Went out for dinner with some friends last evening and was told the story of how (we’ll call him Brian) who was an Anglican priest, fell and hurt his head. He was seriously disabled, with inability to do his job, lack of balance, inability to read, amnesia and various other symptoms. His young wife had reconciled herself to the fact that she would probably have to look after the man for the rest of her life. She was going out to work while all he could do was sit in a chair and gaze at the television. (I know many women would say that describes their husband without a brain injury…)
Anyway, at the time of the accident Brian was in the process of leaving the Anglican Church to become a Catholic. He and his wife made it to the Mass where they were to be received into the Church. His wife prepared the priest and others with the fact that Brian would have to be assisted up to the altar, might fall over at any time, may not be capable of making the responses etc. etc.
He was received into the Church, received his first Holy Communion, and was from that moment perfectly restored to health.
Praise God. Here’s another: I know a deacon whose father was a Baptist of the anti-Catholic variety. The man was diagnosed with terminal cancer with about three months left. He allowed his son the deacon to talk with him about Catholicism. He was converted, whereupon his cancer went into full remission, which lasted a whole year, allowing him to evangelise the entire family. Then it returned and he was taken home immediately. Your Anglican priest was healed for a reason, a mission.
So that’s all right then.
Wow…. awesome 🙂 I love the way God works sometimes….
That’s very interesting. Obviously many people have a hard time accepting stories like these, but they give me a warm and fuzzy feeling none the less.
You never hear of anything comparable from the other Christian denominations. Big surprise!Or not.
The power of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Precious Lord and Savior.Prayers for this man and his wife in their new lives in Christ.
Met a man and his family on the flight home from the Anglican Use Conference…he was a non-denom guy, but he talked with great reverence for Catholics, and especially the Pope (“He’s the only guy in Christendom calling us all to do the right thing!”).He told me that he had been diagnosed with leukemia about 5 or 10 years prior, and was in the hospital for a long period of time, and that a Catholic priest had come to sit in his hospital room, every day, never bothering him, just praying. He was very moved by it, and told me “That’s why I like you Catholics.” I told him he should come visit us more often, then!
I forgot to mention that he credits his full recovery to the priest’s prayers…
Met a man and his family on the flight home from the Anglican Use Conference…he was a non-denom guy, but he talked with great reverence for Catholics, and especially the Pope (“He’s the only guy in Christendom calling us all to do the right thing!”).He told me that he had been diagnosed with leukemia about 5 or 10 years prior, and was in the hospital for a long period of time, and that a Catholic priest had come to sit in his hospital room, every day, never bothering him, just praying. He was very moved by it, and told me “That’s why I like you Catholics.” I told him he should come visit us more often, then!
God is awesome, as Mother Angelica used to say!How wonderful to find your blog for the first time, Father. I saw you on EWTN years ago, and praise God that you were ordained a priest!
Why should you not use the man’s name, if this is true??? This kind of anonymous miracle story, twice removed from the first-hand source is what makes the do-it-yourself churches such a laughing stock: “Well, my cousin’s best friend’s nephew’s neighbor’s doctor’s tennis partner was healed of colon cancer by Pastor Billy Bob! It’s a miracle! Praise God! And Praise Pastor Billy Bob!” It’s usually the Catholic way to show_proof_for these sorts of things. For instance, when a newspaper recently reported on a miracle healing claimed to have been performed through the intercession of a local saint, it listed the first and last name of the person claiming to have been healed, as well as interviewing the man’s doctor, who expressed support for the view that the healing was unprecedented and accomplished without the use of human methods. Please, that’s the Catholic way. We are not in the business of promoting phony miracles, so we have nothing to hide. Give us all the facts, not rumors.
Wow! Our God is an awesome God. http://www.rob22.comwww.mfclub.wordpress.comwww.focusedintent.blogspot.com
Catholicism is such a fabulous gift to us. The break-off Christian sects do not realize what they are missing. We have Jesus in the Tabernacle, the Sacraments, strong rituals, and unchanging tradition. I am so blessed to be a Catholic.
Praise be to God!!!!Um… I’m curious, where is Mr. Hastings? His absence and silence is strange, given this is the sort of thing he is always asking about. Or did Father L finally ban him?Jeffery: Some people prefer the privacy of not having their names posted all over the internet, even if it is about a good thing. (Wait… is this Hastings under a new name?)
