St. Irenaeus Lenten Mission with Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC

right we got a few minutes come on in I know it's a full house it's a lovely problem the parking lot is like oh it's full it's great the the grass is already full oh check check well good evening church good evening again and welcome to St ir's church I apologize for those who uh parked in the grass area and we have our sprinkler on it's on a timer so so you have to pay for your car wash on your way out today all right it's not free uh we still have uh a few folks re uh coming from uh different areas to uh to join us today um just to let you know we do have a few more seats in this area in the family room or the cry room uh so if you want to be closer uh to our speaker he'll be just up here uh he won't be walking down there so you can still see him a little bit you can move the chairs around uh for those of you who do not have a seat in the back all right by show of hands how many of our uh confirmation students are here tonight please raise your hand are you here somewhere all right I see one two of few spread out all the way in the back wonderful to have you tonight although it is a school night uh you know I know it's tough to be here where you want to study at home yeah right I hope you enjoy this evening uh it's not because you have to be here but you you get to be here to uh hear an ins inspiring story uh and then how many of you are guests from outside of the city of Cyprus outside of St IRAs oh my goodness that's like half of the congregation my goodness so welcome welcome to St IRAs I know you probably don't know where St irin's church and you have to search and Google where we are in order to be here so we appreciate the effort uh for you to be here you know tonight is such a popular night that to get here to get a seat is even more difficult than getting to a he into Taylor Swift's concert is that right many of you came here early like 5 a.m. I mean 5 earlier p.m. 6 p.m. to get a seat so I'm very uh grateful that you make the effort to be here uh just a few housekeeping announcements uh we do have some restrooms for you uh to my left so you go out this door and make a left at the end of the walkway or the restrooms okay all right so we are in the midst of L and the seats of L calls us to repentance uh to experience the mercy and the love of God and so tonight during this Advent Mission we have the opportunity to hear an inspiring story and after tonight's reflection uh we invite you to join with us uh to continue the conversation the fellowship uh in the hall in the Parish Hall and then there you'll be able to meet uh with our speaker father Donal Callaway um and then of course uh he'll be signing his books there as well and then if you also moved uh by what you hear today uh we would love to have your financial support so that we will be able to put more of these kinds of presentations in the future so there will be a free will offering at the end as you leave uh today or tonight um just to introduce to you a little bit about our presenter tonight uh father Donald Callaway is a convert to Catholicism uh he's a member of the congregation of Marian fathers of the magul conception M and before his conversion to Catholicism he was a high school dropout who had been kicked out of a foreign country institutionalized twice and thrown in jail multiple times after his radical conversion he earned a ba in philosophy and theology from The Franciscan University of Stubenville an MD and stb degrees from the Dominican House of studies in Washington D.C and an STL or a license in sacred theology in mariology from the international Maran Research Institute in day Ohio he's the author of 15 books including consecration to St Joseph the wonders of our spiritual fathers which we as a Parish use uh as a part of our uh our reflection during the year of St Joseph in 2021 um father caway is a well-known conference speaker on Divine Mercy the Blessed Virgin Mary and of course St Joseph and he speaks passionately about these topics in his moving conversion story which you will hear today he leads proces to Catholic shrines around the world and resides at the Marin House of studies in Stubenville Ohio so you might have seen some of the announcements about the program on the uh over screen earlier and so at this time I would like all of you to please welcome our speaker father Donald [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Callaway thanks all right thanks for coming everybody appreciate it I always feel weird coming out I feel like I'm like let's round one it's just we weird I I don't know just seems odd to me but it's how else would we do it so okay um let's say a prayer okay so that everything that I say tonight is pleasing to heaven and beneficial to your hearts in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen Heavenly Father we thank you for this evening we ask you to anoint this evening that my words would be the words that you want me to say to bring hope into hearts to bring peace into minds and to bring about a deeper conversion for myself Lord and for everyone who is here mother Mary we entrust this entire evening to you because you are our mother and we love you so much Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now now and at the hour of our death amen St Joseph in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen awesome man there's a lot of you here this is wow no pressure um no it's all good so yeah I got I got a belly full of Pon seit right now um everywhere I go Filipinos chase me around and give me food you know it's unbelievable um so I got to Surf tomorrow for sure we burn a few calories okay so how many of you out of curiosity have heard my story before either live or YouTube or America's Most Wanted whatever okay okay how many of you have not no shame okay shame on you all right no so what I'm going to tell you tonight okay is my story yeah but it's not just my story I'm no better than anybody else okay underneath this I have pants on I put my pants on just like everybody else I'm not special God doesn't love me more than he loves you but the reason that I'm going to tell you the story tonight is to give you a message of Hope because I don't know you some of you I do but not many but I don't need to know you to tell you you're jacked up you got problems you got baggage you got wounds you got issues yourself your marriage your family and all your funky family members okay you have them I do too so when you hear this story it's an extreme story I want you to keep in mind your situation okay your particular relationship with God or lack of relationship with him your marriage your children your family keep that in mind okay that's why I'm telling you this story not to glorify myself I'm I'm nobody trust me trust me it's funny everywhere I go people want father take a picture with me Father sign my book I do it everybody needs a hero I get it but if you hung around with me for 3 Days you'd be like oh we got to pray for father dude this dude got issues here yeah I do right okay but I get it everybody needs a hero okay so you see me now right up here with my cassic on which I love this bad boy I call it battle attire I love this kind of stuff man I wish I could wear like a sword with it it would look like so medieval come in on a horse and stuff that'd be epic so you see me as a priest now a lot of people when they see me in public you know they think I'm like part of the Matrix or something you know they don't know what I am and they if they do know that I'm a priest they make assumptions and rightly so many people have said to me oh nice father where you from you know when did you you know get ordained a priest and all that and they they assumed that I've been Catholic my whole life and that I came from like a super uber Catholic Family with like Mary and Joseph as Mom and Dad and I got 10 brothers and sisters homeschooled confirmed by the pope or something you know no the total opposite of that so when I was born um my parents were were not religious at all they hadn't been baptized they didn't go to church they didn't talk about God they didn't say a prayer before they ate anything completely secular on every level so I wasn't baptized so as a young baby unbeknownst to me because I was just a baby they had serious problems my mom was a beautiful woman still is a beautiful woman very attractive lady and so my my dad which is a shocker my dad was actually cheating on my mom it's insane to me it's like bro she's beautiful what's wrong with you but men are stupid right I'm one of them you're going to hear about a lot of my stupidity here so he was cheating on her she wasn't fond of that so they separated split and then my mother remarried another man my second father and he was like worse than the first dude okay he didn't even get a job to support his wife my mother and so my mom had to get a job and she joined the United States Navy and went to boot camp in Florida and during that time I don't know how long it was a couple months or something I was with my dad number two in a trailer home in West Virginia at the time I was born in Michigan but then we were living in in West Virginia and the things that I saw as just an infant like my first memories you know five six years years old the first things were really really bad like sick that's what I saw I saw that dude with other women in the trailer that weren't my mother saw it so when my mom comes back from boot camp you know she's made aware of what's been going on so time to separate so she gets a divorce from that dude and then we move me and my mom to Virginia Beach her first Duty station in the Navy and I thought it was great I had never like been near water and that's where my love for water started love for surfing and all that kind of stuff and she fell in love with a military officer which technically she shouldn't have done they shouldn't back then they had like rules I don't know maybe they still got them she was uh you know just a basic person in the military he was an officer and they fell in love and she got pregnant and so then they got married so before I was nine I had three fathers three dads right right and none of them were St Joseph okay they had their own issues they had their own their own problems so when she married Dad number three I'm thinking