Believe it or Not
   Father Terry Tekippe - a new Catholic Saint?             
                     
If the title raises questions, it is because I can 
think of no other more appropriate way to introduce 
this story. I was a very close friend of Father Terry 
Tekippe. While growing up, we lived in adjacent 
neighborhoods and attended the same grammar school. As 
time progressed, we took divergent paths with Terry 
becoming a Roman Catholic priest and I taking a wife. 
However we continued a relationship as friends, 
probably at the early stages due to a common interest 
in Ham Radio. This common interest expanded and 
eventually included Philosophy and Theology; where, I 
might add, Terry was a well learned advocate of the 
subjects as he held Doctorates in both fields. Terry 
died in 2005 of a heart attack while vacationing on a 
small island off of Greece.  As a former weekly visitor 
to my home for over the last twenty years of his life, 
he and I had many interesting conversations. 

I need to immediately preface this story by saying two 
things. To begin, I am not a journalist or writer and 
must therefore beg forgiveness for my sloppy 
grammatical style or prose. Next, I must admit up front 
that I never shared Terry's spiritual faith.  I was 
born a skeptic, and had formerly declared my disbelief 
in most all Catholic dogma at the age of 18.  And from 
that time until present, I have been on a lifelong 
quest to understand spirituality and religion, of all 
faiths.

One special subject Terry and I frequently discussed 
was death, the existence of the soul, and the 
rationality of an afterlife. I suppose this is where 
this story really begins. Terry could never convince me 
of things spiritual, nor I shake his steadfast faith in 
the same spiritual world.  We even eventually made a 
pact that whoever superseded the other in death, the 
deceased would make an effort to communicate from the 
"other" side. Admittedly this was done with big grins 
on both our faces, yet I think I was more serious. 

It was a shock and extremely sad loss when I heard from 
Terry's sister of his death in Greece.  It was almost 
hard to believe it really happened.  Terry was pushing 
65 and beginning to experience several typical medical 
problems for his age. Just days earlier, prior to his 
last departure, I questioned him on the availability of 
medical care in many of the offbeat locations he 
frequented in Europe. He fluffed off my question by 
stating that his most recent physical resulted in no 
alarms from his doctor that might curtail his travels 
abroad.

I was so upset by his death that I opted not to attend 
his funeral, preferring to have my last memories of him 
as alive and at my dinner table, rather than as dead 
and laying in a coffin.  As the weeks passed and rolled 
into months, I began to have talks with Terry in my 
mind, typically in bed after retiring.  It was mostly 
foolishness, like "look what you have gotten your self 
into now, leaving my salvation as an unfinished 
manuscript along with your last unpublished book".  

When Terry was alive and we would be debating, he would 
often enjoy reminding me that "there are no aithiest in 
foxholes".  There is no doubt some truth to that 
statement as there can be times in ones life when the 
kind of help needed seem to exceeds the realm of whats 
possible.  Here is where this story starts to unfold.

One of our sons, age 39 and living out of state, was 
involved in a terrible motorcycle accident wherein he 
sustained serious head injuries. The duty surgeon 
called asking for immediate consent to operate as our 
sons brain was bleeding, and death would be the 
consequence if it was allowed to continue.  He further 
stated the procedure involved high risks and there was 
a strong possibility my son would permanently lose ten 
percent or more of his mental and physical agility as a 
consequence of operating on his brain.  We gave consent 
and immediately my wife and I joined hands and prayed 
to Terry, asking for his help in keeping our son alive 
and restoring his health. Our son survived the 5 hour 
surgery and eventually, within months, 100 percent of 
his memory, speech, and physical agility returned.

I thanked Terry in subsequent prayer conversations yet 
wondered if my son would have recovered anyway, or if 
Terry actually had somehow interceded in my sons 
ordeal.  I admitted to Terry that I was skeptical and 
asked if I could try his intervention again should a 
situation warrant it. Although this episode involving 
my son had the trappings of a miracle that often leads 
to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church, I personally 
would not be so easily swayed that this was a 
beginning.

A month later, after reporting this mystery to my 
oldest sister, she reported that her husbands daughter 
was diagnosed with a difficult cancer and was about to 
begin chemo and radiation treatment. She asked if I 
would ask Terry for his help, and I did. "Well Terry, I 
smirked, here is your next chance to prove there is 
life and power after death". A month or so later my 
sister reported that her niece was in total remission. 
Was this miracle number two, or another odd coincident? 
After all, the odds of surviving cancer due to 
marvelous advances in medicine, are far greater today 
than just 10 years ago.

Another good lifelong friend, one who also knew Terry, 
advised me that his elderly mother was recently placed 
in a Nursing home where her condition appeared to be 
sliding.  I told my friend I would ask Terry to do his 
magic and do whatever could be done to ease and stabile 
his mothers condition. A month later I was advised her 
condition improved remarkably. Was this miracle number 
three? or more coincidence.

By now I decided to try a really big test.  I informed 
Terry that I though it might help bolster a church that 
was under siege from legal problems and scandal if this 
story of modern miracles were to be told. I suggested 
that money would be needed, lots of money, to create a 
publicity organization.  I asked that Terry provide it. 
A big lottery win, an unexpected inheritance, a big 
financial windfall, whatever.  This was several months 
ago and I have not seen a dime.  I began to wonder if I 
was somehow being limited by Terry to ask only for 
things for other people and not myself. I guess that 
was possible since Terry knew if there was something I 
really wanted to do, I would always find a way to do it 
on my own.  In any case, I promised Terry that if such 
a financial windfall should occur, I would direct all 
of the resources to telling this story and promoting 
the possibility of modern day miracles. At least that 
would have been my intentions.

I received another disturbing phone call from my oldest 
sister who was just diagnosed with Parkinson's disease 
and was in a terrible state of depression. Up to the 
moment her doctors had not found the proper balance of 
drugs to arrest her depression without literally 
mentally immobilizing her. I informed her of Terry's 
previous victories over the illness of others and asked 
if she wanted me to ask Terry to help her. She was 
willing to try anything.  Again I asked Terry to do 
what he could to lift the dark cloud of depression from 
her spirit. Apparently he did as her condition began to 
show obvious and immediate improvements. Miracle number 
four? Who knows.

In conclusion, I must be honest and say that I am still 
a combination of an agnostic and practitioner of 
scientism. Maybe I am still missing the spiritual 
writing on the wall. In any case I'm not sure if Terry 
will only respond to my request (due to the close 
friendship we had or the similarity of our interest, or 
his non stop desire to see me enter the gates of 
heaven).  Therefore, if you are reading this, I propose 
the following.  If you need Terry's help, pray to him 
directly and see what transpires.  If help does not 
appear to be fourthcoming, email me and I will ask him 
directly to grant your request. If you received the 
help you requested in your pertition to Terry, please 
let me know the details so I can record it here.

Perhaps if enough miracles are documented, my friend 
Terry will one day be recognized by his Church as the 
Saint he is. And, perhaps the tiny seed of faith he 
always claimed that God starts every new soul with will 
finally take root in my being and flower into my 
salvation. 

I Gary M Raymond attest that the preceding details are 
a true and accurate account of things that transpired 
before and after the death of Monsignor Terry J. 
Tekippe. 

11/23/06
garymraymond@charter.net