I find it hard to believe that there’s any legitimate reason for declining to submit this case to public scrutiny. Giving proof for a miraculous healing can only advance the cause of God and His Church. Hiding one’s identity is understandably seen as suspicious.
The only reason I didn’t post his name is because I didn’t have the chance to ask him if I could.
Well, that’s fine. I don’t want to crucify you but to have a discussion. Your story will encourage believers, I suppose, but to non-believers it makes us look as shady as the make-believe churches on TV with their myriad unsubstantiated and/or disproven miracle-healings. Major claims require indisputable proof, or we appear as untrustworthy as a Benny Hinn, and as naively credulous as his unthinking myrmidons. If there’s proof, in the form of full names, hometowns, medical affidavits, we should trumpet it from the rooftops. If there is no proof, we should be more discrete.
“Major claims require indisputable proof, or we appear as untrustworthy as a Benny Hinn, and as naively credulous as his unthinking myrmidons.”Jeffrey, as odd as this may sound to you, not everyone is obsessed with “how we appear.” As for “Major claims require proof,” well, required by whom? By you? Actually, I know of several healings, not all of Catholics, but all of which I know to be absolutely valid. Look into the very powerful intercession of Padre (St.) Pio. A great many “certified” [nobody issues certificates of these things] miracles–not all by or for Catholics, but all involved Padre Pio. Not to mention Lourdes–or Blessed Br. Andre in Canada. Too many to count.You seem to demand that everyone contact the media, line up doctors, schedule investigations–I don’t know–whatever. Don’t you know that if you don’t believe, nothing will convince you? If you do believe, you need no such “proof.” Many, probably most, of those who receive such blessings are just ordinary folk. They don’t mind telling you their story. But to submit themselves to what you call “scrutiny” is another matter. I don’t blame them. Neither would I want to be subjected to the treatment we both know they would receive. And there’s no way I would tell you the name of the deacon in my comment–or any others.
Captain Hastings here,Its nice to be missed, praisedivinemercy. My brother, a good Catholic, has been visiting me. Here’s another miracle – I agree with estiel. When Jesus healed, he sometimes told the person to show themselves to the priests, other times he didn’t.The Catholic group, Cor et Lumen Christi got so fed up with you Catholics doubting the miracles at their meetings, they decided to put them on YouTube. If they can’t convince Catholics, what chance have they of convincing the secular world?Yes, it is right to gather medical evidence, testimonies and independent verification. Proper healing ministries do that. Incidentally, I know of a Catholic man who was healed at a Benny Hinn crusade who is now a full time Catholic evangelist supported by his bishop, who has healed many people, so be careful of dismissing Mr Hinn.I know several people, including Catholics, who have been raised from the dead, healed of AIDS and given new hearts, but all the doctors will say is they are no longer sick – or dead! Docs are terrified of being sued for wrong diagnosis. They won’t use the word miracle.I believe Dwight’s story. I might suggest this man was healed because he gave his heart to Jesus; that can happen in a church occupied by Catholics, Anglicans, Evangelicals and even Benny HinnJames
Well, we should be “obsessed with how we appear”. We are representatives of the Catholic Faith, and by extension, of Jesus Himself. Or perhaps you’ve forgotten the duties we took on by our Confirmation? Unbelievers judge our Faith and our God by our behavior. It’s our duty to be the most upstanding, trustworthy and transparent representatives we can be. And we don’t do that by imitating the charlatans on TBN with a bunch of unsubstantiated miracle tales. You seem to misunderstand me- of course I believe in miracles. And the Catholic Church has done an excellent job of providing proof of the miracles that have occured under its auspices. And I want that to continue. Skeptics have a perfect right to ask for proof of miracles and a perfect right to mock the people who refuse to provide it.
