Longtime readers may remember the posts about Father John Hollowell.
Sean Gallagher from Indianapolis told his story in 2020:
Father John Hollowell cried as he sat in the confessional of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greencastle.
It was the summer of 2018 — a time when the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse surfaced again through government investigations and media reports.
Hollowell cried as he thought of the suffering of abuse victims across several decades.
From these tears came a prayer. Hollowell asked God to let him bear a cross on behalf of the victims of clergy sexual abuse.
About 18 months later, it would seem that prayer was answered. After having several fainting spells and spasms in 2019, Hollowell was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota earlier this month with a brain tumor.
His doctors have given him a promising prognosis. But his treatment will involve brain surgery and the potential for radiation, chemotherapy and therapy to recover from possible effects to his speaking and motor skills.
Looking back on his prayer, Hollowell recalled that it wasn’t just a passing thought.
“It definitely stuck in my mind,” he said. “I remember thinking about it for a while and praying it, making a declaration to the Lord in prayer. I knew when I made the prayer in 2018 that it may very well be answered in a very serious way.”
Soon after learning of his diagnosis, Hollowell went to Twitter to share the news with his more than 20,000 followers, and that he would bear his suffering on behalf of victims of clergy sexual abuse. “I embrace this willingly,” he wrote in a tweet Feb. 13.
You can read more here.
Father Hallowell has made remarkable progress in the years since. He sent out an email this weekend with this update:
I was getting an MRI every 3 months, but my most recent MRI indicated I did not need to come back for another 4 months.
There’s much more of his story to tell, and the video below does an excellent job of it. His is a story more people should know.
Please keep him in your prayers!
