FR. CARLETON P. JONES, O.P.:
APPEALING TO ST. JUDE IN TRIALS
By Rosary Shrine of St. Jude Deacon Br. Louis Bertrand Lemoine, O.P.
traditionally felt that, if they get a positive
answer to their prayers to St. Jude, they
should spread his devotion. I remember
being a young man and thinking, “Oh, St.
Jude is in the New York Times!”
Fr. Jones is a former Episcopal clergyman
who entered the Catholic Church in 1982
and was ordained a priest in 1987. He is
Prior of St. Dominic’s Priory at the Rosary
Shrine of St. Jude.
Why does St. Jude appeal to people in
tough circumstances?
With St. Jude, we recognize the intractable
problems in our lives. For example, there
might be a child or parent or brother or
sister who is addicted to drugs or alcohol.
When people are faced with problems that
no virtue or skill seems to be able to heal,
then they naturally turn to prayer, and
suddenly it comes to them: St. Jude is a
“Friend in Heaven.”
When did you first encounter St. Jude?
Being a convert to the Catholic Church, I
was struck by the fact that the classified
section in almost every newspaper in
any major city had at least one ad saying
“thank you” to St. Jude. Catholics have
St. Jude Messenger - Volume II, Issue I
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Can you share an example of St. Jude
working in someone’s life?
A friend of mine had a niece who ran
away from home at age 15. The family
didn’t know whether she was alive or dead.
They were not Catholic, but the mother
knew Catholics and so she went to the
shrine of St. Jude to pray for her daughter
to be returned home. After a year, she
suddenly came home. The family didn’t
punish her. They welcomed her home like
a prodigal child. She went back to school
and did very well. She married and had
children and now is the star of her family.
I don’t know that she ever told her family
what she had been through during that
year, but she was fine—it was if it never
happened. It just shows how devotion to
St. Jude can solve intractable problems,
even for non-Catholics!
Share your St. Jude stories with us by
contacting Fr. Gabriel Gillen, O.P., with
the attached envelope or by emailing
[email protected]!
Rosary Shrine of St. Jude Deacon Br. Louis
Lemoine, O.P., with Fr. Carleton Jones, O.P.,
at St. Dominic’s Priory
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5/8/16 3:51 PM