Nun sees Reiki as extension of faith
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An American Catholic nun performing a Japanese healing art may seem unusual to some, but Sister Mary Jo Mattes believes it's a natural combination.
"God is the one in charge. God is the one who is directing the healing," she said.
Sister Mary Jo is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Millvale and the Reiki master and teacher in charge of the new Tabor Reiki Center in Millvale.
Reiki is a spiritual healing art in which hands are placed on or near a person and moved in specific positions. Reiki is noninvasive, and clients remain fully clothed.
A Reiki practitioner "transfers universal life force to the recipient," Sister Mary Jo said. The treatment starts with both the client and practitioner asking God for healing, she said.
"I ask the client what their desire is then and ask them to be open to God's graces. We then pray and ask for God's direction," she said.
"The Reiki practitioner directs the healing energy to various parts of the body, not necessarily where the person may have pain."
Sister Mary Jo, 46, was introduced to Reiki nearly 20 years ago when she was on a retreat.
"I had hurt my back and had Reiki done, but my back actually hurt more. It turned me off to Reiki, although I later learned I really should have stayed with it," she said. "Then a few years later, I decided to try it again and went every day for treatment. After only a couple of treatments, I felt better."
About that same time she saw a brochure advertising Reiki training at the Sophia Center in Cleveland. The center will send a trainer to teach a group of 12 or more, so Sister Mary Jo got a group together for training two times in Millvale. She enjoyed it so much she went to the Sophia Center for more training and had the opportunity to practice Reiki on clients and train others.
Although her education and training is in business administration, Sister Mary Jo worked for years at St. Francis Hospital with young people who were dependent on drugs and others in need. Since the hospital closed, she has stepped up her Reiki practice.
Sister Mary Jo had been practicing at the Tabor House of Prayer on Hawthorne Avenue in Millvale, where she lives, but she didn't have enough space there. "I had to put things up and take them down, so I found the [new] location late last year," she said of the center's new site at 715 North Ave., which will hold an open house Sunday.
Dorothy Pfund, of Millvale, is one of Sister Mary Jo's clients and a practitioner of Reiki. "I first went when I fell and hit my head. Of course, I went and had X-rays, but they didn't show anything and I still had pain. I went and they worked on my head and it helped," she said.
During a recent treatment, Mrs. Pfund said, "I felt a lot of heat on my head. Sister said it was because I had a head cold. The energy goes where you need it. It is really hard to describe."
Mrs. Pfund is trained as a practitioner but she performs Reiki only on friends.
Some of the practitioners do volunteer work in the community, Sister Mary Jo said. "Glenshaw Presbyterian Church will use Reiki masters in their healing services," she said.
She hopes the center will introduce more people to Reiki and that other practitioners will work from there as well.
"We want to expand our services," she said.
The open house at Tabor Reiki Center, 715 North Ave., Millvale, will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Reiki treatments and refreshments will be offered. For more information, call 412-821-1149 or visit the Web site, www.millvalefranciscans.org.
First Published February 16, 2006 12:00 am
