October 18, Feast
of Saint Luke, 2018
Dear Maria,
It was a joy to speak with
you on the phone a couple of weeks ago! It is a real blessing to know
that you are still such an ardent and active apostle of Our Lady!
Let me introduce myself
again: I am Father John Horgan, a priest of the Archdiocese of Vancouver,
in British Columbia, Canada. I am originally from Cambridge, Massachusetts
(St. John the Evangelist Parish) and heard you speak and give your
slide lecture back in 1970/71 at the Holiday Inn on Mass. Ave. in
Cambridge, near Harvard Square. I was about 12 or 13 years old then
(I will be 60 this December). I was already very sure of my call to
the priesthood, but your talk on the message of Garabandal made a
profound impression on me. I ordered all the books available from
you, and was later a subscriber to Joey’s magazine, and all
the newsletters from the Northwest Garabandal Center. I bought a set
of slides from the New York center and still have them today.
Over the next years, as
a teen-ager, I attended your “St. Michael’s Five Hour
Vigils” as often as they were in my area and my parents could
bring me. They would drop me off at the church and then my Dad, a
police officer in Cambridge, would bring me home when they were completed.
I went on to attend Harvard,
where I majored in Religious Studies. After six more years of study
in Rome, I was ordained to the priesthood by St. John Paul II on May
25, 1986 in St. Peter’s Basilica, the greatest day of my life.
Over the past 32 years,
I have served as a hospital chaplain, parish priest, moral theologian
and seminary professor. I was the vice-postulator for the beatification
of Blessed Marie Deluil-Martiny (1841-1884), the foundress of the
Daughters of the Heart of Jesus, a community of cloistered Sisters
dedicated to Eucharistic adoration and reparation. I also preach devotion
to the Holy Angels.
I continue to read new
books on Garabandal and have seen my faith in the messages confirmed
in many ways over the years. Our Lady’s call to increased devotion
to the Most Holy Eucharist and to prayer and penance for priests have
been central to my priestly life and preaching.
I will always be grateful
for the blessings that Our Lady has brought me through her “catechesis”
at Garabandal. As I reflect on my life, I see now that the words you
spoke during that slide lecture so many years ago were the seeds of
grace for me. Although I have great devotion to the Blessed Mother
under other titles – La Salette, Fatima, and Banneux are among
my favorites – Garabandal’s simple but powerful messages
of conversion and loving trust deeply influence me. I pray for the
Church’s continuing discernment and await her judgement.
Your work has touched hundreds
of thousands and, no doubt, been influential for a number of religious
and priestly vocations. I hope that many have let you know their stories
so that you could have greater happiness and strength. But even if
they have not done so, I wanted to make sure that you have mine.
May Our Lord bless you
and be with you always! And may His Mother, your Mother, guide and
direct your good works and keep you in good health.
You will always be remembered
in my Masses and prayers,
In Corde Jesu,
Father John Horgan
