Barber in Rome Says Praying to John Paul II Cured Him of a Hernia

The barber shop miracle -Times Online

The photograph and excerpt written by Richard Owen appeared on Times Online:

"I am not a saint, I am a sinner" says Giovanni Vecchio as he snips at a customer's hair in his barber's shop in a side street of a workaday Rome suburb. "But I have known a saint." He pauses, scissors in mid-air. "In fact, I have cut his hair".

If - or when - the late Pope John Paul II is canonised, it will be in part thanks to Mr Vecchio. Over 30 years ago, when the barber's shop he worked in was near the Vatican, a Polish prelate called Karol Wojtyla wandered in, sat down, and had his hair cut. He became a regular customer.

Mr Vecchio had no idea who "Father Karol" was, still less that he was to become "papabile". "He told me once he was bishop of Krakow, but to me they were all priests. I called them all Father".

But the encounter changed his life: last year, when he was entering hospital in great pain for a hernia operation, he saw a black and white photograph of John Paul II as a young man hanging at the entrance, and "our eyes met". Shortly afterwards, he was discharged. The hernia - and the pain - had miraculously disappeared.

The "barber's miracle" does not form part of the case for beatifiying John Paul - expected in October - for which the miracle most likely to be approved involves a French nun cured of Parkinson's disease after praying to John Paul. Nor can it be considered for the second "medically inexplicable cure" required for canonisation, since that must take place after beatification.

It has, however, been recorded by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints as evidence of the reverence and devotion toward John Paul. "To me the canonisation announcement itself is not important" Mr Vecchio says at his salon, "Gianni's". "For me, as for many others, he is already a saint".

"A year ago I developed a serious problem in my back. It got worse and worse, and in the end I saw a neurosurgeon who said I had a herniated disc and would have to have an operation."

He decided to go into hospital at the end of July so he could convalesce during August. "I was in great pain," he says, limping across the floor to show how he could hardly walk. The day before the operation "the surgeon came to see the patients. He looked at my notes and made me press my left knee against his arm as hard as I could, and looked at me with some surprise. He said I would have to have more tests."

After the new tests "the nurse came along and told me that they were sending me home. A woman doctor put up the two test results against the glass, and showed me that there was nothing there. She said to me "I don't believe in miracles, but something has happened". I thanked her, stood up and went home. Ten days later I went down to my home village in Apulia for the holidays, 650 kilometres in the car there and back without a single problem".

After the holiday, "something woke me up at four in the morning. I sat down at the computer, and found the Internet page about the beatification of John Paul II. I'm a barber, I'm not very good at writing, or computers, but I wrote down my experiences the way I've told them to you, and sent it off."

A month later he had a call from Vatican Radio to say his testimony was "convincing" and "reliable". He has since featured on Italian television and in Italian magazines after Pope Benedict XVI, who has put John Paul on the fast-track to sainthood, recognised his predecessor's "heroic virtues", a step before beatification.

Could his remarkable recovery not just be coincidence? Coincidences do happen, he replies, 'but no, all this has happened through John Paul's intercession. I am not religious, but I believe in him". Last November, after watching a documentary about John Paul's election, he resolved to find a photograph of the occasion to add to the mementoes in his shop.

"I went downstairs the next morning, walked out of the door, and there on the pavement, rolled up as if someone had just thrown it away, was a small devotional image of John Paul II as he appeared on the balcony that day in 1978. I found another one just the same on New Year's Eve, and another on a fridge magnet someone had thrown away. Now explain that."

To read the complete story, visit the following link: The Barber Shop Miracle 

John Paul the Great Catholic University Launches Program in New Evangelization

The following press release is from John Paul the Great University:

Answering John Paul the II's Call

JP Catholic Launches program in New Evangelization
 

SAN DIEGO, CA - John Paul the Great Catholic University is pleased to announce the launch of its major in New Evangelization starting in 2010. At the turn of the new millennium, Pope John Paul II exhorted young people to spread the Gospel to all nations. The third millennium has ushered in an explosion of new media channels through which to spread the Good News. John Paul the Great called us to embrace these new means of communications to impact the culture for Christ. The New Evangelization major embraces John Paul's exhortation to bring the light of the Gospel to all nations by passionately articulating the faith using new forms of communication.

The New Evangelization major is the next step in forwarding the university's mission to impact culture for Christ. "It not only answers the call of Jesus, but also that of John Paul II, to use the media to evangelize the world" says JP Catholic President Derry Connolly. "We're leveraging the strengths that we have in other areas to create a program which we feel is a direct call of both Jesus and John Paul II." The core focus of the program is the melding of theology and new media. The New Evangelization major gives students a well-rounded education in both these disciplines, thus empowering them to create cutting-edge media and build sustainable apostolates.

Each JP Catholic student, regardless of his or her major, is given a firm grounding in Catholic thought. New Evangelization students obtain a particularly rigorous formation in Scripture, theology, and philosophy. They take classes with both their fellow undergraduates and with Masters in Theology students. These include courses in the Old and New Testaments, the Sacraments, and Catholic social teachings. Students are equipped to defend the teachings of Holy Mother Church. Each professor in this program is joyfully loyal to the Magisterium. The theological formation is bolstered by courses in philosophy. "Bad theology," says Michael Barber, Professor of Theology, Scripture and Catholic Thought, "often emanates from a bad philosophical foundation." The philosophical formation offered in the New Evangelization major anchors students in the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, an invaluable foundation for those seeking to study Scripture and theology.

On the practical side, the New Evangelization major focuses on three areas: creating new media, teaching others, and building apostolates. Students take a comprehensive mix of classes in media production, including screen writing, editing, and directing. New Evangelization majors take these classes alongside the Entertainment Media majors. Both receive a foundational education in the world of media; the chief difference between the two majors is the emphasis on theology. While Media majors become more specialized in a particular field in the entertainment industry, Evangelization majors delve deeper into Catholic thought. "With the New Evangelization major," says Dr. Connolly, "we're producing a generalist, not a specialist."

Through the Apostolate Launch Pad, students take the skills they have learned and apply them to an evangelization project. Entertainment Media majors are encouraged to focus more on reaching a secular audience with a solid moral message. "Evangelization majors," say Provost Dominic Iocco, "will do media projects that focus more on the Christian message." They will use new media to spread the Gospel. "We want our Evangelization majors to be the Saint Pauls of the twenty-first century," says Dr. Connolly.

By integrating the theology and Scripture education with the practical tools of media, JP Catholic hopes the New Evangelization program will further its mission to impact culture for Christ. To request a brochure for the New Evangelization, click here. For further information on the program, please visit our academic page. - click here