By Robert Alan Glover
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (OSV News) — A meeting of hearts, minds and souls took place just outside of Memphis Sept. 7-9 at Collierville’s Church of the Incarnation, which hosted “Healing the Whole Person,” an annual event offered by the John Paul II Healing Center.
Devanie Marie Cooper, president and manager of the Memphis-based St. Paul Institute — which assisted with the event and has a mission to “spread the word of Jesus throughout the mid-South United States” — told OSV News the Tallahassee, Florida-based John Paul II Healing Center’s event is held four times a year in various parts of the country.
“I have heard there is a 300-city waiting list for cities (wanting to host) the conference,” she said.
Hundreds registered for the “Healing the Whole Person” event, which Cooper called “a three-day expression of the power of God’s healing love, gained through teaching, prayer, adoration, personal reflection and the sacraments.”
Bob Schuchts, a Catholic therapist and author who founded the John Paul II Healing Center in Tallahassee, Florida, has developed, as Cooper said, “a framework for self-awareness and understanding which focuses on what he calls seven deadly wounds. The wounds are: abandonment, fear, rejection, powerlessness, hopelessness, shame and confusion.”
“These wounds, according Dr. Schuchts, occur when we experience misery in places where there should have been love in our lives — and there was not,” Cooper explained.
“Dr. Schuchts compares the seven wounds to the trunk of a tree from which bad fruit materializes,” Cooper said.
Schuchts, his brother Bart Schuchts and Sister Miriam James Heidland, a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, headlined the conference. All of them have had life experiences which, as Cooper said, “in one way or another brought about a personal encounter with Christ and thereby spiritual healing.”
Pictured at the Church of the Incarnation in Collierville, Tenn., are members of the local Be Healed Memphis Volunteer Team during “Healing the Whole Person” held Sept. 7-9 in just outside Memphis. The annual event offered by the John Paul II Healing Center took place emphasizes spiritual healing through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. (OSV News photo/courtesy John Edwards and Diana George)
Bart Schuchts is the founder of Church on Fire, an inspirational, traveling ministry through which he gives presentations and testimonials at retreats and conferences.
Like his brother, Bart too had a life-changing, personal encounter with Christ — in an NFL locker room — after being raised a Catholic but drifting away from the church during college.
Sister Heidland also had her own moment of radical conversion, which took her from being a Division 1 athlete to an SOLT sister since 1998. Her story has been featured on EWTN’s “The Journey Home” and she hosts the podcast “Abiding Together.”
Father Dennis Schenkel, pastor of St. Anne’s Catholic Church in midtown Memphis, told OSV News that the four-day training session he did at the John Paul II Healing Center “got me thinking a lot about how I preach and how I listen to our parishioners in confession.”
“I believe that there are people in our church who have deep wounds and are trying to make changes in their lives,” he said.
The priest said the training made him want to offer parishioners the opportunity to invite him outside the confessional to follow up and talk further about their spiritual journey.
“Jesus loves all of the people who are in his ministry; he loves them completely and sees them with his whole heart,” Father Schenkel said.
With respect to the “Healing the Whole Person” conference, the priest said he hoped attendees “realize the depth of the love that God has for them.”
“And my wish also is that they experience true healing — and maybe even physical healing if that is possible,” Father Schenkel said.
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Robert Alan Glover writes for OSV News from Kentucky.
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NOTES: More information on “Healing the Whole Person” conferences can be found here: https://jpIIhealingcenter.org.
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BRIEF: MEMPHIS, Tenn. (OSV News) — A meeting of hearts, minds and souls took place just outside of Memphis Sept. 7-9 at Collierville’s Church of the Incarnation, which hosted “Healing the Whole Person,” an annual event offered by the John Paul II Healing Center. Devanie Marie Cooper, president and manager of the Memphis-based St. Paul Institute — which assisted with the event and has a mission to “spread the word of Jesus throughout the mid-South United States” — told OSV News the Tallahassee, Florida-based John Paul II Healing Center’s event is held four times a year in various parts of the country. Hundreds registered for the “Healing the Whole Person” event which Cooper called “a three-day expression of the power of God’s healing love, gained through teaching, prayer, adoration, personal reflection and the sacraments.” Bob Schuchts, a Catholic therapist and author who founded the John Paul II Healing Center in Tallahassee, Florida, has developed, as Cooper said, “a framework for self-awareness and understanding which focuses on what he calls seven deadly wounds. The wounds are: abandonment, fear, rejection, powerlessness, hopelessness, shame and confusion.” “These wounds, according Dr. Schuchts, occur when we experience misery in places where there should have been love in our lives — and there was not,” Cooper explained. Schuchts, his brother Bart Schuchts and Sister Miriam James Heidland, a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, headlined the conference. All of them have had life experiences which, as Cooper said, “in one way or another brought about a personal encounter with Christ and thereby spiritual healing.”
