Charismatic retreat’s healing service amazed three women

By Peter Finney Jr., Clarion Herald

Three women who participated in a recent Holy Spirit Women’s Retreat in Lafayette sponsored by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of New Orleans (CCRNO) said they felt relieved of physical pain following a healing service conducted by Scripture scholar Dr. Mary Healy.

About 450 women attended the Jan. 26-28 retreat, where they heard from Healy, an associate professor of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit. Healy led the prayer service for healing on Jan. 27.

“I’ve been in the renewal for 40 years, and I have received spiritual healings, but I’ve never gotten one that I’ve actually seen,” said Dianne Kleyle of Covington, who had slipped in the mud outside of her home the Monday before the retreat and suffered two hairline fractures of her right knee, requiring her to wear a knee brace. “When I walked into my house after the retreat, my husband asked me, ‘Where’s your brace?’ and I told him, ‘I don’t need it.’”

Kleyle said her doctor told her to wear a bandage and a brace for three weeks, but she was determined not to miss the retreat.

“I was miserable all weekend,” Kleyle said. “Even before Mary Healy got up to do the healing service, before she said anything, my leg started burning me, like it was on fire. I took off my brace, and it was still burning. I took the bandage off, and Mary said something about healing. I got up and my leg was fine. ‘Doubting Dianne’ had to go outside and walk up and down the steps just to be sure. I’ve gone back to jogging.”

Other healings manifested

Kelly High of Hammond said she suffered a bad break of her left arm as a child, which left a large lump on the bone and resulted in her left arm being five inches shorter than her left.

“I lived with it my whole life, and it didn’t really bother me,” High said. “When I went up for prayer, I felt as if something was tugging on my arm. I also had a bladder infection and felt like something was pressing on my abdomen. When I went to sit back down in my chair, I stretched out my arms, and they were the same length. Well, I jumped up like I was on fire. When I went back to my room, I realized that my bladder infection was gone, too.”

While Annette Thornton of Metairie has not been back to her doctor for a follow-up visit – she plans to do that soon – she said the breast lump she had felt for six months had disappeared.

“Every three months I have been having to go back and have it examined,” Thornton said. “I cannot feel the lump any more. I really believe I experienced a healing.”

CCRNO will host its annual Southern Regional Conference of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal March 16-18 at the Copeland Tower Suites and Conference Center in Metairie. Among the keynote speakers will be Father Mark Goring, Johnnette Benkovic, Bob Canton and Danny Abramowicz.

For more information, contact CCRNO at [email protected] or 828-1368 or go to ccrno.org.