messy jacked up Dysfunctional Family right unlike Padre Pio whose Feast we celebrated yesterday I can't read souls and I'm so grateful for that that would totally stink right I'll be seeing all of your nastiness right uh me too right I just look in a mirror but I I live here on this planet I know what's going on we're all we've all got baggage we've all got wounds we've got stuff that we're struggling with all of us okay so what I'm going to talk about is this story of God's mercy and unbelievable love for the most broke messed up that there is and that's me really and truly I mean people come up to me now and they're like Father sign my book father take a picture with me and I'm like if these people only knew all right I want to be a saint of course I do but it's a process and I gotta burn a lot of paperwork from my past if I'm ever going to you know I'm in it with you guys I understand right I still struggle I still make a lot of mistakes I go to confession a lot thank God for confession so I want to inject hope into you right now in a huge way in a huge way so you see me now as a priest and if you're not familiar with my story you're probably like dang who's this dude right he's a kind of radical guy so what happened all right I'm going to show you a picture right now this is you're probably going to think I'm a narcissist when I show you I carry a big picture of myself all around the world okay I'm praying you know pray for me my pride issues in egotism okay the only reason I'm going to show you this is to illustrate for you in a visual way what I'm about to describe to you okay so this was me when I was 18 years old um before Jesus okay hopefully you can see that yeah but you know even back then I identified as a dude you know what I'm saying yeah I mean Hello what crazy times we live in right so all my girlfriends were jealous because I did have longer hair than they did and my hair in this picture is actually short believe it or not this is one of the few pictures I have from my youth because I'm making certain hand gestures in the majority of them and you can't show those publicly nowadays I'm a priest so and my mother confiscated the majority of them as well because I just looked like I was high and I was so this is one of the few that I still have so what in the world happened to get this dude who's me right and people have asked me is that real hair yeah if you pulled on it I would have punched you you know it was real hair it wasn't a wig it took me eight years to grow my hair that long how did I get from being this guy to being this guy with one of these around my neck okay being a Catholic priest it's an incredible story you know when I was born my parents were not Catholic they were not Christian of any kind and they were very worldly people uh my mother a very beautiful young lady and the guys you know really kind of followed her around and and and wanted to be close to her so she got pregnant when she was 17 had me when she was 18 and I wasn't baptized or anything like that because they didn't believe in in these things and that marriage fell apart rather quickly um even though my mother was beautiful my dad my biological father was a player you know he's out looking for other options other ladies you know after work going to the bar with his buddies shooting pool drinking beer and you know scouting out other possibilities so that didn't work out my mother separated from him she remarried another dude he was just like Dad number one they separated they got a divorce then my mother remarried a third time all before I was 10 years old so I had three fathers before I was 10. and none of them were Saint Joseph you know maybe that's why I wrote that book you know looking for a Joseph for you know so the third one would would end up becoming like a Saint Joseph he's amazing but he adopted me my third father and that's how I got the last name what's my last name yay you got it right you play golf maybe or something I don't know so Callaway I like it it works for me you know because up until I was adopted by my third father my last name I have my biological father's last name which was Croc brutal right that is I mean unless it's your last name it's very nice so I become Callaway and his parents my new grandparents because I have grandparents all over the place with three dads you know so they said this poor child has never been baptized I was 10 years old and they said you need to baptize him you've adopted him he's got the name now you need to get them baptized my parents weren't into that and they were like nah that's not what we do but grandparents being grandparents right no offense if you're a grandparent but they just kept nagging right get them baptized get them baptized get that boy baptized and my parents are just like no it's not what we do and then finally they were just like fine shut up right we'll get them baptized so they went and they found a random Church uh because my grandparents were not Catholic and they went in Virginia Beach to an Episcopalian Church so kind of close to the Catholic church but you know not and they wanted one where they could basically not have any obligations of like preparation or wasting time going to church let's just do this thing and get the certificate and shut up the grandparents so that's what went down there was no prep there was no nothing right we just set up the scheduled thing and so we went to church one day I was 10. I remember this and some dude like totally weird looking with like a robe on look you know I was like hello what's up with that you know and he poured water over my face inside this building nobody was there because it didn't mean anything to my parents no friends or family were invited to this no pictures were taken they didn't waste film on this event all they wanted was that 8x11 certificate that I had been baptized to give to the grandparents so after my baptism we went outside and we ate Donuts basically really that was my introduction to Christianity welcome to the life of Grace no family members invited no pictures and here's a glazed donut you know so that didn't work out too well for the family the grandparents got their certificate they shut up for a while and then we never went back to church so we never prayed we never went to church or anything like that so then my third father who was a military officer we moved like a lot you know we started moving all over the place ended up out in California which for me was Paradise absolutely loved it growing up in the early 80s where music now was visual as well as audible so you know a lot of times when you hear music it's hard to make out the songs you know rocket man you don't know what he's saying right so but you're rocking it out you know but then when you see the song the video you're like oh Hot for Teacher hello you know yeah she is you know you can see it now with MTV music became visual now and for me growing up that my generation all that stuff was in Southern California so I absolutely loved being in Southern California but then after being there for a while we moved again and when my dad when I say Dad no I mean my stepfather you know third one he he says we're going to move again and I'm my duty station is Japan and I'm like no I'm not going to Japan no way no that's not just not going to happen Virginia Beach Los Angeles San Diego now Japan nope not happening but it wasn't going to do I had no choice so we went and as soon as we got there I