Women "channels" Padre Pio
Blogger Scott Waddell sent me me a link to the following story.
Dottie Zimmerman is a 63-year-old
mother
of three, an award-winning religion teacher at a Toledo Catholic
school, a former Ursuline nun, and a director of the Children's Theatre
Workshop.
For the last five years, Mrs. Zimmerman also says she has been
"channeling" Padre Pio, letting the dead Italian Catholic saint
mystically speak through her.
Last month, Mrs. Zimmerman channeled the saint during a meeting of the
Toledo Lightworkers Co-op, a group of people who explore alternative
spirituality.
It was the fifth or sixth time she has publicly channeled Padre Pio, a
Capuchin friar from Pietrelcina, Italy, who was known for bearing
stigmata, or the wounds of Christ, on his hands and feet. He died in
1968 at age 81 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
Why am I not surprised that an award winning religion teacher at a Catholic school could even speak of using channeling in relation to Saint? Or that she would do so for some new age group.
An eighth-grade religion teacher at St. Patrick of Heatherdowns School
for nearly 30 years, Mrs. Zimmerman said she felt as though spiritual
conversations had been percolating within her for years before she
began to explore her gift.
She had dismissed the voices as figments of her overactive imagination.
"I'm a very creative, right-brained person so this must be just me
imposing my imagination on situations," she said. "That sounded logical
to me."
I say go with your original instincts. Now exactly what are these messages?
..."One of the things that he
insists is that we breathe deeply and we
laugh - love, laugh,"
..."All presidential elections are a reflection of
the way the world is at the moment. They all speak of change," Mrs.
Zimmerman said while channeling. "So if you're looking for change, you
have a wide path. They are all having their plans, their paths. Which
one do you feel comfortable with? That, my brother, is your choice and
I cannot tell you that."
..."But do know that there was no accident that there was a female within this, because her purpose was to open the awareness of the line of the females, of the path of the females, not her particularly, but the path of a female, that nurturing, that love aspect that is part of what goes along with the term female."
Yeah that really sounds like something St. Padre Pio would say.
...Regarding the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy, Mrs. Zimmerman said while channeling that everyone who "transitioned" that day went immediately "home," or into heaven, "including those who perpetrated this particular incident. They didn't have their 21 virgins in their party but they were celebrated for three days in partying and love and acceptance because they did what they thought they were supposed to do."
Gee and I would have thought that the terrorists might spend at least 4 seconds in purgatory first.This paragraph I have to admit is one of the funniest I have ever read. Put down your drink cups - you have been warned.
"In this dream I kept seeing a Merlin character," she said. "... So he [Mr. Uhl] said if he's reoccurring that much, there's some energy there that we need to look into, and he gave me a couple exercises where in fact I would start asking Merlin what he meant or why this happened in the dream. ... And I would write answers, and it's like the answers would just come automatically. ... Well, pretty soon I couldn't write fast enough, they were just going in the computer, and then one day he just says to me, 'You know, I am not Merlin. I am Padre Pio.'"
Natural mistake many people make. They both had these robes you know.Mrs. Zimmerman said she channels other
spirits besides Padre Pio.
Every Saturday, for example, she channels her mother, who died two
years ago, by typing out a letter to her surviving father, which she
has collected in a looseleaf binder. "He really looks forward to it
because he misses her so dreadfully," she said.
She also channels her late husband, John, who "crossed over" 16 years
ago.
I guess she has a party line.
Now I don't intend to mock this deluded women who needs our prayers, but what I find so interesting is the straight reporting on this. I wonder if somebody was actually getting locutions form St. Padre Pio and the messages included references to abortion and the culture of death how the story would be dealt with? Somehow I think the story would be reported quite differently with quite a different tone.
Known as 
Hilarious. And sad at the same time. A religion teacher from a Catholic school should know better!
Also, I never thought Merlin wore brown.
My first reaction was that she was indeed channeling some spirit albeit not the one she was thinking (if you catch my drift). Then I read the Merlin paragraph and realized that the devil is not that dumb.
