That Story About the Mystery Priest

You've probably heard the story about the priest who appeared at the scene of a wreck in rural Missouri at a crucial point in the rescue of a young woman trapped in her car, prayed, anointed the young woman, and disappeared. No one knows who he is; he's not known in the area. I generally maintain a sort of agnostic but not skeptical attitude about stories like this; that is, I don't feel obliged to affirm or deny it, while readily admitting that it certainly could be true. My thought about this one had been not much more than "Hmm, interesting, on to the next news item." But I got a slight jolt when I read the last line of this.

10 responses to “That Story About the Mystery Priest”

  1. That last line was pretty cool!

  2. Marianne

    Not the same situation, but this made me think of the movie The Third Miracle. Two short segments about the first miracle here and here.

  3. Haven’t had a chance to watch those yet–tomorrow. I don’t know the movie (or if I did know I’ve forgotten, certainly possible).

  4. Wow. I need to see that movie.

  5. Marianne

    It’s been many years since I’ve seen the whole thing, but I think it gets a bit bogged down in a possible romance between Ed Harris’s priest and the daughter of the woman who was the little girl in that first scene. Anyway, those two scenes may have been the best part of the movie, but not sure.

  6. Marianne – I showed it to my students in that ‘Theology and Film’ class on your suggestion. I liked it, but the kids said it was too liberal. They were offended by its portrayal of the bishop (as not being a saint).

  7. I don’t blame them. What a ridiculous idea.

  8. Guess I better say that’s a joke.

  9. I was putting their objection somewhat jokishly, but that literally was their objection – that the movie was anti-Catholic because of the scene with the Bp in the sauna.

  10. If he isn’t doing anything besides bathing in the sauna, it’s pro-Catholic.-)

Leave a reply to Mac Cancel reply