looked for the kids who were bad you know and today everybody's like oh how dare you you can't say that about people I'm like hello you know I mean there's so much today we're so afraid we're so politically correct and we just want to you know I can't say anything because you know if somebody's identifies as a cat and meows you know they got problems okay this is a serious condition that probably needs some serious therapy right but back then we didn't even have that stuff but you could tell the kids that were wearing the Iron Maiden shirts or the girls who basically were wearing dental floss they were crying out for attention you know that girl got fought daddy wounds like big time she's just looking for some affirmation I'll gladly give it to her to get what I want out of this dealio so I looked for the kids that were you know messed up easy to find and I got involved in really bad stuff and I was 15 at that point and we're supposed to be there for three years and you know tore our duty for three years I ran away from home on the big island of Honshu in Japan and caused International scene I got wrapped up on the Yakuza which is the Japanese Mafia at 16 years old and was running money and drugs to different casinos and everything it was nuts I would have like a million yen on me at a time that's not a million dollars sounds like it though doesn't it but it's not but I would have like ten thousand dollars in American currency on me at a time insane for a 16 year old boy and Japanese girls that were twice my age just oh my gosh it was nuts and if you can do the Google searches you'll still read about some of these things about those episodes this is before you know all the stuff we have today but there's still articles about them searching for the American Military dependent in Japan who cause an international scene that was me and that's when I was growing my hair long and the whole thing what I didn't know during that whole craziness of that was that my mom by the way my mom is almost 100 Italian remember Callaway is my adopted name my mother's maiden name lichita Bianco how in the world was this woman not Catholic right but she wasn't for some reason when her relatives came through Ellis Island you know and all this they they checked Catholicism at the door and it didn't follow through so she though had a friend in Japan a Filipino woman a Filipina right have you met these people yeah they are hardcore Catholic I mean wowzers like unbelievable you know Special Forces of God that's what I call these people you know as a culture so she had a friend who was Filipino and this woman said to my mother now I'm gonna imitate them not to offend anybody so if you're Filipina please salamat po to you and your people I love you okay but this is what this Filipino woman said to my mother at the time and I would find this out much later you need to go talk to Potter you got to talk to the Catholic priest right that's that's how it sounds to a white boy so my mom is like why I'm not why why are you telling me to go talk to a cat because everybody knew the situation over there of I had run away with another military kid and we're causing the scene so my mother was just like fine I'll go and talk to a Catholic priest so my mom talked to a military chaplain in Japan and that priest changed my mom's life in a huge way he started telling her about the Eucharist unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you don't have life my mom was on medication for depression anxiety and all kind of other things her maternal heart was shattered because of what I had done I was gone in Japan they didn't know if they'd find me alive he told my mom about the Eucharist about the Virgin Mary about the Saints about suffering that can be used for good and all these things and it was like he just turned on the Catholic DNA in my mom's Italian Soul you know on and she fell in love with it she brought her husband Dad number three into the faith and then my half brother Matthew but they couldn't become Catholic yet because my mom had to leave the country while they were still searching for me all that while this was this was a long process I was gone for a long time so my mother and my half brother no longer even lived in the country and I didn't even know that it's not like I was out at night you know after going to the Budokan and rocking it out with you know bands that were coming over because I looked like I was in the band at that time you know and just wild parties crazy stuff I wasn't calling my parents at night you know how was your day I didn't want to see these people again for the rest of my life so I had no idea that my mother was no longer in the country So eventually they apprehended me I got caught thrown in a Brig the military jail I escaped they locked down the base I was able to get over the fence and then they caught me eventually in a sewer and then I was kicked out of the country literally kicked out of the country handcuffed to the the plane it was a Mac flight if you're familiar with military stuff it's basically a cargo plane with web seating on the side it handcuffed me to the web seating and to one of two uh MPS military police officers who escorted me from Yokosuka to Honolulu on on a military plane and then they put us put me on a commercial flight I think it was American Airlines from Honolulu to LAX and it escorted by the two MPS and it was a sight to behold oh my gracious and you know what's amazing to me there's a dude about five years ago that actually had a reconversion to Catholicism himself and he was stationed in the military at that time and he was flying back home through Honolulu and he remembered some long-haired kid being escorted by MPS in the airport and then we published this magazine called the Marion helper it was in that issue he read it he was like that was you I was there you know and he wasn't a devout Catholic at that time either but he said at that time he actually offered up a prayer for this poor long-haired freak that was being escorted through the airport by the military police that was me we've since met up and talked and it's it's amazing right and it's good because I got a I need people to verify this because people are like Father this story is like wild you know really I'm like yeah I'm not making this junk up dude right this actually happened so we get to LAX they take the handcuffs off and they release me into the cost custody of my father my first instinct is like thanks to the ride suckers right I never wanted to go to Japan in the first place right I'm back in L.A baby you know but and then I'm like where am I going to go all my friends are military dependents they're probably living in Germany and halfway you know around the world so I went with my dad on another flight to Pennsylvania where my mother had relocated and she'd been living there for several months and the agreement was in Japan I wasn't 18 I hadn't done anything on American soil to to be incarcerated in the United States Japan just wanted me out of their country so I had to go to a rehab so I went to my first rehab it was in um near Latrobe Pennsylvania it's called New Beginnings at Cove Forge you can look it up it's still there so I was there for three months I didn't get better in the rehab I got worse now I don't want to scandalize you or or or say anything negative about rehabs although there are studies that have been done about secular rehabs do you know what the like the failure rate