how long's this dude going to be around before there's number four number five number six and why would I think that because you know her father my grandfather do you how many times my my grandpa had been married seven right actually technically eight cuz he remarried like number four at one point totally weird my family we we we dysfunctional we we have we got problems okay so but they seem to be in love they got married and they had their son my half brother Matthew now when they got married I got adopted so do you remember what my last name is Callaway right I think golf clubs you know so I got adopted and I got his last name praise God for adoption you know why cuz up until that time I have my biological father's last name his last name my last name was Croc [Music] brutal I mean unless that's your last name it's lovely it's no that's rough so thank God for adoption so I I become Callaway that works and I got baptized why because my new dad was was a Christian no he had been raised a Christian an epist opalian but he had fallen away a long time ago he wasn't into religion at all they didn't want to do this but his parents my new grandparents and I got grandparents all over the place right I got three dads I got I got grandparents all over the place so the new ones they were Christians episcopalians and they kept nagging my parents so when I say parents now I mean my mom and my stepdad so they kept saying get the boy baptized he's 10 years old and he's never been baptized he's got your name now get get him baptized get him baptized get him baptized get him baptized and finally my parents were like fine shut up like we'll get him baptized so they found a church in Virginia Beach where they could get it done super quick like no classes needed you know no prep just go in there and an Episcopalian Church cuz they thought that well all they wanted was the 8 by1 certificate to basically get a copy of and shut up the grandparents I zip it okay he so I was baptized when I was 10 and I remember it I was 10 what do I remember we were in a church nobody else in it my parents they didn't invite any relatives they didn't take any pictures cuz this was just a fun this was just the get it done and get out of here so we're in a church about this size nobody else in it but some dude and he poured water over my head and I'm like I don't understand what is going on here at all cuz there was no preparation and then we went out side it was a beautiful day and we ate Donuts my introduction to Christianity was Donuts basically and we never went back to church we never set a prayer we never even went for Christmas or Easter we weren't into that stuff at all and then we moved from Virginia Beach you know where we moved to Southern California to San Pedro I went to taper Avenue Elementary if that means anything to anybody yeah so I went to school there and I thought it was fantastic it was the early 80s and like my generation are the fruit we're the children the progeny of the hippies so you know even though my mom had joined the Navy like she was a hippie at heart man she was just she was like a hillbilly hippie my mom and but she she taught me to listen to the cool music you know like Le Zeppelin and the Eagles and all that cool stuff and so my mom was a cool mom she was only 17 years older than I was so um she was very young so we come out to Southern California and now there was a cultural shift you know that generation you know they had stopped burning stuff in the streets and you know whatnot and their little protest against Vietnam and whatnot and here I was early ' 80s in Southern California where new things were on the scene for my generation like MTV and what did that mean for for us now things like music weren't just audible you didn't just listen to it you watched it you saw it and that made a big difference because a lot of times when you listen to music you don't know what they're saying you know rocket man you don't know what he's saying right is he just too British or what I can't make it out you know so but that's the case with a lot of songs but when you watch the video you're like oh Hot for Teacher understood woo smoking right so it was super clear and as a young boy who doesn't know about disordered passions or original sin or heaven or hell no consequences anything bring it this looks awesome to me you know the the the highway to hell was the same thing as a Stairway to Heaven I I listen to bands by the name of Judas Priest really I didn't know what Judas was I didn't know what a priest was who cares let's just get hot that's that was how I grew up and it started my downward turn no offense to you guys here in SoCal in San Pedro and then we moved to San Diego cuz remember my my father is a military officer so we went there was like a new commissioning of a ship or something down there so we moved down to San Diego and it was I loved everything about it everything my home surf break is blacks do you know what blacks is a nude beach yeah not So Much Anymore the guys that are there they need to put clothes on it's like Bruh Bruh you know you're your time has passed you know so but I loved it I so L Southern California it was I I never wanted to leave I didn't and then one day my dad comes home and he had to fake it for me cuz him and my mom they knew but they were like we're going to move again he your father has a new Duty station and we're going to and I'm like H we had been in Virginia Beach you know San Pedro San Diego so you better be saying Honolulu Okay better not be like Iowa or something you know but they didn't say any of that you know what they said Japan yeah that was my reaction too no offense of you're Japanese but at the time I did not want to leave Southern California and I certainly did not want to move across you know an ocean to Japan but what was I going to do I I had no choice so I went reluctantly and when I got there I basically told myself they took me out of paradise I'm going to become your worst nightmare M when I started in Southern California and you know I was very young when I started doing crazy things I kicked in gear in Japan I went from first gear here to fifth overdrive in Japan I immediately looked for the kids who were bad news and you know today everybody's like oh everybody's so woke today every you can't say that you offend them it's like bruh she's half naked that girl is crying out for attention she got a daddy wound there all I got to do is affirm that girl and I get whatever I want it's a no-brainer but today everybody's oh H you can't say that back then it was like duh same thing with the guys if I saw a guy who had a mly crew shirt on and studs and earrings and long hair he probably is not praying the rosary I mean in all likelihood he he probably token up a fat one is probably what he's doing it was so easy to to to tell right so I found them they were there military dependants like myself over there and and immediately my life just tanked I started Living such a crazy life oh my goodness you have no idea it got so bad that I was like I'm not even interested in school anymore I stopped going to school and you know they tried to get me to go but it was really I was so difficult man I was so difficult and eventually I just left I ran away in Japan 15 years old on the big island in Japan the hu the one in the middle right um and was I was I seeking you know a career please no if you were a white boy in Japan in the 1980s you were Bon Joi man you were you were part of mly crew you were part of Cinderella you were part of these bands you you were a chick magnet I can't even describe to you what it was like to be a white boy with long hair in Japan in the 1980s you were Rockstar status so I had everybody looking at me everywhere I went because I was growing my hair along and had the earring and the whole thing and all that and so the attention was on me and and my buddy who that I ran away with and how are we eating and making money and all that kind of stuff well there's a criminal organization in Japan called the Yakuza the Yakuza you know what that is okay a lot of people don't so it's basically a serious criminal organization Japan when you're fully initiated you get like your whole back tattooed and one or two of your top half of your pinky cut off it's hardcore and you don't leave once you're in it and they don't recruit little white boys but they you know became acquainted with me because of the stuff that I was doing I was hanging out in these Pachinko bars at night and you know they were like what are you all about and I told them and they're like we want you to work for us I started to run drugs and money to different casinos in Japan for the Japanese Mafia and I was 15 it was insane and I mean I again most of the stuff is between me and God because the things that I did and things that I experienced oh my goodness it's amazing that I didn't die from a disease or just die from the things that I was doing it was absolutely an insane life what I didn't know during that whole time that I was out living this crazy life was that my mom my mom was having a crisis I never wanted to see my family again I I had no desire to ever see them again but my mom was dying not physically but in her heart her heart was crushed cuz her son was gone I was causing an international scene between the American government the Japanese government between the American Military it I mean it was bad sometimes you hear about our American military personnel doing that they go to a bar one night get plastered and do something with one of the local girls and it shames our nation right I wasn't even in the military I was a kid and I was doing this you can look this stuff up by the way you can Google my name don't put the father part in there yet right and you'll you'll read about this stuff I caus an international scene back in the late 80s and so they were searching for me and all of that my mom she was a mess I would find this out much later she was going to counseling she was going to a therapist she was on medication for anxiety depression she was a wreck right this is her third marriage they're in a foreign country her firstborn son has run away and her husband my dad is taken heat from his commanding officers you know he had to retire from the military early because of me he had to take a reduced you know uh pension because