The “angel priest” has now identified himself.

Father Patrick Dowling of the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City acknowledges that he was the priest who anointed and prayed with Katie Lentz, 19, at the scene of a car crash near Center, Missouri on August 4.

The story has received widespread attention. Emergency responders spent an hour trying to remove Lentz from her wrecked car when the priest appeared with anointing oil and prayed with her, and then inexplicably vanished. In the meantime, a very difficult rescue operation got a lot easier.

New London, Missouri Fire Chief Raymond Reed told reporters he and another firefighter heard a reassuring voice.

“A sense of calmness came over her, and it did us as well,” Reed said. “I can’t be for certain how it was said, but myself and another firefighter, we very plainly heard that we should remain calm, that our tools would now work and that we would get her out of that vehicle.”

They were able to remove Lentz from her car, but when they went to thank the priest he had disappeared.

Father Dowling came forward in the comment section of an article on the story published by the Catholic News Agency.

“I thank God and the amazingly competent rescue workers,” Father Dowling stated. “I thank them for making me welcome in such a highly charged situation and allowing me to minister as a priest.”

Mysteries, perhaps divine mysteries, remain.

Father Dowling said he could not explain the voice heard by the firefighters.

“I didn’t say another word,” he said. “I did not say anything like the machinery would begin to work or they would succeed in getting her out of the car. That did not come from my lips, though two people heard it.”

Father Dowling wrote a comment on the story in the National Catholic Register story on Friday,  saying that he was the priest who ministered to Katie Lentz.   He has since asked that his comment be removed but he has discussed his role at the scene of the accident with Catholic News Agency.

 

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/mystery-priest-in-missouri-rescue-revealed/