From Regina Magazine
By Donna Sue Berry
Fr Richard Heilman and his
Knights of Divine Mercy help young Catholic men ‘put on the armor of
God’ for themselves and their families. In this exclusive interview, he
tells Regina Magazine about how a strip club invading a small Midwestern town made it all happen.
What prompted you to begin the Knights of Divine Mercy?
In 2005, I was assigned as pastor of two parishes, one of which was St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff, a Catholic parish in a small, unincorporated town near Madison, Wisconsin. The little town of Pine Bluff has one church, two bars, and a handful of homes. Fields and idyllic countryside surround it. It’s the kind of town where people dream of raising their kids.
In 2005, I was assigned as pastor of two parishes, one of which was St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff, a Catholic parish in a small, unincorporated town near Madison, Wisconsin. The little town of Pine Bluff has one church, two bars, and a handful of homes. Fields and idyllic countryside surround it. It’s the kind of town where people dream of raising their kids.
Shortly after
my arrival, one of the bar owners decided to rent out his cozy
establishment to a strip club owner. Neighbors were appalled, and the
little town was stunned. But there was not, it seemed, much that anyone
could do.
Twelfth Station of the Cross in Pine Bluff’s parish cemetery, where protesters tied their white ribbons to the 100 year old kneeler.
That’s terrible! How did you get involved?
Discerning God’s will, I organized a mile-long Stations of the Cross through the town. I invited everyone to pray along this “miracle mile,” in an effort to reclaim this surrendered ground and to consecrate the soil back to Our Lord.
Discerning God’s will, I organized a mile-long Stations of the Cross through the town. I invited everyone to pray along this “miracle mile,” in an effort to reclaim this surrendered ground and to consecrate the soil back to Our Lord.
The inaugural
prayer walk was on Palm Sunday 2005. Over two hundred people spilled
into the little town of Pine Bluff to participate in the miracle mile.
We prepared for the prayer walk by placing two-foot-high crosses in the
lawns stretching all the way down the main road and back, the length of
the miracle mile. Participants carried their prayer sheets and a white
ribbon (a symbol of purity and anti-pornography).
The twelfth
station found them at the entrance to the beautiful parish cemetery on a
bluff with a life-size crucifix of our Lord and a one-hundred-year-old
stone kneeler in front. The participants tied their white ribbons to
this kneeler as a prayer form, much like lighting a vigil candle.
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