She should get with Shirley MacLaine, they have so much in common!
now, what flavor kool-aid has she been drinking ? I always miss out on the good stuff!
Well, they say there's a destiny in every name...
;-)
Great. Now she and Ramtha can have a convention.
"Lightworkers", huh? Sounds more like "lightbringers". The whole notion of "alternative spirituality" is pretty great. Like, "I'm so sick of all this truth. Is there some alternative to it?"
Indeed, most 'channels' lack good quality control.
I passed this article along to Bishop Blair. His contact info:
1933 Spielbusch Avenue
Toledo, OH 43604
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 985
43697-0985
(419) 244-6711
(419) 244-4791
Outside Toledo, Within Ohio Toll-Free Number: 1-800-926-8277
Email at the diocesen website here: http://www.toledodiocese.org/component/option,com_contact/task,view/contact_id,1/Itemid,217/
What can one say that is apropos of such a Late Night Show event as Dottie Zimmerman and her channeling of all possible people, St. Pio!?
Tiny Tim?
Or simply deep oceanic expressions reserved for those whose Myers-Briggs typology shows great intuitive depth such as, "Whoa, Dude!, Far Out! Heavy!"
Is there a progressive Jesuit in the house?
Former nun, eh? Any guess as to which generation this woman might belong? Possibly her former students might want to buy a copy of the catechism to make sure they have good grasp of the Roman Catholic faith after all...
Whoops, missed that. Sixty-three. Uh-huh. Don't trust any religion teacher over 40 (and under 80), kids!
Wow, wrecking faith for 30 years. Great.
Her winning awards is right up there with the USCCB giving Thomas Groome a "Catechist of the Year" award. Stupefying.
Dottie... wow, kinda says it all!
I would be very afraid of channeling any spirit that recommends the "wide path" ("So if you're looking for change, you have a wide path.").
Still, it's good to know that we can all choose to do whatever we "feel we are supposed to do" and still get into heaven! Woohoo!
I'm sure that the newly ordained women priests are tickled to death to have St. Pio in their corner... Take that, all you misogynists and chauvinists!
We really need to be praying for the Church. I know I will be.
You sure this wasn't published in The Onion?
Me thinks the poor lady has some crossed wires, with all this channeling going on.
Does she take requests?
I get it now, she is channeling the spirit of Vatican II.
I went and read the original article. Guess what? Her brother is an ex-Jesuit Priest. Surprising? No. Oh and her daughter has been channeling Angels since she was a toddler.Argh. Plus kids (I assume at her school) are coming up to hear claiming they hear voices. Prayers are needed!!!
Didn't you know that, Jeff? Padre Pio's real name was Padre Merlin Pio. Sheesh! I understand one of his sister's was named was Abracadabra Pio. Wooooooo oooooooooooooo!
There is most surely spirit(s) at work here but none of them are healthy or benign or good or helpful or holy.
This woman is in deep trouble and she is dragging a lot of unsuspecting fools along with her.
UPDATE: Over at Off the Record, a poster comments that a parent told her that Zimmerman was dismissed from her teaching position at the Catholic school for undisclosed reasons
2nd Update: A poster named Cornellius at Off the Record says he contacted the autohr of the article himself who says she has NOT been dismissed.
I do not agree with Dottie's practices of channeling spirits- I do believe it is borderline blasphemy to talk about such things. But, I have a personal connection to Mrs. Zimmerman- she was my eighth grade religion and music teacher as well as being my director at the Children's Theatre Workshop for six years of my life. Dottie has also been a close personal friend of my family for many years. Dottie, I think, made a big mistake coming out with these "revelations", but I can say for certain she never spoke about any of these concepts while teaching at St. Pats or at CTW. She practiced these beliefs on her own- which is why I am so mystified as to why she would chose to do so now.
As for her being a former nun, she went on a sabbatical leave from her order, met her future husband, and never returned. It had NOTHING to do with her beliefs in channeling.
She was asked to leave teaching at St. Pats right before the start of the school year, although she was given a good retirement plan which I feel she deserves- she has helped a lot of kids and not via channeling.