I can tell you right now that no one has ever been healed at a Benny Hinn rally. No, one doesn’t have to be a Catholic to experience a miracle healing, but there is no way that God would validate the ministry and authority of heretics by performing a miracle through their hands. You should know that. And Benny Hinn is a heresiarch, not to mention a false prophet and a well-known charlatan whose claims of miracles healings have been publically disproven on national television. If Jesus approves of his authority and teachings, not to mention the Anglicans, evangelicals, etc., then what reason is there for anyone to be a Catholic?Itis ludicrous to suggest that the medical profession is so corrupt that they are suppressing medical records of miraculous healings. Even if they are unwilling to call it a miracle (I’m not looking for theological judgement from them anyway) their records are enough to prove that a person had AIDS on a certain date and then didn’t have AIDS at a later date; or that a person was declared dead on this date and then was alive and well at a later date. That is called proof and it’s not that difficult to obtain. I’m sure you know that in order for someone to be declared a saint in the Catholic Church, they have to have 2 proven miracles attributed to them. And there has never been any problem, even from the first days of Lourdes, in obtaining such proof from doctors. Those times when Jesus told a healed person to keep it a secret were only because the time for Him to reveal Himself to the world had not yet come. That situation is no longer operative today. We should be proclaiming all true miracles from the rooftops, along with the proof to back them up. And what possible proof could a youtube video provide? Did someone regrow an amputated limb? Or was it your garden variety tent revival trick of a person in a wheelchair rising up and taking a few steps? I’m not familiar with the group you mentioned, but from a glance at their website, I’m not comforted. Especially by their “testimonies” which only identified the people healed by a first name and a city. Also, as charismatic Catholics, they seem to identify with two rather contradictory strains of Christianity. After all, I thought I was “born again”at baptism. They seem to hold to an evangelical definition of the term. I thought I received the “baptism of the holy spirit” at my Confirmation. Again, they seem to regard the pentecostal definition as normative for a Catholic. I’m sure the list goes on.
topfieldJeffrey,You write: “I can tell you right now that no one has ever been healed at a Benny Hinn rally.”Such a statement is outside your knowledge. Have you attended EVERY Benny Hinn rally? Have you checked out EVERY claim of healing?My Catholic friend and his wife were healed of severe depression at his rally in Birmingham, England. Were you there? Do you know them? I know them and they are good, loyal Catholics, who pray the rosary daily, go to Mass daily and home educate their five children. The husband does nothing in his Catholic ministry without consulting his bishop for approval. He is about to run a healing/evangelical series of talks to Catholics and sent his literature and tapes to his bishop for approval as well as a nihil obstat and imprimatur, before he begins.2.You write: “If Jesus approves of his (Benny Hinn’s) authority and teachings, not to mention the Anglicans, evangelicals, etc., then what reason is there for anyone to be a Catholic?”Read Luke: 7:9 where Jesus says of the pagan, Roman centurion: “I telly you, I have not found such great faith, even in Israel.”Remember, Israel, the religious leaders of the time, were the keepers of the keys, yet Jesus says a pagan, Roman centurian had greater faith than them!3.I did not claim the medical profession is corrupt and suppressing medical records. They simply don’t use the word miracle, unless they are Christian doctors. When David Harp from Flame Ministries International in Perth, Australia was healed of full blown AIDS (and homosexuality), his doctor did not deny David had had the disease; he simply stated David no longer had it or HIV in his blood. Unofficially, he told David is was ‘miraculous’ but officially the doc refused to use that word.4. You write: “Those times when Jesus told a healed person to keep it a secret were only because the time for Him to reveal Himself to the world had not yet come.”Not true. Jesus’ healings were very public, eg raising of Lazarus or feeding the 5,000. But he didn’t tell Lazarus to go show himself to the priests or the 5,000to take their full baskets to the priests. However, you can be certain word got back to them about what Jesus was doing. He sometimes told people to keep their healing quiet to avoid crowds chasing him like some sort of good luck charm. Other times, people simply went back to their daily lives and witnessed of their healing to their family and neighbours.You might be suspicious of or simply not like Catholic charismatics or their style of worship. But they have the backing of the popes, bishops etc. Just because some Catholic charismatics have gone strange, doesn’t mean they all are. Just because some Catholic priests are convicted of being paedophiles, it doesn’t mean all Catholic priests are paedophiles. James