of me because of what I did did I care I didn't care I was so narcissistic it was all about me and it's not like I was calling them every night hey Mom how was your day I not at all so I didn't know what was going on well something incredible happened so my mom had a friend in Japan do you know who that friend was uh huh a Catholic Filipino woman right watch out okay they're everywhere man I'm telling you oh yeah so this Catholic Filipino woman married to an American GI you know the story so they're they're in Japan and this Filipino woman said to my mother one day what I'm going to tell you now I'm going to do it as though you know how it would have been said I love Filipinos Salam po okay to you and your people and your culture I love you so much I really really do but when you talk English it's a little funny you got to work on those P's and D's and W's you know so this Filipino woman said to my mother one day okay I know what you got to do you got to talk to P you got to talk to him talk to him right you know that's how you talk so I love it but you know so my mom now check this out my mom is like 100% Italian Le biano right yeah Le biano is my mother's made name how was she not Catholic okay that's crazy but she wasn't so so she was resisting she's like I'm not going to go talk to some priest why do I have to talk to a priest but the Filipino you don't you don't tell a Filipino woman no right so she's like no talk to him talk to him so so she was like fine so she went and talked to the military chaplain on the Bas atsugi was the name of the base still is and that priest changed my mom's life he told my mom about hardcore in your face Catholicism not hug Kumbaya let's all get along and you know plant trees no serious Catholicism about things like Jesus says in the Bible John chapter 6 unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you don't have life it doesn't get more hardcore than that my mother wasn't aware of that kind of stuff he told my mom about other stuff in the Bible where Jesus said to his disciples his first priest he whose sins you forgive are forgiven like confession and stuff and my mom is like wait what so I've been going to therapy I've been cranking up these pills and different milligrams trying to you know heal myself but there's no pill that's going to heal a maternal broken heart it might help but it's not going to get to the core of it so when when he told my mom this stuff it was like he just turned on her Italian Catholicism he was like on you know it was like dormant in her you know Italian DNA and then he told my mom about something that she said sealed the deal he told her about a son named Augustine and a mother named Monica you ever hear about this this you know yeah let me let me tell about the real version maybe you haven't heard of okay so this priest told my mom that there was this like third third Century there was this mother in Northern Africa that really loved Jesus she loved Jesus so much and she was always trying to tell her son Augustine about Jesus but her son Augustine he was hard one he he was educated you know today we would say he had three doctorates and he could speak 12 languages and you know he was really really educated and he would mock his mother and say Jesus I don't need that that's for simpletons that's for the uneducated that's for the unscientific ma I know I can look at my hand and find wisdom right that that was his wisdom I can look at the stars to chart the meaning of the future Mom I don't need your Jesus that's for you and your old lady friends that's what he said to her all the time and it broke her heart and she cried man she cried for so long you know it got so bad this is what the priest told my mom he said to my mom Le it got so bad you know what Augustine did cuz he was sick and tired of his mom trying to tell him about Jesus he ditched her ran away from her got on a boat and left the country to get away from his mother sounded like super familiar to my mom here's the crazy thing he said Lea do you know where that boat was going she didn't know the story Italy wrong boat dude you're going to the mother's ship bro you're you're going to experience like a million Monas over there you know sure enough one day in Milan he's walking down he's into Beauty and all that there's beautiful music coming from a beautiful building he goes in there's some dude elevated like on a Pulpit just preaching Thunder and he was rocked by God and he heard a voice a voice spoke to him and said tole at Le meaning take and read the scriptures and he did and oh he was never the same had a radical conversion to Catholicism fell madly in love with Jesus Christ and then wrote a book called confessions and talked about his dear Mother and all the pain and sorrow that he put her through when my mom heard that she was like sign me up I'm in but here's the thing she couldn't do it you know why because she had to leave the country of Japan because of me she had to relocate to the United States for when they caught me hopefully alive and not bringing me back in a body bag and so she left she couldn't become Catholic over there she left with my my half brother Matthew my dad stayed because he was responsible for helping to look for me with the government and the military and eventually like a month later they caught me at a train station near Yokohama threw me in the jail I escaped they locked down the military installation they found me in a sewer and then they put me in the brig the military holding cell and then they literally kicked me out of the country of Japan it was so bad they taped my mouth why cuz I was Hawking lugies on the MPS why cuz I was an animal see when I grew up in the education system that I learned here in Southern California you know probably back East too if I had gone to school back there like here what did I learn this is what I learned I I specifically remember when when we lived in Santi down in San Diego at the school that I went to there one day I hope he's not here tonight um our science teacher came in and he had he had little things in his hand like a little square and he said to all the boys not the girls but he said to all the boys here just be safe right you know what I'm talking about I'm not going to get graphic our lord is here there's young kids here but you know what I mean and I'm like oh thanks dude this guy's awesome man and then he said things like this in class and all the other teachers had their own version of it too what did they do they mocked Christianity made fun of it Christian he he actually said in in in one of his classes and at the time I thought it was epic it was just a the take down of the stupid religion on the planet he said basically what a bummer that there are people who who subscribe to a belief system that God you know whatever that is became one of us to save us how pitiful is that because see we come from water and then eventually like through starfish or something we came on land and then into monkeys and now we're just upright Apes we're we're not the center of the cosmos science has downgraded your little Christian you know understanding of things this is what he's telling us in class has downgraded us we're not the center of anything there's no deity who made this this is Everlasting expansion continuing we're just here for a period of time so what a bummer we're going to leave this Jesus in the dust of history I mean you became one of us how sad how sad and I thought to myself totally dude totally that's everything I thought because I remember when I was a kid on Saturday and Sunday mornings you know my parents would be Uber busy doing whatever and I would be munching on poptarts and honeycomb cereal and I'd be watching Scooby-Doo and Bugs Bunny and between cartoons I'd be flipping channels and I'd see a Preacher Man one of these Christian weirdos and he would be basically you know saying glory in the name of Jesus be healed in the name of Jesus Glory Glory Hallelujah right oh it's lent sorry but you know what I mean so I thought these people were the most bizarre freaks on the planet get a job you loser right that's what I thought these people are so dumb that they think a guy walks on water they think that some dude came back to life you're a grown man get a job that's what I thought why because see in in the cartoons that I watched I watched I used to watch this cartoon where there was this road runner right and a coyote and that coyote died a thousand times and he always came back to life but it's a fairy tale bro it's a cartoon this ain't reality if you're a grown man and you still believe this you probably also believe that little bunnies pop out chocolate eggs and some fat dude comes down every chimney in the world on one night get a job Christianity to me St as far as you possibly could away from this unscientific medieval woman-hating rule making institution that oppresses people that's what I thought and you know what all my friends thought the exact same thing Christianity was for losers if you had to do religion which I didn't Advocate at all become like Zen Buddhist or something and go to Sedona Arizona and put a hot rock on your belly button to find Nirvana or something right but Christianity that is the most dumb of them all and so you know this this stuff was affirming it for me so when I was kicked out of the country of Japan I'm literally handcuffed to the plane we went to If this means if you're military you know these places yakusa in Japan like the big military installation they brought me there they put me on a Mac flight escorted by two huge MP police officers and I I was handcuffed to the web seating on the side of the plane with my with my mouth taped breathing through my nose because I was an animal you told me I was an animal and I didn't understand why people wanted to cage me you told me I'm an upright ape you told me I'm nothing more than a monkey I come from monkeys so what gives you the right to tell me another monkey what to do I'm just following your rules to their logical conclusion get out of my face so they they had to chain me that's how bad I was and so we flew from yosa to Honolulu took me off the military flight and put me on a commercial plane American Airlines to fly from Honolulu to LAX still escorted by the MPS and there's an amazing story oh man it's so mind-blowing so this is what