By Rita McInerney

In a huge arena usually filled with the roar of sports fans, 7,500 people came together Sunday afternoon Oct. 26 to pray with and listen to Father Ralph DiOrio, the priest from the diocese of Worcester, Mass., whose healing ministry has touched thousands with spiritual and physical relief.

For several hours, he “touched” the throng of Catholics and Protestants alike, gliding with silent tread around the floor of the Omni arena in Atlanta, up the aisles, his soft but compelling voice echoing all over the large hall.

“I come to you today, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church who loves all of God’s people.” On Calvary’s heights, he continued, there were no Catholics, no Baptists, no fundamentalists, “just God’s children who needed the blood of the living chalice to overflow with the redemptive drops of salvation.”

As he began preaching Sunday afternoon Father DiOrio invited the people to “bring your brokenness, your weakness” to Jesus. He told the crowd that he had set aside some notes he had prepared for the day because he believed God was leading him in a different direction, to plead “why don’t you come back to me” for Him.

He used Scripture, from the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel of St. Matthew, “The bruised reed I will redeem,” to establish the theme of brokenness and healing. He came as an evangelist, he told his attentive audience, with four main ideas:

-- “God loves you.”

-- God loves His Son so much He made Him visible through Mary and on the Cross He is a living chalice of salvation.

-- Come home.

-- The victory of the Resurrection.

He said that although the Lord saw the pain and difficulty in the lives of people at the service and saw the areas of division and weakness in the church, God “has a heart” for His people and His church in Atlanta. At one point, the priest said he had prayed many times as he flew into the airport enroute to other cities in the South that one day he would be invited to conduct a healing service in the archdiocese. And whatever weaknesses and brokenness people brought to the service, he said that “Atlanta is going to be a new Cenacle for the fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit in the United States.”

“I am not a faith healer, this is divine healing because God is the ultimate healing,” he stressed during the long prayer service which extended from 1 to 5 p.m. Emphasizing that God does not cause sickness and disease, Father DiOrio said, “God will nevertheless use your sickness and disease to inculcate a resurrected faith in Jesus.”

“If sickness and disease were from God, let’s close the hospitals, the charities, the soup kitchens,” he said to indicate that, in fact, the church combats all forms of sickness and injustice. “We are fighting all the consequences of the evil one.” Redemptive suffering, by contrast, the acceptance of suffering in the manner of Christ, becomes an instrument to do good and destroy evil, he said.

In one of several direct appeals to a group of about 20 priests of the archdiocese sitting with Archbishop Thomas Donnellan in a front row, Father DiOrio adjured them, “You’ve got power, you’ve been ordained. Don’t apologize.” Then turning to the audience he went on to say that “Roman Catholics are often victims of fear of the hierarchy. Too often we preach chancery and don’t preach Christ. People are hungry for the word of God, every Mass or service should produce signs and wonders.” This brought loud applause from the crowd.

He also asked Catholics and other denominations present to ask forgiveness of one another in an act of peacemaking and healing.

Father DiOrio’s ministry is as much in his preaching as in his other approaches to healing. His preaching slowly and quietly leads his listeners to “encounter” their souls: “If I can touch your soul and give you to Jesus, you’re going to be healed.” With a firm hold on the crucifix in his palm, he used the analogy of peeling away the thin layers of an onion: “I have to peel you gently – with love.” As his preaching continued he appeared to be guiding the people toward healing of painful memories and relationships.

After preaching and encouraging people for more than two hours, with joint prayer, repeated assurances that “God loves you,” and appeals for unity “without prejudice or deceit,” he began to pray for specific types of physical healing. After praying for people with hearing difficulties and deafness, he invited those who had experienced healing to come forward. Among a group of perhaps 30 or more who gathered around his platform, three people – a man and two women – were given a chance to speak and said they wore hearing aids and were now hearing without the use of the aids.

Several times during the prayers for healing of eye and other ailments, Father DiOrio identified specific physical healings that were taking place and sometimes gave a first name, age group or other descriptions to help identify the person being healed. Among those coming forward to acknowledge such healings were a man who said he was suffering from colitis, and a teenage girl with one leg shorter who said she was healed. Over a dozen people with spinal and neck injuries said they were relieved of pain as he prayed. Two women, one a 93-year old on a cane, and another on a walker, let go of their supports and walked and even ran to Father DiOrio at his urging after he prayed for them. The 93-year-old even bent over and touched her toes, to the delight of those in the crowd who could see her restored agility.

The long service drew to a close as the hands of the clock moved to 5 p.m. People were asked to fill out sheets describing their healing so that these healings could be certified and acknowledged. Father DiOrio, the archbishop and other priests were surrounded by a crush of people seeking individual prayers.