I_can_make that statement about Benny Hinn. It is an undeniable fact that there has_never_been a proven miracle healing through the hands of Benny Hinn, not to mention any of the other Pentecostal gurus. Never. In fact, there have been multiple exposes of Hinn’s purported “healings” in which his miracle working claims were exposed as psychosomatic and/or totally false. Here are some good video links: http://www.bible.ca/tongues-benny-hinn-ministries-fake-fraud-miracles-healing-prayer.htm#hinnYou're obviously unfamiliar with how faith healers work- the hypnosis, the emotionally and mentally manipulative music and preaching, breaking down the consciousness through hypnotic repetition and physical exhaustion, etc. until people believe whatever you want them to believe, even that they are healed. And if you don’t get healed, why it’s your own fault, since you didn’t have enougfh faith.Even if God granted miracle working power to heretics, why would he choose a noted financial scammer and false prophet as well? Your citation of the centurion’s story to justify your belief that God grants heretics miracle working powers is stunningly tenuous and bizarre. It’s obvious that you’ve been influenced by Pentecostal Scripture-twisting, which is really all their “theology” amounts to. As Catholics, we believe that God created ONE church- holy, Roman and Apostolic- to teach, interpret, shepherd, to dispense the Sacraments, and be the vehicle for our salvation. He left us apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers so that we would “…be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men…” (Eph 4:14) There is one Gospel, and the Holy Spirit protects that Gospel in its purity and ensures that God’s Church will not err in matters of doctrine. Self-appointed gurus like Benny Hinn preach a different gospel that is not of God. Why would God build up these men and their movements to the detriment of His own Church? It’s ridiculous and illogical for a Catholic to hearken after these phonies. Your friend is serving two contrary masters if He works for the Church and promotes Benny Hinn.I searched the website of that Harp fellow and couldn’t find anything about his AIDS. Does his testimony include doctors’ records and testimony? The whole point of dragging in Jesus was to show that there was no question about the authenticity of His miracles. They were performed in full view of the public and were demonstrably miraculous! He cured lepers, paralytics, withered hands, walked on water, and raised the dead! Compare that to the televangelist’s hokey “miracles”- making hysterical people fall down when they push them on the head, “healing” back pain and headaches which are unprovable and which would have healed on its own eventually anyway. People in wheelchairs getting up and taking a few steps (Big deal- my grandmother can walk, but she uses a wheelchair all the time because she’s old and her legs are relativly weak). As for the super-duper cures they claim, isn’t it funny how they are either 1. invisible- e.g. you can’t tell by looking whether the magic man has cured the patient’s cancer or not. Why don’t they ever make someone grow back an amputated limb? Since they never provide any proof, there’s no way of knowing. 2. take place behind closed doors or in some remote area. It’s amazing how the level of miracle increases the further away the magic man is from TV cameras and nosy reporters. I can’t recall how many people the Pentecostal gurus claim to have raised from the dead in the Third World, yet they can’t do it back here in the states where we have real doctors, coroners and bothersome bureaucrats who take an interest in these things. Oftentimes, the healers can’t even help themselves. How many magic men died at an early age of normal human illnesses? 3. anonymous- whether he’s just a guy on the TV screen (and the fakirs have been known to use ringers) or someone known only as “Matt from California”, the miraculously healed are usually anonymous faces on a website or on TV. On the rare occasions when the faithful submit themselves to medical and media scrutiny, it invariably turns out badly for the guru, because his healings are always fake. One of the videos I linked to above show an old woman who believed she was healed of cancer by Hinn and confidently allowed the TV crew to follow her case. The cancer killed her a few months later.No, I don’t support the “Catholic charismatics”. I like their fervor and their piety and evangelism, but their distinctives originated in Pentecostalism- a weird Protestant/New Age hybrid religion- and that’s still where they take their lead from. The internal contradictions of the Catholic charismatic movement cannot be ignored. And just because_some_Popes and_some_bishops have said some friendly things about it, doesn’t mean it’s ok. After all, just because Pope John Paul II set up pagan idols on the altar in Assisi and prayed with heathens doesn’t mean it’s right.
