She has healing powers...but that's not what Sister Briege Mckenna wants to talk about
Her story has been told a million times, because Sister Briege Mckenna has quite a story to tell. Doctors once told her she would be confined to a wheelchair. But one day, she was miraculously cured.
But that's just one incident in her inspiring spiritual journey.
As she prayed before the Eucharist back in 1971, she says Jesus gave her a clear mission regarding the priesthood.
SISTER BRIEGE MCKENNA
St. Clara Sisters Retreat Ministry
"Speak to priests, tell them what I have told you and tell them. I will use you. For five to six hours I just went into some kind of experience of ecstasy or what and I saw the whole process of an ordination and I wept."
She remembers it as if it was yesterday. She says Jesus told her there would be a crisis and shortage in the priesthood and Jesus asked her to minister to priests and strengthen their vocation. It was a conversation, she adds, where she spoke to Jesus, asked questions and got answers.
SISTER BRIEGE MCKENNA
St. Clara Sisters Retreat Ministry
"I said Lord what is wrong with the priesthood? Clearly I heard in my heart, what do you mean, what's wrong? It's my priesthood. Have I ever given anything that's not perfect?"
Following that call, for years she has ministered to thousands of priests in all corners of the world. She says she affirms them, encourages them, warns them and challenges them. She carries out her mission, thinking of the words Jesus told her.
SISTER BRIEGE MCKENNA
St. Clara Sisters Retreat Ministry
"Many of my vocations will never come to fruition. I want you to go into the world and I want you to speak to families on what it means to be a priest and the blessing it is."
More visions and super natural experiences have followed, including the grace of healing powers. She says it's not her doing, but that of Jesus who uses her as an instrument. Through it all, she has kept her sense of humor.
SISTER BRIEGE MCKENNA
St. Clara Sisters Retreat Ministry
"Then people come and tell me, can you tell me the future? am I going to be a bishop? I say God doesn't tell me those things."
Through the decades there have been highs and lows. The Church has faced challenges and even humiliation. But Sister Mckenna says that's a good thing, because more attention is now focused on forming priests with a true calling.
The prestige of the priesthood, she adds, is no longer an earthly one.
