‘Nothing Is Impossible With God!’

Priest Brings Healing to Oklahoma

By Eileen Dugan
The Sooner Catholic

OKLAHOMA CITY — The phone at Carolyn Ehli’s house has not stopped ringing since Father Ralph DiOrio’s visit to Oklahoma City on Oct. 15. People have been sharing with Ehli, one of the organizers of the Healing Mass, the amazing news of their healings, many verified by  doctors. Ehli said these incredible recoveries are a testament to the mercy and goodness of God. Father DiOrio is not responsible for them, he is only the vessel the Lord uses.

Of all the wonderful events that occurred at Father DiOrio’s healing service, none is more extraordinary than a healing reported by Dylan Bergeron Cox. A high school student, the 17-year-old Cox was healed of five cancerous brain tumors. His mother, Diane Bergeron, said, “The doctors were amazed.”

First diagnosed with brain cancer two years ago, the teen had radiation treatments that seemed to have stopped the cancer. Then, every three months he would have an MRI, just to be sure. They were all clear. Before long, MRIs were scheduled every six months. His last MRI was in March 2006. It was clear, too. Things were looking good.

But somewhere between March and September 2006, the symptoms came back. First burping, then nausea, then a trip to the emergency room, which confirmed that the cancer had returned. Somehow between March and September, five cancerous tumors had grown in his brain.

Dylan and his mom were devastated. But they did not give up. Dylan had several rounds of chemo-therapy, and both attended the Father DiOrio healing service. When they went back for the next doctor’s visit, the tumors were gone.

“His slides came back totally clean, like the tumors had never been there,” his mother said. “The doctors were amazed. ‘Above and beyond expectation,’ they said. But Dylan looks on all of this as a miracle.”

That’s not all that happened.

“Dylan and I are not Catholic, but we were both touched by the service,” Diane Bergeron said. “We didn’t feel any heat like Father DiOrio said we might. What we did feel was a call from the Spirit of God. Had there been an altar call, Dylan would have come forward.

“I felt the same way. When Father DiOrio walked among the crowds carrying the cross [during Benediction], I was crying and crying. We also both went forward with our arms crossed over our chests to receive a blessing at Communion time.

“I feel the need to nurture the seed of faith or belief or call from God that we both received. My sister said that if you receive such a seed, you need to make it grow. I’m now on a journey to find the best way to do that,” she said.

Henry Powers, 73, of Saint Ann’s parish in Elgin, received a healing of a different sort. As Father DiOrio walked among the people in wheelchairs on the floor of the auditorium, Powers, who was sitting in the stands with his wife, suddenly began to cry. One side of his head started getting very warm. Then the warmth started moving downward from his head to his neck, back and legs.

 “I started sweating and was still crying,” Powers said. “Then the heat moved back up, lingering on the top right side of my head where I had had three small strokes.”

When Powers and his wife got up to leave, he said he felt different. “I felt like I could walk. I grabbed my folded-up walker [he put it under his arm] and started walking out of the stadium very fast.

 “This is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me,” he said.

Cindy Moore of Saint Joseph’s Old Cathedral in downtown Oklahoma City said she was also healed at the Mass. At 22, she had been in a motorcycle accident that had shattered her left leg. It grew back shorter than her right one, causing her much pain and the inability to sleep at night.

“When the priest was going around carrying the Host and blessing people, I had a feeling go over me like being washed in a feeling of joy. I was sitting down, and I noticed my knees, which had not been even, were now almost even with one another.

“Father DiOrio started pointing in my direction and saying that a 17-year-old girl’s leg was being healed. He wanted her to come down to the podium. I was sure it wasn’t me. My leg had been healed, but I’m not a teenager, I’m 52,” Moore said.

 Late that night Moore woke up and sat straight up in bed. Something was different. She realized that for the first time in years she had no pain in her hip or knee. Since the Healing Mass, her leg has been pain-free, and she has been able to sleep.

And Moore was also healed of panic attacks. “I haven’t had any anxiety since Father DiOrio’s healing service. It has just been  wonderful. I feel like being nice to people. I feel more content with life,” Moore said.

Cindy Case reported she and her dad both had their hearing restored. Case had a hearing loss in her right ear due to calcification. It was correctable by surgery, which she had chosen not to have. As a result, her hearing had deteriorated during the past year.

After Father DiOrio prayed for a healing of ears, Case was amazed that she could hear out of her right ear. As she came forward at Father DiOrio’s urging, she started to feel heat inside both her ear canals. The next day she contacted her doctor. He confirmed that her hearing was now normal, and there was no more calcification.

Case’s dad, Warren Hengel of Edmond, was also healed. Case had prayed that his hearing would be restored, and it was. He was healed long distance as he was unable to attend the healing service.

But brains, legs, knees and ears were not all that was healed that day. Sister Rosario Martinez, CMST, director of the Archdiocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry, said she was healed of a stigmatism in her eye. “When Father DiOrio was telling people to forgive each other, I started crying,” Sister said. “I felt a healing presence in the tears.”

Before the Healing Mass, Sister had needed glasses to drive. “Now I only use my glasses for reading. I wasn’t expecting a healing. I was praying for others. I was surprised and grateful that a healing would happen to me,” Sister Rosario said.