Jeffrey, I am DEEPLY offened at your words about Catholic Charasmatics. We abide TOTALLY by the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yes, we raise our hands. Yes, we sing a lot. Yes, we praise God-the Holy Trinity-the Almighty Father, Jesus the Son and Saviour of the world, the Holy Spirit.Yes, we pray in tongues.Yes, we pray over people.Yes, we evangelise.We also are extremely reverant to Mass and the Holy Eucharist.We pray the Rosary.We kneel to recieve Jesus in Holy Communion.We welcome EVERY ONE with open arms. Despite who you are when you walk through those doors, you will be treated with the love of Christ shown to us. People will talk to you and reach out a helping hand to you. We will love you, not judge you because of the things you have done in your past. Something I had a hard time recieving in some of the other Catholic Churches I attended.Our priests will always make time in a very welcome way to hear a person’s confession…and we have rejoiced many times at people who have come back home after many years.We are totally open to whatever the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives. And our openess and surrender to Him allows Him to work miracles in our lives. We don’t have a bunch of people running around claiming a cure…and we don’t have a lot of people (as a matter of fact I, who have been part of the Charasmatic Renewal Movement for almost 20 years have never heard one)going around demanding miracles or claims of them when they are false. I have known of quite a number of miracles to occur. Most miracles are purely spiritual—the most important kind.But I do know of minor physical miracles that have occurred. My dad had suffered for a number of years with a psiatic nerve problem, and muscle/nerve problems in his upper right arm. He attended a Charasmatic Conference in New Orleans, LA in 1988. He was healed. He hasn’t had the problem since…and he’d been suffering for years…spending a month at a time laid out on the floor of our living room.Whether you believe he was healed or not, he was. If only in the fact that the problem hasn’t occurred again. But his arm was healed that night…after months of pain where he could not lift his right arm without much pain.You have no rightous reason for claiming that we are anything other than totally Catholic. We invoke the Power of the Holy Spirit…just like the Apostles of the early Church did.We are only baptized once…confirmed once. What you are referring to as another supposed baptism is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit Seminars. What that is, is commonly known among us Charasmatics is this:When we are Baptised we recieve the Holy Spirit. It lies dormant for many of us Catholics because we just don’t think about it or use it in an active way. The baptism in the Holy Spirit that the Charasmatic Catholics participate in is just a seminar where we learn more about the Holy Spirit, and the Power of the Holy Spirit. And then it is just a major prayer service calling on the Holy Spirit to come alive in us again. To not lie dormant. To fill us in all ways, and to use us…to change us from the inside out. To renew us. We don’t claim that it is a Sacrament. Nor do we claim it replaces the Sacrament of Baptism. It is a wonderful awakening of the Holy Spirit in our lives. A renewal. And we living close to the Holy Spirit is pentacostal. It is what we as Catholics are supposed to do. So many Catholics forget about what happened on Pentacost Saturday…when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and Blessed Mother, and other disciples. They prayed. The Holy Spirit…the same Holy Spirit that is alive and well in our Catholic Charasmatic Renewal today…came down and they recieved power to do God’s work in the world. “You will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses to the ends of all the earth.”We are just praising God, and asking Him to use us the way He used those in the early days of the Church.So I respectfully say that you do not know what you are talking about when you talk negatively about the Catholic Charasmatic Movement.God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Holy Spirit began this movement and is still in control of it. It is a beautiful, wonderful expression of His love for us and to us. And we are healed in our hearts (and bodies on occasion). And we are called to surrender, and given the grace to surrender to all that He has called us to do and be.
