A Priest, a Doctor — and the Centurion
February 7, 2017
THE REV. Anthony Cekada, of St. Gertrude the Great Roman Catholic Church in Ohio, recently received ten months of treatment for bladder cancer under the supervision of an accomplished oncologist.
At the end of this period of surgery and chemotherapy, both of which were apparently successful, the priest thanked the doctor. He then returned the favor and gave the doctor, who had described himself as “spiritual but not religious,” a theological diagnosis.
In a sermon called “Faith, Feelng, Authority, Healing,” Fr. Cekada recounts their interesting conversation.
— Comments —
Mrs. Willodson writes:
It has taken me a couple of days to finally write you this email regarding Fr. Cekada’s sermon but I hope I am not too late to comment.
First of all, I would like to express my happiness for Fr. Cekada’s health. My family has been including him in our night-time prayers and we are very grateful that he is seemingly cancer-free. However, I am very concerned with his analogy in the sermon you posted:
“But, Doctor, I came to you, and followed your advice for one reason: you are a medical doctor who speaks with authority because of generations of science behind what you say.”
As Catholics, we know and believe that the authority of the Church is ordained by God. But, where does the authority of the medical establishment come from? “Generations of science.”
I caution all Catholics to be wary of the medical establishment and its “generations of science”. Yes, Father has been “cured” for now but who said he wouldn’t have been cured by carrot juice (actually I would recommend the Bugwig diet and still would as a preventative measure) or enzymes or, simply, prayer? These methods don’t have any “scientific” data supporting them probably because they are not profitable to the people who are funding the research. You know how easy (and cheap) it is to make quark or kombucha at home? No pharmaceutical companies needed: just Mom.
Furthermore, “generations of science” propagate vaccines for Rubella and Chicken pox in aborted human fetal cells – what other “cures” are supported by aborted human fetuses? Chemo? Is a couple of extra years in this fallen world really worth a murdered baby?
On a side note, my family and I participated in an anti-abortion rally in front of Planned Parenthood today. All Catholics need to remember that the medical establishment makes abortion possible – it is illegal for a woman to perform an abortion on herself, she needs a doctor to do it for her. Thanks to the “authority” that people like Father Cekada give to the medical establishment, we, here in Minnesota, pray and do penance for over 10,000 murdered pre-born children a year.
Also, the “authority” of the medical establishment insists that a child born before 20 weeks cannot survive and multiple times have been witnessed by their mothers to be struggling to breath as they lay on the counter left to die. This is why I have my babies at home. And if I perceive that I have cancer I will attempt to cure it at home too. And so should everyone else. Refuse the service of doctors until the medical establishment stays true to the original Hippocratic oath and honors human beings as creatures made in the image and likeness of God consisting of both body and soul, all human beings not just the ones the government decides have “personhood”.
The authority of the Church cannot be compared to the “authority” of the medical establishment, it is a false analogy. An analogy that has major consequences, consequences that are inflicted upon the most innocent and vulnerable of us all.
Thank you and I hope you and your family are well.
Laura writes:
Thank you very much.
The authority of the Church is infallible while the medical establishment — an amorphous entity — is not. There are a lot of problems with mainstream medicine — some of them very grave moral issues, as you point out — but I don’t write it off to the extent that you do.