is of most modern secular rehabs like 92 percent seriously the same father Callaway making this up for dramatic effect this is the facts why because it's a Band-Aid to a spiritual problem they can't talk about sin because they'll lose their accreditation and they'll everybody will be fired right so they just try and band in it over like don't you know snort your sugar and let's meet for group sessions and affirm the person to your left and whatnot you know let's go climb on the trees and do team building exercises to learn trust you know fall into the arms of your teammates and build confidence you know right that's what Corporate America does too it's a joke you still hate that dude in the next cubicle next to you after that weekend is over of swinging like monkeys on trees you know it's a waste of money for the most part so that's what I learned in the rehab I didn't get better I got worse so afterwards I went you know to meetings trying to get my little chip you know to show people I was sober I didn't go there with good intentions I went there to hook up with Linda who was like hi I'm Linda I'm an alcoholic I'm like what's up Linda you know hello they're pointing them out for me now this is easy you know this is great you know so it was a disaster but what happened during that time my mom and my dad became Uber Catholic like super Catholic man my mom had turned their house into like a parish you want to talk about not having enough stats already having enough statues in your house right oh my goodness my mom had statues all over the place and one in particular this creature looking thing winged and everything ripped like a six-pack little one medium gigantic ones and he had like a spear stabbing like a snake in the face and it was all over the house and she would put these things in my pants Pockets because I would come through town occasionally she was trying to convert me through osmosis you know touch something holy you know and I would read this thing and it would say Saint Michael the Archangel I'm like Mom's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs you know this is a this is a cult this is Jim Jones they're gonna drink Kool-Aid in Uganda and off themselves following little green man to Planet you know Xeno what is this Catholicism is stupid it is Antiquated outdated women-hating unscientific morons is what I thought about Catholicism this is what I learned from the Discovery Channel and growing up pretty much all my teachers before I dropped out of school this is what they said this is stupid I remember specifically in California a science teacher slamming Christianity to the class and saying things like you know why would God as these Christians say become one of us when we're we're going to leave him in the dust of history I mean we came from starfish went through monkeys now we're you know Homo erectus and we're moving on we're going to become something after this we're going to leave Humanity in the dust too bad Jesus that you became one of us because we're going to leave you in the dust of history and to me that made total sense I'm like totally that's like God becoming a starfish or a monkey and then a human dude we're moving on right it just made so much sense to me and this is a guy who had a PhD you know from some prestigious American University so I was like Catholicism is just they're ignorant people these are extremely ignorant people and so when my mom and my dad were like so I couldn't stay in their house even when I would swing through town it was like I could be there one night maybe and that was it they were just so so religious well that didn't work out well for me I ended up on the Streets of Philadelphia smoking crack doing acid and mushrooms and up you name it following a band called The Grateful Dead on a Volkswagen bus I got a tattoo on my shoulder called steal your face I was super Into the Dead interesting to say that now right the Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia was like my God and every drop he squeezed out you know of a note I would like take me there Jerry right let's go and we danced with the Bears and it was nuts I lost my identity and I thought I was happy I thought I had found happiness but I never did I was always still searching so I woke up in Philadelphia smoked like OD'd on crack went to another rehab also a psychiatric unit called Charter Fairmont Institute look it up it's still there I was in that lockdown powder facility for three months I couldn't run away from that one like I did the first one they recaptured me in the first one put me back in but this one there was no option to run away and all they did for me for the three months that I was there was look here's the medication in this Little Dixie cup here this is going to make you better I've resisted and they're like don't fight the program you're resisting the program I'm like it's not working for my roommate who's like lost his mind and if that wasn't the answer they would just up the milligrams or try a different you know form of something or other that was the method period and I'm like yeah I'm just not buying it I didn't have the answers I didn't want any answers but I was like I'm not taking your little Kool-Aid here with these meds okay I got problems I like to smoke me some weed and be with the ladies but I'm I'm sorry I'm just not taking your little meds here your little purple pills and such so I didn't so they were like he's not cooperating he's not going to make it so I got out and sure I I didn't and it got worse I ended up busted in Louisiana as soon as I turned 18 shoplifting from a store called Piggly Wiggly you know I wish I had a little something more manly on my you know criminal resume but you know anyway at any rate so do you got do you have Piggly wigglys up here do you really I thought that was just a southern thing okay so so I got busted I didn't go to my court date in Louisiana so now I'm wanting to Louisiana it's crazy so me and this other dude stole a car and we're just driving all over the place and eventually I go and I meet my biological father pop a Croc remember daddy Croc my mom always said to me avoid that man he's bad news so I'm like well now be a good time to get reacquainted with this guy because he was like a hillbilly in West Virginia and man if you think you know Southern redneck you do not okay until you go to the back woods of West Virginia my friends I think they speak English it's like wow right so no offense these are my people so I can tear into them a little bit right I met my biological father we did not get along he was straight out of like Deliverance he was like Wow right and I was long-haired I tried to smoke his corn in his field and everything you know we didn't hit it off at all he didn't want me in his house but he said I could live on his land I told him I was running from the law and he's like I understand because he used to get in trouble with the law so I went on his property and lived there you know running from the police eventually my supplies run out I got nowhere to go he won't let me in his house he's got a new wife and kids I discovered I had new half brothers and half sisters didn't even know it I go to my mom's house in Pennsylvania and guess what they're doing now my mom and dad they're going to church every day she's like sister lachita and you know it's like that's you know unbelievable it was like a nunnery practically it was like a Convent and I'm like this is insane who does