I look like by the way at this point now I'm not a narcissist I'm working on my pride but I carry a big picture of myself all around the world okay this is what I looked like at that time okay now there's nothing wrong with long hair on a guy our Lord and savior had long hair right but the state of my soul in this picture black completely black and I'm smiling because I'm three sheets to the wind you know in this picture but trust me I was oh my goodness you have no idea how lost I was so here I am on this flight we we're in Honolulu and I'm being escorted by two MPS I'm Shackled at my feet I'm handcuffed behind me and people are Whispering oh honey look oh honey look oh my goodness look at this you know there was a guy there who saw that this was in 1989 there was a guy there who saw that I didn't see him you know probably would have said something to him if I had you know choice words that dude about 7 years ago was reading a magazine and he saw a picture this pict picture and he said to himself wait a minute I was there he had just retired from the military and he was coming back to the states with his wife and they were in Honolulu that day and they saw this long-haired freak being escorted by two MPS down the thing and now he's reading this story of this kid who became Catholic and became a priest and he he contacted us and I met up with him and it was it was mindblowing cuz I was like finally somebody can verify this you know besides my parents like I'm not lying this really happened you know so anyway so we go from Honolulu to LAX they take the handcuffs off of me at LAX because now we're on American soil I hadn't done anything criminal on American soil they can't incarcerate me as a matter of fact they don't know what to do with me so they released me into the custody of my father who's right next to me and I'm thinking thanks for the ride back to SoCal suckers right that's what I'm thinking you know I'm about to ditch my dad you know but I'm like am I going to make it through airport security are they going to take me down I don't know so I was I didn't run and we get on another plane and we fly to Pennsylvania where my mom had been living I didn't know that and we go to we fly to Philadelphia and pre 911 my mom is at the gate right anybody in those times could go to the gate and there she is she runs up to me and she's oozing motherhood on me Donnie oh I'm so happy to see you Donnie I love you so much do you know what I did to my Everlasting shame I pushed her away from me in front of everybody I put my finger in her face and I said I hate your guts and I meant it I hated her why because I thought it's this woman who keeps jacking up my life you bring me to California let me taste the goodness and then you take me away take me to Japan where I fall in love with it and then all this happens it's your fault you're the problem you know that's crazy cuz as I said my mom is only 17 years older than I am I mean we were like best friends when I was a kid I would comb her jet black long hair and she would make me listen to Bob Seager and all this cool music my mom was a cool mom and now I hated her guts and she lost it she started crying like a human being can't cry we get into the car and I said where are we going and my dad says you're going to a rehab that's the agreement that had to be made you're going to a rehabilitation center you know what I said good cuz it'll get me away from you see in the airport I put a dagger in my mom's heart in the car I turned it and I ripped her guts out she cried the whole way I went to my first rehab in Aluna Pennsylvania I don't know why we didn't fly to Pittsburgh by the way if you know geography we had to drive all the way across the state of Pennsylvania so I go to My First Rehab called New Beginnings at Cove Forge still there you can look it up 3 months I'm there I didn't get better in the rehab I got worse why CU it was a secular rehab now I want to blow up for any of you do you know what the the failure rate is of secular rehabs 92% not making it up Google it later you'll find out why because it's a Band-Aid on a spiritual problem if you just have people come in and say look make a good showing you got to get some chips and stuff for your meetings um somebody's paying a ton of money for this program so many people in that that field they don't know what they're doing not everyone no but a lot of them they really don't they just give you a Dixie cup with a certain milligram or something that doesn't work well let's try this one we up the milligrams and get you the purple pill next time whatever it is you know seriously we got a major problem in this area it's mad money being made off this stuff with a 92% failure rate so I didn't get better I got worse cuz I didn't want to be there I learned had to do more drugs in the rehab drugs I hadn't been exposed to in Japan like acid so when I got out of the rehab I go to my parents house and guess what they said to me my mom said to me crazy stuff man my mom said Donnie while you were away your father and I have become Catholic yay okay you've joined a cult you're going to follow Jim Jones drink Kool-Aid in Uganda and off yourself I don't know what Catholic that's a cult cath Catholicism was a cult mom how could you Poss you're an educated woman come on how could you be suckered into this she said no your father and I have found the truth it's in the Catholic Church come to church with us yeah right I was so ignorant of Catholicism I didn't even know that they were Christians that's how dumb I was and so I'm like you're a Christian oh my gosh this is insane does people know about does the family know about this right yes come with us I'm like you're out of your mind there's no I didn't go to church with them I didn't need to go you know why because they turned that house into a church it was like a Convent man my mom had bought figurines like this big this big even a gigantic like four-footer of some dude with like wings ripped with like a six-pack stabbing like a snake in the face with like a pitchfork you know all over the house just nuts and I would come home ripped you know wasted and my I I would wake up and this little creature all over the house would be on a card in my pocket or under my pillow she was trying hard like osmosis you know convert you know I would take it i' I I saw I St Michael the Archangel mom's cucko for Cocoa Puffs this is nuts this is crazy so I I couldn't even stay in their house because every time they they ate a cracker they they were like bless us oh Lord and these thy gifts I'm like oh my gosh you know I couldn't stand these lunatics so I left and I I had nowhere to go I'm hitchiking around looking like this so who picked me up a dude in a Volkswagen bus when you look like this you know so I'm like he he goes where are you going and I'm like I don't know dude where are you going he goes I'm going to a show man I don't know what he's talking about so he was going to a dead show a Grateful Dead show so I went to my first dead show where I did a lot of liquid Lucy right and that became the closest at that point in my life to to religion it was a family and we went places man I I lived in a Volkswagen bus on macaroni and cheese and marijuana for like half a year following the Grateful Dead all around the United States it was insane got a Grateful Dead tattoo on on my back shoulder I don't remember getting it I don't know where I got it it was an insane life we Jerry Garcia became my deity basically and I waited for him to for to mix it up on the shows and we would just dance and W it was unbelievable but what happened what was the fruit of that I end up in another Rehab on the Streets of Philadelphia I was doing crack now and and and heroin and you name it man you have no idea and I ODed so I woke up on a gurnie with people in white hey can you hear me son can you hear me when they put me in another rehab it was a psychiatric rehab lock down P of facility called Charter Fairmont Institute still there look it up internationally known I was there for 3 months how bad was I in that place I would beat the walls until my Knuckles bled my parents couldn't even visit cuz I try and punch him you caged the animal and I lost it I I mean I was at wit's end so when I did get out they took me back they took they let me in their house do you know what they were doing now they were going to church every day before it was on Sundays now every day who does this so I'm like I'm out of here I left I hitchhiked went down to Louisiana Marty girl time got busted got thrown in jail right and didn't go to my court date so now I'm wanted I go back to West Virginia to find Papa Croc my biological father so cuz my mom always said stay away from him he's a bad man so I'm like now it might be a good time to get reacquainted with the hillbilly father I never knew you know so I find him we don't get along cuz he's anybody from West Virginia Donna don't raise your hand okay nobody oh good all right well I'm going to tell you about West Virginia okay if you think you know country and redneck you don't okay you don't get more raw than West Virginia my friends okay you can't even understand most times what they're even saying it is so countryfied it's insane right that was my dad he was like you know when I first met him I was like you're my dad like oh my gosh you know it was like heha you know I was like wow so he he wasn't particularly fond of me either I was long-haired freak trying to smoke his corn in his field I really was I had my little bugle papers trying to get ripped on his corn you know so he wouldn't let me in his house so I lived on his property until my supplies ran out then I went hitchike back to my mom's house and they were going to move back down to Virginia Beach and they said do you want to move with us and I'm like heck yeah so I move with them I get there lived more crazy stuff oh the stuff I did and then one night I didn't want to live anymore my life had reached its conclusion this monkey had enjoyed all the other beautiful monkeys now what I had such a tolerance for the stuff that I did that if I kept doing it I'm going to die for sure or I'm going to end up like my Uncle Denny who sits in a like a a Halfway House in Cleveland to this day cuz he sprinkled Coke on a joint and and it fried his brain and he drools all over his face all day