Jeffrey, I am DEEPLY offened at your words about Catholic Charasmatics. We abide TOTALLY by the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yes, we raise our hands. Yes, we sing a lot. Yes, we praise God-the Holy Trinity-the Almighty Father, Jesus the Son and Saviour of the world, the Holy Spirit.Yes, we pray in tongues.Yes, we pray over people.Yes, we evangelise.We also are extremely reverant to Mass and the Holy Eucharist.We pray the Rosary.We kneel to recieve Jesus in Holy Communion.We welcome EVERY ONE with open arms. Despite who you are when you walk through those doors, you will be treated with the love of Christ shown to us. People will talk to you and reach out a helping hand to you. We will love you, not judge you because of the things you have done in your past. Something I had a hard time recieving in some of the other Catholic Churches I attended.Our priests will always make time in a very welcome way to hear a person’s confession…and we have rejoiced many times at people who have come back home after many years.We are totally open to whatever the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives. And our openess and surrender to Him allows Him to work miracles in our lives. We don’t have a bunch of people running around claiming a cure…and we don’t have a lot of people (as a matter of fact I, who have been part of the Charasmatic Renewal Movement for almost 20 years have never heard one)going around demanding miracles or claims of them when they are false. I have known of quite a number of miracles to occur. Most miracles are purely spiritual—the most important kind.But I do know of minor physical miracles that have occurred. My dad had suffered for a number of years with a psiatic nerve problem, and muscle/nerve problems in his upper right arm. He attended a Charasmatic Conference in New Orleans, LA in 1988. He was healed. He hasn’t had the problem since…and he’d been suffering for years…spending a month at a time laid out on the floor of our living room.Whether you believe he was healed or not, he was. If only in the fact that the problem hasn’t occurred again. But his arm was healed that night…after months of pain where he could not lift his right arm without much pain.You have no rightous reason for claiming that we are anything other than totally Catholic. We invoke the Power of the Holy Spirit…just like the Apostles of the early Church did.We are only baptized once…confirmed once. What you are referring to as another supposed baptism is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit Seminars. What that is, is commonly known among us Charasmatics is this:When we are Baptised we recieve the Holy Spirit. It lies dormant for many of us Catholics because we just don’t think about it or use it in an active way. The baptism in the Holy Spirit that the Charasmatic Catholics participate in is just a seminar where we learn more about the Holy Spirit, and the Power of the Holy Spirit. And then it is just a major prayer service calling on the Holy Spirit to come alive in us again. To not lie dormant. To fill us in all ways, and to use us…to change us from the inside out. To renew us. We don’t claim that it is a Sacrament. Nor do we claim it replaces the Sacrament of Baptism. It is a wonderful awakening of the Holy Spirit in our lives. A renewal. And we living close to the Holy Spirit is pentacostal. It is what we as Catholics are supposed to do. So many Catholics forget about what happened on Pentacost Saturday…when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and Blessed Mother, and other disciples. They prayed. The Holy Spirit…the same Holy Spirit that is alive and well in our Catholic Charasmatic Renewal today…came down and they recieved power to do God’s work in the world. “You will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses to the ends of all the earth.”We are just praising God, and asking Him to use us the way He used those in the early days of the Church.So I respectfully say that you do not know what you are talking about when you talk negatively about the Catholic Charasmatic Movement.God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Holy Spirit began this movement and is still in control of it. It is a beautiful, wonderful expression of His love for us and to us. And we are healed in our hearts (and bodies on occasion). And we are called to surrender, and given the grace to surrender to all that He has called us to do and be.
I’m sorry you’re offended, but it’s the charismatic movement that needs to take a good hard look at itself. Why do we even have a separate “movement” within the Catholic Church? Shouldn’t we all just be plain generic Catholics striving to be the best Catholics we can be? Why do we have a church within a church that styles itself with the spiritually arrogant name of “Renewal”, that has its own priests, its own churches, and its own theological vocabulary, practices and rituals that originated with non-Catholic sects and differs from that of standard Catholicism? The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a mirror image of Pentecostalism; how many other instances can you name where God manifested His will to heretics first rather than to His own Church? No one has a problem with you singing a lot or being fervent in our Faith. The problem is how you set yourself apart from the universal Church as some sort of ultra elite Catholics, and how the distinctives of your movement are theologically suspect and of non-Catholic origin. Speaking in tongues? Slaying in the Spirit? Baptism of the Holy Spirit? Miracle healing events using the language and style of Protestant faith healers? I think your defense is a bit disingenuous. Catholics didn’t do those things or believe in those things before 1967 at Duquesne. Did we Catholics have it wrong for all those centuries until the Pentecostals showed us the way? And how does one become a “charismatic”? Through various special mind-altering rituals_in addition_to the Sacraments and the Mass and the Church, that were unknown throughout our history until they were adopted from Pentecostalism. I was “baptized in the Holy Spirit” at Confirmation. I don’t need to go to some seminar where I’ll be emotionally manipulated until I have an “experience”. I don’t need to “speak in tongues” to communicate with God or prove my salvation. Speaking in tongues was a demonstrably miraculous event that occurred in the early Church and on certain rare occasions after that. It certainly isn’t the gobbledygook heard today in Pentecostal and charismatic churches. I’ll stick with the Faith of my Fathers, thank you very much, and by that I mean the Catholic Church.