this I've heard of people going like on Sundays I've seen them people on TV begging for money and for their wife's makeup and such you know I've seen them people what are you doing every day this is nuts and they enrolled my brother in a Catholic School which in my uninformed mind meant that you know Penguins were beating them across the face with rulers that's Catholic Education to me right indoctrinated believe this don't do this bad boy you know that's what I thought so this is nuts I couldn't stay there left again my life was insane eventually at one point I rock bottomed I mean I rock bottomed a lot but at this point I'm even thinking about taking my life a lot of my friends did that I don't know I have friends who are gone they checked out taking their own life either through a CH or just taking so much acid that they're they're here but they're not here okay they are dancing with the Bears they Drool on their chin all day they're gone so I'm thinking about my options I am at my parents house one night and I'm thinking about checking out how do I do it I don't want to be here anymore I got no goals Ambitions career options I dropped out of school I got nothing I want nothing and as I sat there the phone stops ringing my buddy's calling me to let's go party and everything and so I go into the hallway and I'm looking for a National Geographic occupy my mind and get away from the Silence by looking at a book of monkeys or you know Viking conquests or something so I go out and I see a yellow book right National Geographic school yeah they're yellow but this wasn't a National Geographic it said this very strange the Queen of Peace visits medju Gigi Gore G Gore right they don't freak out on me right I'm not the pope or the magisterium I don't say these things are true or not I'm just telling you historically what happened to me it's like a lightning rod I mentioned that and people like Europe false priest you know it's amazing well nuts man so I'm like what is this I thought it was like something my parents were super into so I'm like what is I'll check this out so I go into the room I look at the pictures and I look at these kids on their knees like with a pile of necklaces on a table and they're looking up into the air like they had just smoked a big old spliff right they were like oh hey you know I'm like what is this and so I read the picture the caption below the pictures and evidently it was their names and one of them I thought that girl's name was marijuana I did I've since met her and I told her that I said I thought your name was marijuana because Mariana I'm like dunking marijuana so I'm like okay so I didn't put the book down immediately because I'm like what is this I was into things like Bigfoot and Loch Ness monster so I'm thinking this is what this is It's Like A specter it's like a ghost you know whatever these kids are talking about here so I started reading the book I don't understand a little more going on or whatever chapter two so I just keep reading that and they're talking about some beautiful woman and I'm like I'm in you know I'm like all right where are we going here so I keep reading didn't they start talking she comes with a clap of thunder and a smell of roses and they fall on their knees because she's so beautiful and I'm just like wow I mean that's impressive you know who is I can't see her where is she there are statues and stuff and I'm like dumb I know she's not a statue so I'm like where is she like in a big pop out a Polaroid of this mystical woman here what what's going on but there were none but I was so attracted to the beauty that was being described to me that I couldn't stop reading a book and so I kept reading the book and then allegedly this woman starts talking to these kids and I'm like what I mean that's next level it's like okay and then she starts talking about God I don't do God okay I mean and I'm tempted to put down the book I'm just like yeah no I'm sorry you know this this is not true and I'm like I I can't put the book down though I'm so fascinated by this woman then she starts talking about Jesus very specific you know a lot of people you can be comfortable with God when you're when you're freaked out relatives come over at Thanksgiving you can say a prayer to God and not everybody's going to run out of the house but if you make it real specific and start talking about Jesus then it's like oh you're a Holy Roller who do you think you are right and you get into family fight right there at Thanksgiving it takes it to the next level so she started talking about Jesus and I'm like oh whoa whoa whoa I've heard about this dude he's the great dork maker in the sky takes away all fun turns you into a bunch of unscientific idiots right that's what I thought so I'm like yeah I don't know about this stuff and then she started saying she's the mother of Jesus myths don't have mothers to me Jesus was a myth Jesus was as real as Scooby-Doo and Popeye and Bugs Bunny because when I grew up the TV was my babysitter and between you know Scooby-Doo and Bugs Bunny and Popeye there'd be some preacher man come on TV really hard up for cash and he'd be like be healed in the name of Jesus I shall be healed die right and he claimed that some dude walked on water and rose from the dead but I had enough brains to know that people don't come back from the dead like that's a cartoon dude like that that that that that coyote has died a million times but you got to be really really desperate for a real job if you're telling people that people come back from the dead so that's what I thought so I'm like my mother Miss don't have much Scooby-Doo ain't got a Mom popping I got a mother Jesus has a mother what is this stuff so um it's new to me that's how ignorant I was so I I'm like okay what is going on here so I read the whole book in one night it's not a small book I read the whole thing I didn't understand most of it my mom gets up in the morning my dad's out at Sea actually on an aircraft carrier here I am long hair guy right duplex she's coming down the stairs and she's about five steps in front of me and I have the book and I say to her mom I couldn't even say it I was about to like say something churchy right the ultimate death okay I couldn't do it and I but I felt I had to so bad so I was like Mom I gotta and she got mad she's half asleep still so she's above me and she goes Donnie what are you trying to tell me and I said Mom I gotta talk to a Catholic priest okay you know what she said to me my mom affirms this whole thing she looks right at me and she goes yeah right so I said I thought I was joking I told her the book I said what the heck is this stuff is this what you guys are into Mom I'm freaking out what is this stuff she goes did you read that I'm like Mom I stayed up all night reading this thing and she she didn't say a thing she ran to the phone like six o'clock in the morning punched in you know digits and all I heard was a convo between my mom and some dude on the other end it went like this yes Father I know I'm sorry I know it's early father this is lichita Father father my son can you meet with him now father please now priests are human being says my brothers will affirm right we got to get up and put our pants on have a cup of coffee take a bathroom break you know normal so he's like um no he's like how about 8 A.M you know she's like no father now that didn't work so she calls another one he's like nine o'clock she's like no so I knew what