Village of Bonita resident, Ed Sullivan, especially enjoys Masses at St. Timothy’s Roman Catholic Community offered by retired priest, Father Peter Mitchell. Sullivan was brought up in Catholic schools all his life and attended Villanova University, where, in addition to his major, he took classes which explained in detail the intricacies of the religion at the same level priests studied their theology.
“I find Father Pete’s sermons very meaningful and inspiring,” Sullivan said. “He keeps them short and to the point, and he doesn’t ramble. But one Sunday, he brought a painting of the Blessed Virgin and Child with him, and placed it on the altar. When I asked him about it, he told a fascinating story of how he came to acquire it.”
In the early 1970s, Father Pete heard about peasant children in Yugoslavia who claimed to have visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary on a regular basis. He wondered if the story was true — so in 1981, he crossed snowy mountains on his first of what would be three journeys to Medjugorje. “I have to say I felt disillusioned,” Father Pete recalled. “I don’t really know what I expected to find — but this was a small remote town with a tiny church. All we saw were peasants without teeth, and people crawling up a hill in devotion on their hands and knees. I didn’t expect anything mystical to happen, and in fact my trip was uneventful. I was disappointed.”
Most Catholics are familiar with Medjugorje, which literally means “place between two mountains.” It is located in what is today the Herzegovina region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the border with Croatia. It has become one of the most popular Catholic pilgrimage sites in Europe — after the shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes in France, and the shrine to The Virgin of Fatima in Portugal. Six local children at the Medjugorje site, reported seeing and hearing apparitions of the Virgin Mary, repeatedly at regular intervals, which continues until today.
The events at Medjugore were at first dismissed by successive bishops from the nearby Yugoslav city of Mostar as being groundless. However, based on strong public sentiment, the Holy See directed the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, which is a consortium of bishops, theologians and other experts, to investigate the reported phenomenon further. The inquiry took place under the leadership of Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope’s former Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome. The outcome was that the Church was never able to confirm a supernatural nature or source of the apparitions. Yet the children claim the visitations continued, and Catholic devotees continue to visit.
Father Pete never intended to return to Medjugorje, but when a group of devout Clearwater friends kept hounding him to travel with them, he asked God for a sign — Â a rose — to indicate whether he should go. He found it amazing when shortly thereafter a Deacon’s child mysteriously brought “a rose for Father Pete.” On his second pilgrimage in 1983, Father Pete found crowds at Medjugorje, and a huge white concrete cross on the hill.
He encountered one of the visionaries — a young woman, 25-years-old, who came out to talk to thousands of pilgrims. The pilgrims were asked to pray quietly while the visionaries delivered their messages. The message Father Pete recalls was about encouraging people to pray, because of the darkness in the world. “God has many faces, drawing out of love many people to him, and that is the key.”
“While the visionary was talking,” Father Pete related, “one pilgrim looked to be caught up in ecstasy (by the look on her face), and was instantly cured of her severe lupus disease. Her healing was confirmed by physicians. But another young boy there, who was very hyperactive, was not cured. It has always been a mystery to me,” he continued, “why some people seem to be healed by prayer and faith, and others are not. I just don’t know the answer to that question. I’ve led some healing Masses myself, and some people have reported improvement in their health, and others did not.”
“But ‘miraculous’ cures do happen,” Father Pete said, “not only to Catholics — they happen to people of other faiths as well.” A cardiologist friend told Father Pete about a patient with a severely enlarged heart (cardiomegaly), who was cured at a healing service.
“He didn’t just claim to be healed,” Father Pete said. “Medical tests and X-rays showed the problem no longer existed.”
Upon coming home from his second Medjugorje trek, Father Pete spoke with his doctor about his experience — and was told “Mary has a special gift for you.” The gift was a beautiful painting of the Madonna and Child friends had commissioned for Father Pete. “I don’t believe this is a coincidence,” Father Pete said. “I don’t know the artist, and I’m not sure who commissioned the painting.
“At first, I viewed this as just a nice painting, was appreciative, and hung it on my wall,” Father Pete said. “But now, when I look at it, I can see many images.” The Madonna and child are very lifelike. Her robes are wispy white, taking on an almost surreal appearance, and some people see praying hands and other images in the shadowy blue background.
Father Peter Mitchell, has led a very interesting life. Born in Indiana, he moved to St. Petersburg from Chicago at around age six, and thus, considers himself a Floridian. A resident of Playton Villas in the Village of Lynnhaven for the past three years, the well traveled clergyman spent twelve years as a Benedictine Monk at St. Leo’s Abbey, near Dade City. He later served as a Pastor in Ocala, at a Catholic High School, and in Melbourne. As part of his vocation, he has given ‘mission talks’ all over the U.S. and Canada. He is currently one of seven retired priests called on to lead Masses at St. Timothy’s Catholic Church in The Villages.
“In The Villages,” Father Pete said, “we are mostly older people beginning to put into perspective what life is really about. We need to look at the good, and believe in the light of God — we all need to reach out and share our good thoughts with each other and help each other. We all can be impatient and have our irritations — this comes with growing older — but we can work at being positive in our lives. We need to look at what we have,” Father Pete continued, “instead of what we don’t have, and be grateful. We just need to go right outside The Villages to see people in need — and when we travel to foreign countries, we realize how blessed we in America are.” Father Pete recalled when he was in [the former] Soviet Union in the 1960s, behind the Iron Curtain. “The people were dumbfounded to hear about the standard of living America had. Some of them wanted to buy the clothing right off my back.”
In his spare moments, Father Pete enjoys cycling, doing Pilates at MVP and working at The Villages wood shop. He loves his life and friends in The Villages.
