Catholic Life Ministries

By Robert Fontana

There is a saying that “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Lori often quotes that verse to me when I make a suggestion to her like, “Why don’t we go to El Paso and work in the shelter for the summer?” But I digress from the story about being attacked by a woman with an icepick. It’s true.

I was working at the Diocese of Yakima late one fall evening. The sun was beginning to set, I was alone at the office when the phone rang. I answered it, and the woman on the line pleaded desperately for help: “I NEED A PRIEST! I NEED SOMEBODY TO HELP!  MY DAUGHTER IS POSSESSED!” I could hear the daughter screaming in the background. Her mother continued, “Can you help? Please! She says she’s in hell. She’s been listening to heavy metal music all day. I don’ know what to do!”  I asked the woman if her daughter had been drinking or doing drugs. “Absolutely not!”  (Of course, that wasn’t true. She had been drinking heavily.)

I took her address and phone number and vowed to get help. I called a local priest and asked for his assistance. “I WOULDN’T TOUCH THAT WITH A 10-FOOT POLE. CALL MENTAL HEALTH.”  I was a little offended by the priest’s response. When someone calls the Church for help, the Church ought to be there for them even though other professionals need to get involved as well. I called the mental health hotline and the dispatcher said he would organize a team to go to the woman’s house, but it would take “an hour or so.” I decided I would go ahead of them and help comfort the mother.

What unfolded can only be described as a scene out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The woman and daughter lived in a rural section of Yakima County, at the end of a long gravel road. I stepped out of the car. I kid you not, the wind was blowing, her screen door was slamming open and shut, and a dog howled in the distance. I had the thought, “I might be killed. Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”

I knocked on the door, and the panicked mother let me in, so grateful that I would come to help. “Okay, maybe I won’t die.” She described the events leading up to her daughter current state and led me to the young woman’s room. We entered, and I saw a terrified 17-year-old sitting curled up on her bed with her back against the wall. She was holding a large plastic container of something I assumed was soda.

As I approached her, I had the strong notion to sing Amazing Grace. I was hoping it would be familiar, show to her I was not a threat, and help her to calm down. Her mother was right behind me. I was able to get right up to her when suddenly she leaped at me, brandishing an ice pick in her hand. She slashed and nicked my back. Soda splashed all over me and her and her mom as Mom and I tried frantically to grab the ice pick from her. When I pulled the ice pick away, the girl retreated to her bed, and Mom and I fled to the kitchen.

I called the Mental Health Hotline. “What’s taking you so long?” “We’re on our way.” I told them about the ice pick. The dispatcher said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you to remove all dangerous objects from her room!”

The mental health crisis team eventually arrived, and I handed off the mother and daughter to the professionals. Mom was eternally grateful that I came to her house. It truly helped her calm down. And I learned a valuable lesson. Do not try to do good beyond my expertise. Comforting the mother? I knew what I was doing.   Helping the girl? I was out of my league.

Now what does this story have to do with my asking you to pray for and donate to Catholic Life Ministries? We do work that you believe in and can’t do yourself – marriage enrichment and preparation; spiritual development; service days for the elderly and poor; mental health counseling for individuals, couples, and families. We reach out, take risks, learn from our mistakes and strive on to awaken young and old alike to the great love God has for us in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t stop there, we challenge ourselves and those we serve to return God’s love by loving one another, especially those on the margins, the poor and spiritually abandoned.

We also write about the graces and challenges of living as disciples of Jesus within the contemporary world. We do so, not as experts, but as sinners struggling to be saints within the circumstances and events of our daily life. We are not above criticisms and disagreements, and we welcome both, along with your suggestions/comments.

If you are already a sponsor of CLM, we thank you with grateful hearts, and ask you to renew your commitment. If you are not a sponsor of CLM, we ask you to consider becoming one. Our commitment to you is to do effective ministry and to address difficult topics of integrating faith with life. We aim to “think with the Church,” as one spiritual mentor said, and we add, “and help the Church think!”

To Donate to online go to: https://www.catholiclifeministries.org/donate/

To donate by US Post:

Make checks payable to CLM. Mail to:

Catholic Life Ministries, 1827 NE 58th St. #B, Seattle WA 98105