she was trying to do and so I interrupted her I said Mom isn't there one of those she knew exactly what I meant at that time they had moved and they were living on Norfolk Naval Air Station largest Naval facility in the world and there was a Catholic Church a chapel right inside the main gate I knew that because when I came to visit them I would walk on the other side of the street to avoid it okay seriously but so I knew it was there I never even noticed the name so I said Mom isn't there one of those she said yes Donnie run run and I did I threw the book down the hallway I bolted out the door psyched out you could have got a contact high if she's too close enough to me I was like I had marijuana resin all over me it was insane in my life you have no idea so I run to this thing I get there out of breath my lung is capacity is nil you know I look up and I finally see the name of this thing it's still there too Our Lady of Victory Chapel how perfect right military Naval Chapel so I'm like Oh my wow but I'm not going in Donnie don't do Church you know I'm not going no wait Main Gate traffic this can't be public so I'm like all right I see another building that says chaplain's office so I go over there a little after 6 a.m right military everybody's awake and doing their thing I go in there and I am socially Raw but I have no skills of communication at that point I'm a long-haired freak in the hallway open the front door and I yelled out to the corridor Catholic priest I freaked that joint out okay one I don't look like I belong on a military installation hello right so all of a sudden heads are popping out of cubicles with their little white Navy uniform on you know a cup of coffee and like oh my and they're talking among themselves they think I can't hear it and I'm like hello because they're like I don't want to talk do you want to talk to them I don't I don't know I don't know right and I'm like I see you right somebody so one dude has the courage to come over to me and he says can I help you and I'm like yes I need a Catholic priest and he's like who are you I'm like you ain't got to worry about that bro give me a Catholic priest so he goes away comes back with some other military officer now I don't know what a Kathy priest is supposed to look like but in my mind Moses right been her kind of dude I don't know like really rustic Barefoot long beard or something and I'm thinking he's going to do something to me to to heal me be healed right that's church so he comes over to me and he's like hi I'm Father John and I'm like dude why and he goes um you asked for a Catholic priest I'm like are you a priest and he's like yes and I'm like all right dude get it out and he's just staring at me he had a cup of coffee and he's like I'm sorry what and I'm like get it out of me and he's like I don't know what you're talking about I said dude that woman in the book man she said if I want happiness I have to go to a Catholic priest and confess my sins that was what she said he goes oh confession and I'm like that's what she said he goes he's like okay great so we go to his little cubicle and he's scared he put his chair like halfway out into the hallway right just in case I pulled out of 38 and cap that sucker right because that's what I look like a criminal you know so I get it so I I got me one of these dudes I think he's legit he doesn't look like one but I'm thinking okay so I start to tell him filthy disgusting perverse things I've done in my life because I'm thinking those are probably sins so bad I can't even look at the man I'm staring at the carpet and I'm like all right dude I did this oh I did this I did this oh my gosh and I just keep saying this and I don't hear anything so at one point I look up and he's like and I was like what and he goes whoa he goes whoa whoa whoa when's the last time you went to confession and I'm like dude dude I I don't know and he goes well you're a Catholic right and I'm like oh heck no and he got a little mad he got a little upset he was like whoa wait a minute wait you can't do this this is a Sacrament you have to be a Catholic and I'm like dude the woman said and he's like what woman I'm like bro Jesus has a mother that dude has a mom know about this and he's like okay and he's like okay look I got a really busy day so he pulled one of these moves on me I was so used to this he goes I'm aware of the time I'm like bro 6 30 in the morning homie where you got you gotta go don't don't I've been down that road people ain't got for me the long-haired freak I know the game you're playing what you got to do so he goes I know I have to go celebrate Mass I'm not Catholic I don't know what this man is trying to tell me he's like I need to go celebrate Mass do you know what that is I don't have I in my mind I'm thinking he's going to go rejoice and be super stoked about neutrons and protons he's going to celebrate Gravity Man yeah yeah I don't know what we're talking about so he's like you don't know what that is I'm like dude so he goes okay do you know where the chapel is I said yeah I saw it he goes go over there go in I'll be over in a little bit when when I'm done we'll meet back here and we'll talk okay and I'm like you serious he goes yeah and I'm like you're not going to call the cops because I just told him sinful things but also some criminal stuff I'm thinking that's his way of getting me out like 9-1-1 you'll get over here quick we got a total criminal in here so I'm like you're not gonna bust me he's like no no no no no and I go all right all right so I start to leave and he goes this before I left the building he goes oh wait one more thing when you go in um sit in the back would you that's what he said to me right so he's now deceased but we we used to talk for many years about all this how it went down in the original conversations we had unbelievable so I go over there I wait for a break in traffic I open the church door this can't be public I don't want nobody's seeing me going into a church I go in the door slams behind me like somebody just WD-40 that sucker it was like a shotgun blast I thought I was like dead you know I go in I turn around guess who's in the church only five people right by the front door you know who they were five Filipinos oh Lord right took one to take down my mom I got a whole Army up in here right oh my gosh you couldn't get me to the back fast enough I went to the back and I sat down on the Pew long-haired freak and I'm looking I'm like I can't believe this nobody else in here okay just five Filipino women up front and then if you know anything about Filipino culture what I'm about to describe to you is verifiable and true trust me okay it's a very matriarchal culture the men are pretty much passive they're just like okay right the women run the show that's just how it works so sure enough here's a little pocket of Filipinos and there's a leader self-appointed right nobody designated her to do this job but she just tells everybody else what to do so because I know I've been to the Philippines many times you know it's I love the Filipino people but this is how it is so she goes up to some table fires up two candles on this table there's a boat hanging from the ceiling because it's a naval Chapel she goes back to her Pew she pulls out a necklace from her purse that's what I thought they pull out a necklace to imitating you know the Mother Superior here they pull out their necklaces and they start some Tagalog English incantation