Sometimes it takes a simple and down to earth person to convert the masses. I enjoyed your first post, welcome to the forum. May God bless you and your family. May Gods Will be Done
I am curious, Shane, is this you? http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...-shane-odoherty-fount-499-pounds-1502939.html
The Franciscan Friary in Athlone and the three other churches serving the people give it a grand spiritual atmosphere on the wide river Shannon...
Famous?? No. Marked by a conversion while serving 30 life sentences and 20 years in the English prisons for passionate teenage IRA bombings after Bloody Sunday and found in solitary confinement in Wormwood Scrubs (where I was protesting naked in solitary for 14 months) by Jesus and His servant Padre Pio who brought me back to the Faith, to the sacrament of reconciliation and to an apology to my victims... Always stay close to my favorite Saint Pio, always stay close to Our Lady in all her apparition sites where she appeals to sinners to repent... Always deeply moved by San Sebastian de Garabandal and the merciful call to sinful humanity to repent... Always an admirer of those who have gone before me marked by conversion and holy service, not least among them Joey Lomangino to whom I some years ago wrote and who wrote back promptly with a medal. I used to volunteer in St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin where the then Administrator, Fr John Flaherty, told me that he remembered when not more than a child Joey Lomangino coming to Dublin to The Seamen's Hall to give talks and slides about Our Lady and Garabandal! This man was a far-sighted missionary to remote corners of Christendom when his current detractors haven't evangelized on their own street! In St Paul's Letter to the Romans we read: "Where sin abounds grace abounds much more"! If the almighty Spirit of God can spread the grace of conversion in prisons, can He not likewise spread His grace wherever Our Lady has appeared or has not appeared?? How dumb and blasphemous to imply that the Holy Spirit cannot work here or there when all creation belongs to God who wants only that the sinful turn from their sins... I visit all Marian shrines where good priests offer the sacraments to sinners. Scratch any holy place and sin is evident in due measure, but God can turn all to the good. Meanwhile, I am not fit to detract from such a servant of God that Joey Lomangino truly was. How fortunate were you who had the grace to know someone literally touched by Padre Pio and through him by Jesus wounded... Don't waste your pearls on those who would detract from a man who has run the race and won the crown of final perseverance, which we have yet to achieve. Praise God for all His merciful wonders in our sinful world! Joey say one for ME! See you in Knock, Lourdes, Garabandal, Limpias, Fatima and Medjugorje in September if you're about - I love them all for the graces they grant to those who are open to receive them through sincere priests laboring for the Holy Spirit...
Wow! Sir, you have a tongue of honey when it comes to words!! Welcome to the forum. I am hanging on your every word. I can't wait to hear your conversion story!! The other link didn't work. Try this one: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ma..._redemption_of_shane_paul_odoherty/?page=full