and he doesn't know his nose from his toe I'll end up like Uncle Denny maybe or I'm just going to die or you know what maybe I'll just do it myself maybe I'll take so much acid I dance with the Bears and you know whatever or I was thinking about ending my life I had no career options goals Ambitions I was a monkey I pleasured everything now it's done I'm done so as I sat in their house and they didn't even have a bedroom for me cuz I was hardly ever there it was like an extended area with a with a love seat where when I was there I would tuck in and kind of crash on it I'm at their house my my Dad's away and for the first time in a long time this is what I heard you're going to hear the exact same thing that I heard that night right now awkward huh yeah silence was loud it was screaming at me I wasn't used to silence I had music video games TV some activity always going on silence the enemy I freaked out my buddies are wasted on a beach somewhere I went out into the hallway to look at like National Geographics or something I I'll I'll off myself later on right now this silence is freaking me out I looked for National Geographics or yellow there wasn't any National Geographics on the bookshelf but they they subscribed to it I don't know why they weren't there but there was one yellow book and it said the Queen of Peace visits medju g g gor g g gor g g gor what the heck is that so I'm like what so I pulled it out I look at the cover and I'm like a the Dork manual this is probably the book that suckered my parents and becoming Christians cuz I saw a cross on the cover and some like Babushka lady with no shoes on on the rockiest mountain I ever saw and I'm just like ha they call me weird we'll see what cult they've joined this is probably the book they did not want me to find so I go into the room I sit in the love seat and I started to read the book but I'm not a reader at that time it's talking about a war in some place I can't even pronounce so I'm like whatever so I skip ahead and I see that there's pictures I open the book to the pictures and I'm like okay what is this I see like these little kids and they're they got their hands like this a pile of necklaces on a table and they're looking up into the air like they had just toked up a fat one they were like you know look fried you know I'm like what is this and so I read the the caption below the pictures and it evidently was their names you had like Ivan and Maria and then marijuana and you know seriously I thought that girl's name was marijuana that's what it looked like like I'm like what and it's then one of them said the little children are now seeing the Blessed Virgin Blessed Virgin I've never met a Blessed Virgin you know I'm like where's she at you know seriously that's how my mind was so jacked up God knew what to do so I was like what are they talking about so I started to read that book again and as I'm reading it they start talking about this Blessed Virgin they start to say that she is so beautiful that she comes in like a clap of Thunder doves are at her feet the whole room smells like roses and I'm like whoa see cuz I'm a guy I'm a jacked up dude so you start talking about a beautiful woman that I can't see comes in a clap of Thunder smells like roses you got my attention I'm convinced that Jesus could have appeared to me that night in front of me and I would have shed away the fantasm go away but you start talking about a beautiful woman I'm all ears God knew how to bait me as a man I would learn much later by the way quotes from Saints like St Katherine of Sienna who literally says verbatim that Mary is the bait that God uses to capture the hearts of men it's true I was such a filthy sick perverse dude and the things that I done that that's what it was going to take for sure so as I'm I'm reading this I'm like wait what I'm like they're seeing a a what who and all of a sudden allegedly right I'm not here to act like I'm the magisterium on this stuff allegedly she starts talking to these kids and I'm like whoa whoa cuz I was into stuff like Sasquatch and ghost and Nessie over in Scotland I was going to drag that sucker out of that Lake when I grew up you know I mean why can't they find that thing like bomb the forest in Oregon bring out that monkey you know that I was I I was into that stuff and all of a sudden I'm reading this and it's it's talking to them I'm like okay that's never heard that one and I keep reading and then she's saying things like I've come to tell you that God exists and I'm like oh no pretty little lady I'm sorry but that that's a big no no okay we don't we don't do that we don't do God but I couldn't stop reading I kept reading and then she started to talk about J Jesus and that's the deal breaker for me we can talk about God on some level everybody talks every drunk talks about God everybody who's wasted talks about God but when you kick it into personalization Jesus Christ close the book Chuck it out the window I don't do this I don't follow you know spaghetti monsters in the sky that was my understanding of things there's no way man this is nuts and I closed the book and then I reopened it I could I was so drawn to that woman that I kept reading that book I read the whole book in one night I devoured that book I didn't understand most of it it was so super Catholic I didn't understand what she's talking about but she said things like if you knew how much I loved you you would cry if you want peace you have to confess your sins to a Catholic priest it was hitting me hard and heavy man I didn't go to sleep my mom gets up it's not even 6:00 in the morning she's coming down the duplex I'm at the bottom of the stairs and remember this actually my hair in this picture was short when it was at its ultimate length it was all the way down to my belt my hair so here I am at the bottom of the steps my mom's coming down half asleep and I said to her this while I tried to I said Mom and I couldn't say it the first time I couldn't say it she's like what and I said Mom I have to talk to a Catholic priest okay do you know what she said to me she looked right at me and she goes yeah right I just humbled myself doing church and you say that's what you say so she's like yeah right and I said Mom I got the book I showed her the book and I said what is this Mom I'm freaking out what is this stuff and she goes did you read that I'm like Mom I stayed up all night reading this Mom I am freaking out right now she ran to the phone not even 6:00 punches in seven digits had a combo with some dude that went like this I'm standing right next to her yes Father I know it's La father I know I know father I'm sorry I know it's early father I need to bring over my no no no father please now father father but priest are humans they got to get up and use a bathroom put their pants on have some coffee like everybody else so she tries another one father this is LA and he's like no how about 9 o' she's like no no father so she couldn't do it it was early so I of my own free will had to do it they lived on Norfolk Naval Air Station and military officer housing at the time so on the base right at the main gate I knew that there was one of those Catholic things because every time I came through that gate to go to their house I would walk on the other side of the street just so I didn't have to come close to a church therefore I knew it was there so I said to her mom isn't there one of those things right by there she goes yes Donnie there is Donnie run Donnie run what she said that's exact so I threw the book I went out the front door with my long hair tie-dyed shirt you could have got a contact you could get stoned if you stood up close enough to me right so I ran to the thing I get there I'd never been close enough to it to see what it was called I look up and you know what the name of it was and still is Our Lady of Victory so perfect Naval Chapel but I don't do church I'm not going in there so I go over to another building it says chaplain's office I go over there 6:00 in the morning I open the door and I yell down the corridor Catholic priest and I freaked that joint out all these Military Officers their heads are popping out of their little cubicles with their cup of coffee and they're like oh like cuz I'm a long haired freak in the hallway so they're like um do you want to talk to him I don't you want to I don't I don't know I don't and I'm like I'm watching this I'm like hello I'm like can hear you so me Catholic priest so finally a dude comes over he's like can I help you I'm like are you a priest he goes no I'm like dude what I got to say here Catholic priest I need a Catholic priest so he leaves comes back with another dude and a white Navy uniform on with all his you know Badges and stuff and he says hi can I help you and I'm like dude are you a at least a are you a preacher and he looks at me with his cup of coffee and he goes well um yeah broh I'm like you know that didn't convince me so I'm like so you do God stuff and he's like yes and I'm like oh great I go get it out of me and he's like I don't understand get what and I'm like get it out of me and he's I don't understand what you're trying to tell me I'm like get it out dude I am here to be saved I am here to do what the woman said and he's like what are you talking about and I'm in my mind I'm thinking he's going to like bam you know glory in the name of Jesus you know be healed you Wicked little perv you know that's what I'm thinking he's this is this is what you people do right like deliver me man you know and he seems confused so I'm like all right dude like the woman said that if I want peace I got to go to a Catholic priest and confess my sins so he goes oh you want to go to confession and I'm like I guess so so we go to his little cubicle and he's he's scared that dude pulled his chair like halfway out into the hallway cuz I mean it looked like I was going to pull out a 38 and cap this sucker you know I I didn't look like I belonged on a military installation so I am so ashamed of myself that I can't even look at this dude I start to tell him filthy disgusting foul things that I'm so embarrassed by that I'm I'm staring at the rug At His Feet can't even look at him and then I don't hear anything so at one point I look up and he's like you did what and I'm like oh yeah dude I'm like and then some I mean you know we're