Archbishop Donnellan, during a welcoming talk early in the afternoon, said he had been urged to invite Father DiOrio to the diocese in August, 1984, by a couple who had attended his service in Worcester. The archbishop said he had communicated with Father DiOrio’s bishop who assured him of his “sound orthodox background” and then invited him.

“He made clear he would be coming as an evangelizer to open up the people to recognize God’s blessing, to be healed, to come to know the Lord God more dearly, more clearly. His presence the last few days has convinced us we will be open to God’s saving message of love…We give thanks to God for his presence,” he said.

On Monday, the archbishop commented to the Georgia Bulletin that “I was impressed with the display of faith and devotion among the people present. They appeared enthusiastic, and apparently were open to the spiritual message, apart from the healing. Father DiOrio emphasized the worship of God, the avoidance of sin, the suffering of Christ, the need to live according to the Will of God.”

The archbishop went on to say “The cases of a physical healing appeared to be numerous and even those who did not experience such a healing were happy and pleased. I believe Father DiOrio’s visit was an occasion of grace for the Archdiocese.”

The archbishop also said that he would seek responses from priests who came to the healing service and their thoughts about “where we go from here.” What he seeks, the archbishop said, is what the priests think should follow up on this event and whether or not the plans should include another visit by Father DiOrio in the future.

Father Daniel O’Connor, chairman of the archdiocesan Evangelization Committee, told the Georgia Bulletin on Monday morning that the official Omni attendance count for the service was 7,500 people. It was, the pastor of Sacred Heart parish in downtown Atlanta, said, “no doubt the largest Catholic event we’ve ever had in Atlanta and a wonderful prayer service. It was solemn, dignified, with good preaching. And the people were in it.”

He said Father DiOrio himself was “very pleased” with the event. “all of us,” Father O’Connor said, “would have liked to see the Omni filled but the healing will go on” because of the emphasis Father DiOrio placed on healing family vows and marriage and on the need for commitment to Christ by the priests and professional people such as teachers and doctors.

Father O’Connor estimated the percentage of Catholics in the crowd to be about 80 percent.

Father DiOrio made reference to the peace summit called by Pope John Paul II at Assisi, Italy, during the “reconciliation” between Catholics and other denominations. “He did this as an indication for the different churches to work together the need for unity as mentioned in John’s Gospel, ‘That all may be one,’” Father O’Connor said.

Among Catholics at the service, several said that they had never been at a healing service before, but they were touched by the gathering even before it began.

Marilyn Coleman, from Lawrenceville who was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis five years ago, said that although she has a serious illness she looked at others around her, especially the seriously ill children, and felt her own attitude changing. “If I was to leave right now, I would have gotten something out of it,” she said before Father DiOrio entered the Omni, “I’m going to go home and not complain as much.”

Floyd Dean and his daughter, Marjorie, came from the Des Moines, Iowa, area to Atlanta for the healing service because both had experienced physical healing at a service conducted by Father DiOrio in Iowa earlier this year. Mr. Dean said that he was dramatically healed of crippling arthritis in his legs and that his daughter was healed of arthritis in her hands and some of the effects of osteoporosis. They had brought other members of their family with them from Iowa to seek continued healing and enthusiastically described their experience to those around them.

Mary Maldonado had flown in from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday to attend the service, her daughter Sumalem, from Florida, said. Mrs. Maldonado, with a heart condition and ulcers, was hoping to “receive a miracle.” A Gainesville, Fla., mother brought her son, 11, who suffers from “very bad” arthritis. She had taken him to a service of Father DiOrio’s in Massachusetts and said her son’s condition had improved.

On Friday evening a special prayer service for priests and Religious of the archdiocese was held at Holy Spirit Church with over 50 priests and sisters attending. Also invited were ushers who volunteered to assist at the Sunday afternoon prayer service. Many of the volunteers wore large badges identifying them as “catchers.” As the service drew to a close they were kept busy with the numbers of people who were “slain in the spirit” as the priest was surrounded by hundreds of people pleading for his healing touch.

At a press conference Friday morning at the Sacred Heart rectory, Father DiOrio said in response to one question that it was not unusual for a Catholic priest to have a healing ministry. The gifts of healing were never strangers to God’s people and God has reaccented what has always taken place. “He has never left us orphans,” Father DiOrio said.

People’s lives and trust must be fixed on one point, he said, obedience to God’s will. Since “I’m here to fulfill my priesthood, to preach and teach Christ,” then the signs of healing will follow. “I’m not here to usurp the doctors or to cause confusion,” he stressed.

He mentioned an approaching trip to India where he will be preaching in the southern part of the country among Moslems. “I am going to step out in faith, preach Jesus from the Bible, pray for the sick.” Healing will follow, through the teaching of Christ, he said.

(Gretchen Keiser also contributed to this report.)