to the boat that's what I heard white boy in the back you know I don't know Tagalog all I heard was this okay no offense if you're Filipino this is what I heard hey um what in the world gibberish unintelligible and then the other four reciprocated by saying Holy Mary foreign and this was like they were moving it was like sold to the highest bidder you know it was like what is this and then Filipino women bold man this leader Vai was her name I would find out later she turns around holds up her necklace Jingles it in the air to me long-haired freak in the back and she goes young man young man would you like to parade the next decade please next decade okay I dropped out of school it's true but decade means 10 years I have no other definition so I'm looking at her like a deer in headlights I'm like um what and she's like the second Saturday I have no idea and I'm literally thinking I've walked into some Filipina coven these people are witches they're doing something against the church in here and when that priest comes in they're going down right I'm thinking they don't know he's coming I know he's coming but they don't know he's coming and it's going down so I'm like so they carried on with this thing flying through this and then the priest comes in same door I came in but he's dressed different and over there he was a military officer with all of his stuff now he was dressed like a hippie a robot with a flower on the front and he comes in and he's like morning he seems to be cool with them I'm like I want to tell them I'm like oh like you you like you got witches in here bro like I want to tell them but I I can see he's going to be doing something he's going to do some church stuff so he starts doing stuff and it was horrible you ever been to a Catholic church with the microphones don't work right this is what I heard homie up front doing the name beard what it's like Charlie Brown you know the Lord [Music] what in the world right they I couldn't understand them now I can't even say he's white I can't even understand this dude so he's doing stuff I don't know what he's doing then they get on their knees for some reason he bends over and picks up a little white circle and then there was a microphone on the table on the altar but I didn't know it was an altar he picks up that little white circle and he says and the microphone there worked thank God but this dude said this I heard this take this all of you and eat it this is my body and he held it up and I'm like you a lunatic bruh you're a straight up lunatic that dude just said that that's his body and we gotta eat it think it through I'm like and then he showcased it like you know what and the women they're all into it yeah you know they're focused on what he's doing I'm thinking you're a nut bro and then you know what happened I'm not Padre Pio I'm not a Mystic I Heard a Voice I Heard a Voice it wasn't spoken to my ear it was spoken to me as though my whole being were an ear and the voice said to me nobody else was in that church except that dude me and those five Filipino women the voice said to me worship you know what happened next I asked for when I was going through Seminary I asked Lord how am I going to explain this to people and in prayer one day it came to me like this is what happened to me I was injected with knowledge what that man had in his hands and what the voice had just told me I knew that he had God I didn't know Blessed Sacrament Holy Communion Eucharist I didn't know all that language I knew he had God he put down God he picked up a really sweet looking medieval goblet it's what it looked like to me the chalice and he said take this all of you and drink from it this is my blood and he held it up I heard the same voice worship I knew what that man had was God I didn't understand it but I knew it was there he put down God and then he said some other stuff then the women this is amazing because I just heard the most amazing thing I've ever heard in my life to this day I've never heard anything like it Nothing Compares I was about to see the most amazing thing that I would ever see in my life those women got up that dude got came down and he he had God in his hand somehow on like a little plate or something I had no terminology and he said to each one of them one by one the body of Christ and I watched that man put God inside them they stuck out their tongue and he put God on their tongue what the voice said to me was true he didn't say my body my body he said the body of Christ and then he got the chalice and he said the blood of Christ and they consumed it they drank it do you know what happened to me I didn't hear any voices at that point but I got injected I thought I was going to detonate I knew where I was I knew I'd been here not in a church no do you have any things I put on my tongue a little liquid Lucy looked awfully familiar to what they were taking so I could dance with the Bears with Jerry and Company many times very similar and every everything was similar it was almost like that was a stage and here we were looking at what was going on and they were giving us something how much liquid did I consume in my life looking for happiness for meaning where love never Fades away and here it was for free in a Catholic Church I thought there was no way there is my friends are going to think I'm totally nuts everybody's going to think I have completely lost it there is no way that this can be true why did they not tell me this in the rehabs why did I not learn this in the education system there's no way that this institution that I've hated my whole life contains the truth I went to that priest after that mass and told him what happened and that I Heard a Voice twice that didn't go over well he was like okay I'm like dude I I know I hear you I'm not having a flashback from the acid days I'm telling you dude I Heard a Voice bro and you made God and then afterwards you went into some gold box with a red candle next to it and did you not put God in that box he was like the Tabernacle I'm like I don't know dude the Box it's like yes I'm like oh my gosh he's still over there yes oh my gosh dude and it makes so much sense to me that why those women were on their knees and oh my gosh dude no way no way he was overwhelmed he said look I don't know what to do here I got a whole day ahead of me I'm going to give you some stuff go home okay come back tomorrow he gave me a crucifix from his wall he'd been there for so long the dust still had the cross form on the wall he says take this I'm like you serious he gave it to me he went over and took a big painting of Jesus Sacred Heart image off his wall and said here take this and then he went over to another wall and he took off a huge portrait of his grandpa random right I'm like okay I didn't you know thanks some dude pudgy looked like he'd eaten one too many cookies with a little white hat on no idea who this dude is right so I'm like Jesus Jesus and Grandpa whatever so I go back to the house and I hang up Jesus Jesus and Grandpa in the room I didn't have a bedroom at my parents house it was a storage area where when I was in town I would sleep on a love seat in the room so I ripped down the big Bob Marley poster I had smoking a big old blunt right and all the other stuff I had all the misses January February and March issues in the floorboards my resin scrapers from the sync screens and all that everywhere I had all my little items right I threw it all away instinctively my mom