just getting started so he's like oh ho wait a minute okay hold on a minute then we got to do this right when's the last time you went to confession and I'm like bro I I have no idea I I don't know he goes was it in in in school and I'm like no I dropped out he's like okay was it um confirmation I'm like I don't know what that is he's like okay you're Catholic right and I'm like oh heck no I had no idea right so he goes yo what he goes you have to be a Catholic to do this and I'm like I don't know that's not what the lady said he's like what lady are you talking about I said bro there's a virgin a Blessed Virgin and he's looking at me like oh my and I'm I'm just like I'm telling you dude I don't know what to make of this either but I need help man and he goes he pulled this on me he goes well I'm aware of the time and I'm like no no no no no no I've been to therapy sessions where they you know they're uncomfortable and they just want to get out of the situation so I'm aware of the time no bro where you got to go it's 6 o00 in the morning so he goes oh I need to go celebrate mass and I'm I'm looking at him and I'm like okay I don't what and he goes I need to go celebrate Mass I'm not Catholic so in my mind I'm thinking he's going to go rejoice and gravity and neutrons and protons we're going to celebrate Mass man you know yeah I don't what I don't know what that is dude so he's like you don't know and I'm like I don't know anything so he goes do you know where the chapel is and I said yeah I saw it he goes okay go over there when I'm done let's meet back here okay and I'm like seriously you you real for real you're going to meet me and he goes yes and I'm like all right so I'm going to go so I start leaving and he goes to me he said this to me remember this is what I look like he goes oh but when you go in um sit in the back [Laughter] okay right so I go over there and I wait for No Traffic cuz this can't be public I open the door the chapel wasn't as big as this it was a little smaller but the same size dimensions so um I come in the door right here where this young man is standing right here that's like the door where I came in right in the Pew right here nobody else in the entire church guess who is in that front Pew five Filipino women buddy you couldn't get me to the back enough fast I I I was right I thought they were going to jump up and be like Wicked evil you know I don't I don't belong in a church so I go to the back and I I'm looking around making sure there's nobody else in this joint I'm like this is insane I cannot even believe I'm in a church and then if you know Filipinos okay it's a very matriarchal C culture the women command the men the men are just passive and they just do whatever the women say you know seriously seriously and wherever there's a group of Filipino women there's always one self-appointed Mother Superior right who tells everybody else what to do you got to do got to do got to do right okay sister you know that's how it works so there they were and sure enough this this lady comes up here fires up two candles and then she goes back and she goes into her purse and she pulls out a necklace a big long necklace right and the other four they follow Mother Superior they pull out their necklaces and all of a sudden I find myself in some like I don't know incantation half tagalag half English and this is what I heard [Laughter] okay like complete gibberish from the leader and then the other four they reciprocated with holy hold sold to the highest bidder you know what is [Music] this what I've never seen this on TV like and then the leader Filipino women man she holds up her necklace turns around to me and she goes young man young man would you like to pray the next decade please next decade I'm like a deer in headlights I'm like I didn't even say anything and so she tried to clarify cuz I don't I don't I'm just staring at her so she goes the second of the second no idea so she turned around like she seemed to be disappointed in me she was like H so then she fired it back up you know they're doing this thing at Mock speed man and I literally am thinking I've walked into like a Wiccan coven here like there's going to be a chicken sacrificed at any second you know this is bizarre so I'm about to bail but then they stop and the priest comes in the same door the dude who was in the office but now he wasn't in a white Navy uniform he had like a weird robe on and he comes in and he's saying good morning to them he's like Morning v and they're like morning fter right and I'm like I wanted to rat them out I wanted to be like oh dude they're witches like they're they're you know like they're bad they're bad you know but I didn't want to disturb whatever he was doing so he starts doing stuff weird stuff like he came over to something like this and the microphone was horrible it was Charlie Brown Church all I heard was the alarm you aing from the holy H you and then it's like oh my I'm like dude I couldn't understand them you're even worse and you're like white I'm like what is this this is bizarre land you are you're all freaks so I'm just like ah dude so then he goes up here again and there was a mic there that worked they got down on their knees for some reason that dude bends over picks up a little white circle about that big and he says this I heard him say this he said take this all of you and eat it this is my body and then he showcased it he was like he held it up like and he just stood there and I'm thinking you a lunatic Jack that is insane that dude just said that that's his body and we got to eat it that's insane so I'm looking at him like what and then you know what happened cuz he just stood there this happened I Heard a Voice I wasn't having a flashback from my LSD days I know what those are like I heard a voice and it wasn't spoken to my ear it was spoken to me I it was like my whole being was an ear and what did the voice say to me worship as he stood there do you know what happened next this is the only way I can describe it an injection of knowledge I knew what that man had in his hands I didn't know theology I would not have known terminology Eucharist Holy Communion Blessed Sacrament no way I would have been clueless about terms but I knew he had God I knew it he put down God he picked up some really sweet medieval looking goblet right I didn't know what it was and he said take this all of you and drink from it this is my blood and he held it up you know what happened the same thing worship I knew in an instant that that was God I don't know how but I knew it was true he put down God said some other stuff and then that dude I'm telling you I've never seen anything like this all my days and I never will that dude came up they met right here they got out they met right here and one by one that dude said to each one of those wom with the little God right that's what I thought I didn't know the technicals and he said the body of Christ and they went like this and he put God on their tongue I saw it with my own eyes I saw it what the voice told me was true that's God he went up got the Chalice came down and he said the blood of Christ and they drank it I saw it do you know what happened insane amount of knowledge came into me out of nowhere in an instant why I've been here many times do you know how many things that I put on my tongue it look exactly like what that dude was putting on their tongue so that I could dance with the Bears and find Everlasting meaning where love never Fades away with Jerry in the woods yeah tons so many times longing for happiness why am I here what's life all about same thing with you know how much liquid I drank Desiring to have happiness you know I I I consumed the communion that the world will offer you in both forms and here it was the last place I ever thought that I would find it in a Catholic Church you kidding me this is the the the unscientific medieval morons who hate women and make rules and tell you what you can and cannot do in your bedroom these people are idiots and then all a sudden the veil was lifted and I understood I wasn't just in a church oh I was in a church for show but I was in God's rehab this was God's Hospital what the world can't do can be done here and then you know what's amazing that dude that dude seemed to still have God there he went up to a gold box with a red candle next to it put God in a gold box and then left and then they stuck around a few minutes and they left and there I was alone with God in a box the Tabernacle of course but I didn't know but I knew he was there I could feel it like it was pulsing I was like I'm out of here I do not belong in here I'm going to die if I stay in here I got in the back pew about 6 ft behind me I backed up hit the wall turned around and there was a curtain with a plaque above it that said confession I didn't hear a voice but boom I knew immediately what it was I didn't understand how it worked but see I'm I'm I'm the kind of guy that goes to the hospital a lot for kidney stones I Get Wicked kidney stones you don't know pain unless you get kidney stones like I do make a grown man on the floor crying like a baby wishing for death right and you have no idea unless you get them you know what I'm talking about insane pain I've busted fractured my skull surfing gigantic waves down and Baja I've spraying this busted this on motorcycles you name it I go to the hospital all the time what happens in the hospital I go behind a curtain and the doctor The Physician saves my life this is what this is this is God's hospital I went to that priest in his little cubicle and I said dude oh my gosh I said bro first I got to be honest with you man I thought you were a total nut when you said that was your body but then then I heard the voice how did you do that like dude you made God how did you do the voice like what's going on this is like amazing and he's like what are you talking about and I'm like you didn't you didn't hear the voice he like no what what voice I said dude it's told me to worship and then all of a sudden I just knew that that was this Jesus that you had right that was Jesus and he's like yes and I'm like I knew it because you took it to the ladies and you said the body of Christ then you said the blood of Christ oh my gosh and I said dude that thing in the back that's like the confession that's like where people