VIENNA, Virginia= He strode down the length of the altar of the Our Lady of Good Counsel church, the strand of humanity waiting for his touch. Some fall back mysteriously but orange-vested volunteers stood behind them, ready to catch their fall. They quickly regain their equilibrium, professing they’ve been cured, and adding their testimony about a man whose name has become, for many desperately ill, synonymous with hope.
It was the first time renowned healing priest Fr. Fernando Suarez visited the area, saying Mass in churches in Gainesville, Falls Church and Vienna under the auspices of the Filipino Ministry of Northern Virginia.
The 41-year-old priest, born in Taal, Batangas but now holding Canadian citizenship, was recently mired in controversy. He was banned from saying Mass in the Archdiocese of Toronto, and forbidden to perform healing services in certain Central Luzon parishes.
Reports say Fr. Fernando was banned in Canada because he violated the Doctrine of Faith disciplinary norms specified in the Instruction on Prayers for Healing. But in a thanksgiving dinner after the last day of his healing masses, Fr. Fernando agreed to speak with ABS-CBN’s Balitang America and Manila Mail, to finally air his side on the controversy.
“I never violated any rules,” he stressed. “It was a misunderstanding by my superiors (Fr. Suarez belongs to the Companions of the Cross based in Canada). Sumusunod lang ako sa utos ng aking superiors.”
“As a matter of fact, my superior has written a letter to the Cardinal (Thomas Cardinal Collins is the Archbishop of Toronto) clarifying everything, that it was not my fault because I’m an ordinary priest acting under the directives of the superior,” Fr. Suarez disclosed.
“The accusation against me was that I was behaving like a chaplain, a position I should not embrace,” he explained, adding in jest, “In layman’s term I’m working too hard without pay.”
“Some people are trying to sensationalize this. Nagkataon naman na maraming pari na ginanun ang cardinal na yun ng Toronto because it’s their prerogative, to screen kung sino ang puwede mag-misa at kung sino ang di-puwede mag-misa. I wasn’t the only one,” Fr. Suarez averred.
He admitted that politics pervades nearly all human activity. “Siguro produkto na rin ako ng tinatawag na politics but malinis ang konsensiya ko, it’s not my fault,” he ...
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