Father Michael Denk

Fr. Michael Denk travelled with 20 students from Walsh University in
Ohio. www.walsh.edu

This is my first time here. It’s beautiful and the people have been so welcoming. The first experience that we had was walking with Miki [a local guide]. Miki’s just awesome because he shares from his heart and he was here [when the apparitions began]. Walking up the hill together with him and praying the Rosary was a beautiful experience for me, and I know also for the teens. We have Catholics and even a few non-Catholics. It was beautiful for all of them. There’s 19 students; 24 of us total. 

I have a ministry and the whole focus is teaching people how to pray. It’s called the Prodigal Father and it’s all about experiencing God the Father’s love. So hearing [Mirjana talk] and what she said about how important it is just to feel God’s love and to pray for those that aren’t experiencing that, was beautiful for me because that’s my whole desire. I feel, as a priest, I’ve gotten to experience His love in a very special way, and I just want to share that. 

For me, it was a real confirmation of focusing even more on helping people experience God’s love for real. 

Father Michael Denk’s website: https://www.theprodigalfather.org/ 

I try to make it all free. That’s part of the ‘prodigal,’ that God gives freely. We usually think of the son as the prodigal one, but God is even more prodigal. He gives us His grace, even if we waste it. He just keeps giving and giving with Mass and the sacraments and confession and prayer. 

I studied film and media in undergrad at Cleveland State University. I wanted to be a director. I had the call for a long time, since I was a child, but I finally was able to say yes and I left all that behind. But now I’m kind of getting back into it. Walsh University has a studio, and part of my teaching people how to pray is using media, using smartphones. I have an app that I’ve created. To have this device in our hands, that people can access scripture, they can access all these teachings, guided meditations, prayer. We’re already so hooked to it that we gotta be using it. So that’s my mission.