get healed right he's like yes and I'm like oh my gosh and I'm like and that gold box God is still over there right in that box and he's like what box I'm like it's gold with a light next to it he goes the Tabernacle I'm like whatever he goes yeah and I'm like oh my gosh dude this is insane bro I'm like am I okay I'm not having a flashback I'm not tripping sign me up dude sign me up and he's like what are you talking about I said I want to become a Catholic like today and you know what he said to me no that was a surprise to me I thought he would do a little Freedom jig like Yay save the soul right check got one he didn't he said whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa what's going on here like and you know I I don't I don't even know you I don't know anything about you we got to we got to talk we got to you know I'm like oh man I'm like come on man just do it man just give it to me just let me let me in and he said no this you got it's going to take like 6 to n months and I'm like 6 to n months dude there's no way I can do that he's like well that's how it works and I'm like there's no shortcuts I mean there's no way around it like he's like no and I'm like Oh my dude are you serious and he's like yeah cuz I grew up in the culture of the instantaneous I don't wait for dinner I put my little thing in a box for like two three minutes and Bam I got dinner I want to talk to a buddy in Japan I punch 11 digits you know Mushy Mushy bro what's up you know I mean it you I don't wait and he said I had to wait and I'm like ah fine when's the thing and he's like every Tuesday like 700 p.m. and I'm like where here and he's like no it's actually at the other church on the other side there was two Catholic chapels so I was like all right dude I I'll do it man all right so I'll be there man so he goes oh hold on I want to give you some stuff go home come back tomorrow but I want to give you something goes over to his wall takes off a crucifix about that big and gives it to me goes over to another wall takes off a a a painting of Jesus gives it to me goes over to another wall and takes off a portrait of his grandpa and gives it to me right yeah some pudgy dude looked like he'd eaten too many cookies with a little weird hat on you know I don't know so I went home with Jesus Jesus and Grandpa went into my mom's house into the room that they had for me and I instinctively threw away everything in the room I had a gigantic Bob Marley poster hanging above the dresser with with him smoking a big old you know joint man it was you know cheat and Chong stuff you know and I ripped it down threw it away went into the floorboards where I threw away all my drug Parilla all my extra screens to get that last hit little roach clips everything I threw away Mrs January February March I threw away all my Grateful Dead stuff everything I chucked it all in five big black Hefty bags and threw it out the front door I didn't even throw it in the trash I threw it out the front door in the lawn I ain't got time to look go hunting down a trash can my mom testifies to everything I'm telling you so I go into the room and he said he would talk to me tomorrow I'm praying the phone doesn't ring one pretty girl I'm I'm a goner so I'm like okay what do I do what do I do what do I do he said tomorrow I got like the whole day ahead of me so I looked at that book and I said I'm going to do what those kids did I pulled out the dresser drawer I hung up the painting of Jesus uh on top Grandpa over here and then the crucifix Grandpa was John Paul to by the way but I didn't know that at the time so and I'm I'm looking at them and I'm like I do this and I'm like okay I got to pray and then it got real super real because I'm about to talk to somebody I can't see it's like rubba duub duub scratch and sniff peekaboo I see you like either I've lost my mind because I'm about to talk to somebody that I can't see and I'm sober as a rock right now how is this even possible so I'm like oh man so I look at the painting of Jesus that I put up and I looked at it and I'm like I think that you're real I think that you really exist I think that you're God and I'm looking at it and he's like this heart on fire with a blessing with eyes that were penetrating and I expected him to be like right and he wasn't he was like this and I lost it I started to cry so bad I was like heaving I I was like gasping for air I was crying so bad and then it turned into tears and out of my eye sockets there was so much fluid coming that I don't know how the body contains that much liquid it was pouring out of my face do you know how long that lasted all day I was on my knees crying all day you know what I call it in the book about my conversion I call it Divine detox all God wanted for me was not some poetic prayer look at how what I've done pretty impressive huh no I was I need you I am so lost and I think you're real and I man it was unbelievable I also call it like the honeymoon with God he ravished my soul poured mad love upon me I got up the sun had gone down the whole day went by I didn't know I was on my knees all day clueless I get up I tuck into the love seat and I want to go to sleep do you know what happened next I hope this never happens to you but maybe you need it to happen maybe your your husband needs it to happen maybe your children need to happen do you know who started to come into the room to manifest himself Satan I didn't buy into that stuff Lucifer the devil police right as an American kid that's phony dude it's just a bunch of people who made that up you know to to to make movies and to scare little kids and get them to dress up like goblins and witches once a year and honey go to the neighbors and get candy you know we we we laugh at the Demonic today we think it's fun we buy demonic movies it's movie night with the family get the twizz and popcorn we let we we think it's funny I did and I wasn't a Satanist man I never went to some pentagram service SL the chicken's throat around you know nah but I used to like with my friends open myself up to things that I didn't believe in but that don't mean it ain't real we would do like Terra cards and and and and what's that thing you move around that's real popular these days Ouija board and stuff right A lot of times it was just me moving it when there was a girl on the side you know like date him it was me doing that junk you know but you know but still I was opening myself up to things that are real but I didn't believe in it that don't mean it ain't real all of a sudden the devil was in my room beginning to manifest itself what do I mean by that physically appear I was so terrified if you've ever had um sleep paralysis that's a terrify in thing if you've had that you know what I mean but I want you to magnify it by a katrillion we're talking about an Angelic being that is so much stronger than you what are you going to do take a take a swing at the Devil good luck made from dust ain't going to do dink to the devil your little arm please I was so terrified that I thought that he had come for me to take me to hell I really did and I deserved it I thought it was all over that I was eternally lost do you know what I did I was so terrified that I had to close my eyes because the form began to be take on a a presence a physical presence that I was so terrified of what I was going to see that I had to close my eyes and I screamed from my soul I cried out I chucked a cry into heaven and I screamed out [Music] Mary because that woman had showed me Jesus Christ do you know what happened next the devil was annihilated I'm talking obliterated completely gone from that room and I Heard a Voice the most pure pristine female voice I've ever heard in my life I would die to hear that voice again the voice wasn't spoken to my ear it was spoken to me and the voice said to me Donnie I'm so happy nobody calls me Donnie but my mom nobody who is this it's not my mom my mom's somewhere in the house oh it's a mom it's one I never knew I knew it was her it was the Blessed Virgin and by telling me Don calling me Donnie she's telling me she's my mom I rested that night safe secure like a child tucked up against his mother's breast so so safe in her arms not even the devil can touch you I woke up the next day I went to that priest completely freaked that dude out out with what I told him that happened the night before and I'm I'm telling him this stuff and he's like okay this is just all too much for me I'm not sure what we're what I can do here and I'm like I know dude I totally get it I understand but I'm just going to go to those classes I'm going to I'm going to do this thing no matter how long it takes I'm in I went the next day you know what I did I cut my hair do you know how hard that was back in those days this got the chicks now now I became a dork it was awesome it was so freeing I was free seriously I got normal human being clothes I started to talk like you know a normal person stop using foul language I got a job wow unbelievable my life so radically changed I was going to church every day for my lunch break food I'll eat later I'm going to see Jesus I wouldn't go to communion because I wasn't Catholic but those Filipino women I became their project they decked me out with the green scapular blue scapular red scapular Brown scapular man you could I was the devotion I was like Mr T I had like 20 pounds of metals around my neck you know like I pity the fool you know I was it was insane I didn't even know what half this stuff was our lady of P Francia Our Lady of anti Polo I what is this stuff you know and before long I was leading that Rosary I was the one you know going through the Mysteries it was I was in love I would go to the church in the morning before work and I would be at the church before the Filipinos that is radical behavior for a white boy cuz I was in love after work I'd go back to church and they would close the church and I would look through the the stained glass windows at the Tabernacle I could see the red light and the the the gold and I would be saying to Jesus I love you I love you so much I'll see you tomorrow I'll see you tomorrow that's what you do when you're in love right you remember when you were a teenager no you hang up no you hang up no you hang up right I couldn't hang up you have changed my life you have unlock you have unveiled