'Mystery Priest' Hopes Media Hype Won't Obscure Message of God's Love

Catholic News Service ^ | 8/23/13 | Jay Nies

[marshmallow]

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CNS) -- An unlikely chain of events made him not only a national celebrity but a stand-in for every priest who has ever ministered to the faithful in an emergency.

But Father Patrick Dowling -- who was dubbed a "mystery priest" and a "guardian angel" after praying with a woman trapped in a wrecked car in northeastern Missouri -- hopes all the hype surrounding his simple deed won't overshadow the real message.

"God loves us, he is here close to us, and when we're in trouble, he's there," said Father Dowling.

That, he believes, is why God gave him, a priest of the Jefferson City Diocese, a chance Aug. 4 to minister to 19-year-old Katie Lentz while first-responders worked to free her from her mangled car on Highway 19 near Center.

"I try to be a priest, not a hero," he stated. "And I did what a priest does. And every priest that I know, if they would pass by an accident, they would stop and do what I did."

Father Dowling encountered a line of stopped cars and flashing lights while traveling between Sunday Mass assignments.

He asked a local sheriff's deputy for permission to approach the car and pray with its occupant. The deputy at first said no, thinking the sight of a priest would scare Lentz. But after asking her, he told Father Dowling to go ahead.

"The rescue workers are people of faith and prayer," Father Dowling told The Catholic Missourian, the diocesan newspaper. "They were all praying. I have no doubt that the Most High heard their prayers, and I was part of his answer ... but only one part."

The priest approached the young woman, who was looking out from the mangled vehicle that had been struck head-on with such force.........

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks marshmallow.

Father Patrick Dowling -- who was dubbed a "mystery priest" and a "guardian angel" after praying with a woman trapped in a wrecked car in northeastern Missouri -- hopes all the hype surrounding his simple deed won't overshadow the real message.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Of course they will. They work for the other team.

[BlueDragon]

Where are the apologies some Roman Catholic freepers here owe to those whom doubted that there was appearance of an angel in guise of a priest?

Could the insistence that it was "an angel" rather than a man, in which we told we must "believe" have been beyond being merely mistaken, and revealed instead "religious" pride, and prejudice against those not willing to just fall with in their mistaken discernment, that could itself be as sin? It was at least a mistake. We can be forgiven for mistakes. Yet I would like to see some retractions, and apologies where they may be due.

[GOPJ]

Great post - thanks.