testifies to this I went into the kitchen I got five big black Hefty bags and I threw away everything my clothes my Grateful Dead music everything went in the trash and I threw it out the front door not even into the garbage bin I heaved it out the front door I went into the room I hung these items up and I was like I'm not going to jack this up I am not going to mess this up one phone call from some pretty girl some dude who's got an eight ball I'm out I am not strong there's no way so I sat there and I'm like what what do I do what do I do here what do I do I got that book I looked at them kids and I was like okay fake it till you make it basically I did what they did I got on my knees and I tried to pray that was next level for me I'm about to talk somebody that I can't see I've either just lost my mind or I've got religion and so I tried to talk to Jesus I got on my knees put on my dresser drawer and there was the picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that was above it and I'm looking at that and I'm like all right I actually believe that you're real and you're not the poster duh but you're God I expected him to be like right little filthy perv I'm gonna you're dead like a fire right that's what I had always thought about Jesus with the preachers on TV you're going to hell sinners so the gesture was not like that it was a heart on fire with a gesture like this and the eyes oh my gosh the eyes I lost it I started to cry like a human being can't cry it was a gift tears were flowing my chin was like a water fountain it's what I call Divine detox what the rehabs could not do all he wanted for me was acknowledgment of who he is and that I need him I'm broke I'm a sinner I got problems and I cried out that's rehab baby that's what the Catholic church is the best rehab for the Nations and it's free it's incredible so do you know how long that lasted and I'll you won't be here all day don't worry so do you know how long that because I gotta fly out of here so almost all day on my knees crying my mom testifies to this remember I only got back to the house it was like not even 7 30. all day the sun had gone down I was still on my knees I was oblivious there was even a world around me it was also it was divine detox but it was also I went into the like honeymoon chamber with God he ravished my soul it was unbelievable the sweetness of his mercy and love I got up from that experience I laid down in the love seat because I was like I'm gonna go talk to that priest he said come back tomorrow then you know what happened I pray this never happens to you but you may need it to happen to you maybe your son or daughter needs it to happen to you maybe your husband needs it to happen to him guess who came into the room Satan yep so I didn't buy into that stuff lucer for the devil come on please right I was all about the culture that dresses our children up like Lucifer and the devil and witches and sends them to the neighbors to get candy once a year good times right I was along with everybody else in our culture that back in the day when we had Blockbusters and stuff you go there and you buy a horror flick for your family and get some Twizzlers and popcorn and watch demons basically eat Souls family night I didn't buy into Lucifer and the devil that was some myth again that you know people created to scare people into giving them your cash but all of a sudden there was a creature manifesting itself in my room I wasn't a devil worshiper I didn't I never went to some you know satanic pentagram service and slashed a chicken's throat and sprinkled blood on myself I never did anything like that but I didn't need to I used to listen to music that talked about running with the devil or 666 number the Beast I would turn and possess your soul and you will burn I used to listen to the album It's called The Ultimate sin album you didn't even want to know what he was talking about all that stuff the things that I used to watch entertain myself with foul disgusting the devil came back to take what he thought was his own and what was I going to do punch the devil took a swing at Lucifer please I made from dust this arm ain't gonna do dink against the devil physically I am no match for a fallen angel and I knew it and I was terrified I thought I was lost forever you know what I did and my soul I gathered this like cry and from my soul I screamed into heaven Mary foreign [Music] because I was terrified I was absolutely terrified you know what happened next the devil was annihilated I'm talking just completely obliterated from that room and I Heard a Voice I'm not a Mystic I've never heard it since but I would die to hear it again I heard a woman's voice spoken to me and it was like liquid love pouring over my soul the most feminine maternal voice you could possibly imagine and the voice said to me Donnie I'm so happy nobody calls me Donnie but my mom that's the meaning to form my name it's only for my mom who is this who was this my mom is not here in the room she's over in the kitchen somewhere doing whatever it was my mom a mother I never knew I had the mother of Jesus by calling me Donnie she's saying to me that she's my mother I went to sleep that night like a little baby tucked up against his mother's breast safe secure not even Satan could touch me because I was in the arms of Mary I got up the next morning I went to that priest told him what happened freaked that dude out but we began a conversation I immediately day two went and cut my hair I had long hair down on my waist at that point okay I went in to get it cut and the lady didn't want to cut it she's like oh are you sure I'm like off all of it and she was hesitant I mean she was literally shaking cutting it off and there it fell on the floor you know what happened after that I lost all my coolness I was a dork and it was awesome I became a fool for Christ like Samson you could say when I lost my hair I lost everything all my strength was gone I was no longer a chick magnet girls weren't Attract it to me anymore done the bonds that I couldn't cut gone just completely gone I got a job I dressed like a normal human being I cleaned up my language I started going to church every day I wasn't receiving communion because I wasn't Catholic but I when I saw them receiving oh my goodness it was unbelievable I went every single day and I I started to pray the rosary I was decked out with brown scapular blue scapular green scapular I was like Mr T you know it was like boom like five pounds of devotionals around my neck you know I pity to fool you know it was crazy I mean I look like a freak I'll be honest with you I did I was I went a little overboard you know but the Filipino ladies took me under their arm they got me praying the Station of the Cross they told me who Grandpa was you know John Paul II and I was so madly in love you know when you're in love when you're young you're like no you hang up no you hang up no you hang up right that's how I was with Jesus when at the end of the day when they had to church close the church doors I was like I'll see you tomorrow I'll see you tomorrow and I would be at church in the morning before the Filipinos that is radical behavior for a white boy you know because when you're in love you do crazy stuff I couldn't get enough and then I go to work my lunch hour I wouldn't even eat I started fasting on bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays and that was prayer squared you want to grow in the