for me the meaning of all things I get it now I know why I'm here I know what it's all about and and I'm all yours so every day I'm going to mass and then the leader the Filipino she comes up to me one day and she goes you know you should become a father you should become a priest the young people they need a priest like you and I'm like oh VI thank you but VI there's a lot you don't know about me you know because I didn't tell everybody and and she goes what do you mean and I said well V you see me at Mass but I don't go to communion right and she goes oh yes I was wondering about that I'm like right so here's the thing VI I'm becoming Catholic but I I'm I'm a really bad guy like I did a lot of really really bad stuff I could never become a priest so thank you bye but that's just not possible she goes oh but you're better now I see you you're very prayerful and I go yes night and day V night and day so she goes okay so if you don't become a father I have a beautiful daughter I'm like oh man please you know I've been down that road so I'm like no I'm good so I I just keep praying and then every time I saw the priest say mass or go to the confessional I longed for that I was like man if I could do that that would be amazing to bring people Jesus to absolve them from their sins that would be amazing and then I discerned it ended up contacting a community that promotes Divine Mercy the Marian fathers they let me visit they were reluctant right because I didn't tell them everything they were like tell us about yourself and I'm like well I've lived in Japan you know know little Japanese too you know I didn't tell him it was all bad stuff you know I told him all this stuff my father's a military officer and they're like oh tell me more where'd you go to college I'm like oh I didn't go to college like oh that's okay where' you where was your high school I'm like oh dude um I dropped out and they're like oh uh anything else you want to tell us and I'm like yeah I've been in two rehabs got kicked up the country went to jail um you know and they're like okay well praise God praise God so we we'll give you a call you know I understand so then I visited this community and they were like okay come back and visit you got to take a psychological evaluation and I was like oh that's where that's where it's going to end buddy because they're never going to let me in this thing you know so somehow I passed that thing and they let me in and I had to study for 10 years to be a priest and it was tough it was not easy and now I've been a priest for 20 years and I travel the world speaking right in books and doing all stuff why because I'm better than you no I'm not yeah it's a privilege for me to be able to wear this cassic and this Roman collar and for you to call me father and receive communion for me and I absolve you yeah it's unbelievable but I'm just like you I'm a sinner man I got so many issues still I'm so broken wounded still that that initial thing with God was like a honeymoon but they don't last forever when you you who are married you know that it lasts about 2 weeks if you got money and then gravity kicks in right yeah things ain't as firm as they used to be mhm and what are you going to do you going to leave hope not you got to go to the distance with your spouse in good times and the bad health and sickness money when you ain't got no money the same thing with God as a priest today 20 years I don't wake up every morning and go yay The Bravery yay oh I love it so much no I mean there's days I want to burn that thing you know it it's brutal man it's rough but I strive to do the best that I can I strive to be faithful I have my days that are I I tank and I got to go to confession a lot a lot I haven't crossed the finish line yet so here's the deal I'm going to pray for you guys that's what I do now priest please pray for me too it is so tough to be a priest right now especially like a manly one cuz everybody's like tone it down you're too manly you're toxic I'm just a gener gen xer man I just call it as I see it I know what bathroom to use and I know what gender you are and I'm not dumb you it's like what's wrong with you people seriously our world has gone mad we have lost our minds and and yet it's amazing amazing to me that God to show you how much he loves you madly in love with you he would raise up a bum a pot smoked acid taken womanizer like me to tell you this I'm the worst of the worst but God is never going to leave you he's never going to abandon you and your jacked up marriage and your funky kids he is here for you I don't know what you guys' relationship with Jesus J like maybe you think he is a fairy tale you think this is all a joke and you think that you are a monkey and there's nothing more you're wrong this is real there are consequences there is Heaven and Hell there is right and wrong there is truth and falsehood there is light and darkness guys take this seriously really you only got one shot at it now it's lent go to confession this Lent open up your heart and pour out things maybe you've never said and watch the freedom that comes to you you will walk out of there skipping like a kid cuz you humbled yourself and you acknowledged that you're you're not you don't have it all together the freedom and it's free the best therapy psychology known to man is free you don't have to pay a dime you know you could go every day you would exhaust us priests again you know but you could do it God is so in love with you that it becomes edible consumable love in the Eucharist receive him worthily not in a state of mortal sin go to confession before you receive him like that guys take this seriously the times are crazy they're probably going to get a lot more crazy Now's the Time for you to repent and come to the truth of Jesus Christ he is the only way he is the way the truth and the life this is real guys this is real all right so I'm going to end with this because I know a lot of you are like I'm aware of the time you know father wrap it up you know what I'm saying okay um all right so what we're going to do father's going to come up and say some things but I wanted to preface it by saying that I brought a ton of Books Okay so please get some of these books because I don't want to take them back and don't worry father Callaway ain't making bank off this I don't make a dime off this stuff I'm in a religious community with AOW poverty it all goes to my religious community so my superiors are stoked at the moment right but please get the books tons of books where I'll be signing and and selling them over in the hall and lastly come on pilgrimage with me come on a pilgrimage with me I go to four I need four pilgrimages a year to Poland to Italy to Lords to Mexico every year bring your funky family kicking and screaming right and let's have a good time let's get to know the Lord let's fall back in love with him get that romance going again with Jesus and our lady and the Saints and Catholicism go to confession on these things powerful stuff man and if you want to find out about those I used to take flyers and hand them out I ain't got time for that now because I travel so much you know so just go to the website I hate to do this cuz it sounds like I'm advertising stuff but father callaway.com I hate that I hate that I hate it put it up there or something right I I just I don't want to be like it just seems like a marketing or something I'm turning into the be healed and you know I don't want to do that so father callaway.com so okay come on to pilgrimage with me we have such a good time guys okay so please stand and I'm going to give you a blessing in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen Heavenly Father you're so good you're so real you exist you're alive father pour out your grace and mercies upon everyone here their families every struggle that they're going through relationships and finances and everything just bless them Lord give them hope and peace in these crazy times mother Mary wrap them in your mantle let them know you so that you the best of all mothers can bring them to Jesus the real Jesus the only Jesus and say St Joseph wrap them in your paternal cloak help them in this time as well help them when the family is under attack when everything is under attack to know that they are not monkeys they are children of God Sons and Daughters of the most high and help them St Joseph to fall madly in love like you did with Jesus and Mary the Lord be with you and with your spirit and may almighty God bless you the Father the Son and the Holy spirit amen please be seated father's going to come up let's you for the Don Round of Applause thanks father thank you very much for that inspiring story thank you [Applause] Father I think if father Don's life story is uh made into a movie I think a Filipino should be cast as the priest that's hilarious all right we very happy that you can be here with us um as father Donald said it's important for us to uh receive and to appreciate God's love and forgiveness for us and so here at St irus we do have our Parish Penance service next Wednesday the 13th at 700 p.m. in the church now do check your parish for the uh pen and service there so I hope that you make use of that and then you can also go to confession at your own church or here at a regularly uh scheduled time also uh father Donald as he said will be uh he's setting up now we'll be uh signing books and we have uh folks to help us to do that in an orderly fashion in the hall so please follow the directions of folks uh in the hall when you get there and then finally as I said in the beginning if you would like to contribute uh so that uh we can have more of these events in the future you're more than welcome to do that to give to the Free Will offering as you exit the church now the hall is to my left and uh keep going following the crowd the hall is on the opposite of the parking lot it's the last building there across the parking and if you would like to make use of the restroom it's also on my left here and then another left at the end of the walkway thank you for coming tonight and God bless you good [Applause] [Applause] night for

Channel: St. Irenaeus Catholic Church

Views: 1,510

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Id: LZBcvd7_myU

Length: 96min 26sec (5786 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2024