For the past sixteen years, SLUH’s Fr. Joseph Hill, S.J. has traveled the world as a Jesuit, venturing to the far corners of the earth to minister to people of all races and ethnicities. Journeying across the globe has led to many interesting stories for Hill, many of which have gone untold. The Prep News sat down with Fr. Hill and listened to him share tales from his past. 

“I was in Puerto Rico in my first year as a priest. I was in this parish and one day this guy walks in,” said Hill. “The pastor was not there and this guy asked to talk to a priest, so I asked him what was the problem.” 

The man began explaining how he was having all of these weird manifestations and he believed that he was possessed by a demon. 

“I had obviously heard about this stuff, but they really don’t train you on how to deal with this situation,” said Hill. 

Hill offered to pray over the man and provide him the sacrament of Confession, which the man gratefully accepted. 

“When I made the sign of the cross and said the words ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,’ he began convulsing and shaking,” said Hill. “His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he began drawing up as if he were about to puke, but nothing came out.”

Fr. Hill immediately pulled out his Holy Water and sprinkled it on him, and called the dioceasen exorcist. 

“The exorcist came down, and he continued manifesting, but we eventually got him to calm down and that was sort of that.”

Not all of Hill’s stories revolve around encountering the demonic. Many involve crazy experiences he has had ministering to teenagers. 

“So during the week, I helped two high schools that I had previously served at get set up, and I spent a lot of time with them,” said Hill.
Expecting a fun and vibrant weekend with teenagers, Hill never anticipated that his weekend would become bogged down, literally.

“On the last night, we had this overnight prayer vigil on the beach, and we slept there for the night,” said Hill. “Well these kids built these huge sand walls to protect us from the tides while we were sleeping.” 
Throughout the course of the night, the sea water bashed the sand wall, eroding it over time. 

“At around three am I was dead tired, but I heard a wave crash right next to us and soak the group next to us,” said Hill. “I remember thinking: ‘I should probably move these kids.’ But I was just too tired.”

Thirty minutes later, Hill regretted the decision to not move the students when a colossal wave came barreling in, soaking the group and washing many of their belongings into the ocean. 

“It was a total nightmare,” said Hill, laughing. “There were literally guys running into the ocean in the middle of the night, grabbing their backpacks and trying to pull them out. Everybody was soaked, and our food was strewn across the beach. It was a disaster.”  

Though that World Youth Day outing ended in a complete disaster, on the previous World Youth Day, Hill saw the power of God’s love.

“In 2011, during the overnight vigil, it started to rain, and I mean it was pouring down rain,” said Hill. 

Hill was there with a school group as a chaperone, standing in a field during Eucharistic Adoration with over a million people outside of Barcelona when it started pouring.

“We had brought these tarps to sit on, so we lifted them over our head to protect us from the rain,” said Hill. “A bunch of other people had nowhere to go, so these people from all across the globe stood with us under these tarps, which was really cool in itself.” 

After Hill had settled in under the tent, he noticed that many of the members from his group were missing. 

“As the leader I was like, ‘Where are they?’” said Hill. “I noticed that about 50 of them were huddled tightly together praying the rosary together and getting totally soaked. During that moment I could just tell that they all were receiving some special grace, and I could just tell that each one of them was impacted by that experience.” 

During his years in ministry, Fr. Hill has seen a lot of things and has encountered a lot of people.

“There are alot of stories,” said Hill. “And I’ll tell them another day maybe.”