spiritual life fast oh my goodness you will you will grow by Leaps and Bounds and it was just incredible what was happening to me and so I enrolled in rcia classes my baptism was valid from the Episcopalian Church right I wasn't baptized in you know the mother daughter and eternal spirit or something it was father son Holy Spirit was valid and so I became Catholic and then we'll wrap it up here I didn't know what to do I'm like what do you want me what do you want for my life Lord I am so madly in love with you I'm crazy in love with you I'll go door to door until you your second coming and tell people about you and your mother is that what you want me to do I'll do it the priest I told him that and he's like whoa whoa whoa whoa I'm like dude the Mormons do this junk why can't we do this junk I don't get it right these people go around with their little white shirt on on a bicycle why can't we do this he's like well okay but you know let's pray about it so I keep praying and then I kind of fell in love at least emotionally with one of these Filipina girls a daughter of one of these girls and I'm like you want me to be a a father and a husband you know she'll I'll have her crank out babies to a menopause right we'll make some Catholic babies for you right now you know and I'm like is that what you want for me and she I just I didn't feel it and I was like no every time I watch that priest say mass and go back in the back and hear confessions I burned to do that I long to do it and I kept praying about it and that's when the Filipino women they were like you should become a father you should become a priest a young people need a priest like you and I'm like thank you so much but there's no way I could do this with my past that's impossible God bless the Filipinos because then another one said to me okay so if you don't become a father I have another beautiful daughter I'm like oh Lord now now right get behind me Satan you know like I'm good trying to focus here so I kept praying and that's when I sent postcards to religious communities and some responded we got a very interesting conversations and then I ended up joining one called the Marian fathers they promote Divine Mercy In Our Lady Orthodox super solid I would never make it in some liberal cray-cray group really and there's so many of those today I'd just be like y'all crazy right if they start doing that taking out masculine pronouns describing God I'd be throwing dishes at these people you know I'd be like yo nuts man I came out of that craziness and now you people are starting to do this crazy stuff what's going on in your mind you've lost it you're basically a spiritual adultery with your God you're following false deities and all the other stuff that you're promoting that stuff is so prominent today it's everywhere thank God that he brought me to this community that's solid theologically and filled with devotions and piety and all of that and super Marian and so I had to go through education get my GED get all the other stuff took 10 years and it was torturous think about it like if you fall in love you can go through marriage classes and what months to a year and then get married to be a priest it took me 10 years it was torturous and but I knew that this is what I had to do so did that got ordained in 2003 now I've been a priest almost 20 years and I travel the world writing books speaking about Jesus Mary Joseph the rosary all these things calling out the wolves because there are so many that want to devour you and your family and your marriage your children they're everywhere and I know this is true I know it is I am 100 convicted and my friends you need to know this yes you're at a prayer breakfast in McHenry County Illinois great but many of you you don't fully get it again don't panic I'm not Padre Pio but you know what I'm saying is true you're rolling you're playing footsies with the Devil and many of the things that you support many things you promote you got to knock it off you have to live your Catholic faith it's not easy I mess up all the time but there's right and there's wrong there is objective truth when you jack it up go to confession there's an endless amount of Mercy for us but it's time for us as Catholics to start truly living our faith and being willing to die for it and you know the future ain't looking too good if you look at the way things are headed in the world you better take a stand right now because there's going to come a time when you might be before a firing squad and are you going to say oh no I I don't know him or are you going to say Viva Cristo Rey like the Saints K Viva I'm not saying it's easy right part of me is like if they come looking for me I'm like I'm going to Baja baby right I'll be on a beach somewhere no maybe pray pray for me you know it's not easy but my role now as a priest with my brothers is to pray for you to help you and you need to pray for us priests are under attack today oh my goodness they're under attack we need your support we need your prayers we need to do this together and so that's my promise to you as a priest as your brother to pray for you cannot tell you at how many of these events people come up to me afterwards and by the way I gotta catch a flight after this so don't mob me in the hallway um I will sign some books and stuff but then I really do I got to catch a flight but the people will come to me father my son pray for my son father my husband's here he's totally not into this but you just totally like gave him a spiritual kick in the pants right that's what I do I will pray for you to my dying day and I pray that you pray for me too still a sinner still broken wounded as I said people come up after these conferences father let me kiss your hand I'm like oh bro hang out with me for a weekend you'll be like pray for father I'm still a sinner man right but I get it you need a hero and I understand that I need them too so are we going to pray for each other yes this is a prayer breakfast don't let this be an epic Saturday that we came to and we got super stoked let it overflow start praying as a family again start praying the rules you start going to confession more frequently start voting correctly in your Catholic faith okay I better stop or I'm going to get in trouble all right so let's say a prayer and then I would very much delight in giving you a blessing okay all right in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen Heavenly Father you're a good good father you're so loving you're so merciful we thank you for Jesus your Eternal son we thank you for our lady and Saint Joseph and all the saints Heavenly Father you know our wounds our baggage our issues our Brokenness our sins pour out your goodness on us and our families marriages children grandchildren we pray for conversions we pray for an outpouring of your spirit in these evil times that there would be a renewal in our midst a renewal in our church we beg you for this Grace father we trust that you will bring it about because you are a good good father glory be to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World Without End Amen the Lord be with you and may almighty God bless you the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen God bless you [Applause]

Channel: McHenry County Catholic Prayer Breakfast

Views: 99,976

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Id: sbO609YCjgA

Length: 61min 14sec (3674 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 25 2022