Medjugorje and Proof that it’s Dangerous
Has the Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady, Queen of Peace been appearing
in Medjugorje in the former Yugoslavia since 1981? Six young people have
reported these visions and have been subjected to tests. The authenticity or
otherwise of the apparitions is a matter of great debate in the Catholic Church.
Wayne W Dyer - see Wishes Fulfilled, Hay House, London, 2012, page 4 tells us
how he took a group to Medjugorje to experience the miraculous.
Some who promote subtle forms of occultism, such as Dyer, do that. They report
the same miracles and sense of peace and good fruits as the real Catholic
pilgrims do. Page 8 has Dyer giving us Brenda Babinski's testimony to seeing
Dyer turn into St Francis of Assisi! The letter-writer reported an apparition of
a little old lady who was saying spiritual things and telling her she was an
angel. The lady disappeared. Dyer doesn't know who she was. But could it have
been an apparition of the Virgin taking the form she would have had when she
died at 60?
THE MEDJUGORJE DISGRACE
Tycoons and lunatics and travel agencies have a lot at stake in relation to the
Medjugorje phenomenon. There it all started with alleged apparitions of the
Virgin Mary in 1981. Medjugorje believers tell loads of lies. One lie is that
Pope John Paul II believed in the apparitions. While the pope could have praised
the return to communion and confession that takes place at Medjugorje this does
not imply approval of the visionaries or visions. Also popes can have whatever
private opinions they want about apparitions and his opinion would not infer
that he was giving official approval.
Bishop Zanic was bishop of the area when the visions started. He disapproved of
the apparitions and used his authority to try and stop them. And when he retired
Pope John Paul replaced him with Bishop Peric though Peric is far more opposed
to the apparitions than his predecessor. Medjugorje believers have never been
able to produce official Vatican statements to show that the pope accepted the
apparitions.
Medjugorje believers ignore the fact that the Church has condemned the
apparitions as bogus. They say the Church cannot finally decide until the
apparitions come to an end. But does the Church really need to wait until the
end? Why not examine the several years of visions at Medjugorje that have
already happened?
Regardless of the scepticism of the Church and the bans, the visionaries go
about saying that it is Mary who is appearing to them and they invite and
encourage people to believe that. They never say, "We believe that it is Mary
who is appearing to us. Everybody must make up their own mind and wait for the
final judgement of the Church." Proof of this can be found in the video/DVD
called Vicka: Her Story by Finbar O Leary available from Finbar O Leary,
Ravensdale, Church Road, Douglas, Cork, Ireland. He interviewed her and no
mention of the rule that the Church must decide if Mary is appearing there
before people can go about saying she is was made. Vicka can be taken as
supporting his conviction that Mary is appearing there. The plug for the
Video/DVD goes "the fullest account yet given, of her story and experiences with
Our Lady" which is on the back cover. It is certainly inconsistent to take ones
beliefs about Mary on the authority of the bishops and the Church and then to
proclaim an apparition to be authentic regardless of what the Church may decide.
It is easy to meet Catholics who went to Medjugorje and came back no holier than
before. If Medjugorje gets people to confession it could still be the Devil's
work for Satan only fears permanent change. He doesn't mind if he accidentally
produces some saints as long as the overall damage is worth it.
The most irritating thing about Medjugorje devotees is how they ignore all
criticism and scepticism of the apparitions and bleat, "But look how Medjugorje
brings people back to the Church and to Our Lady, the Rosary, Mass and
Confession. It must be Mary who is appearing there." Such reasoning is an insult
to the hard work of Church and secular investigators who see that whatever is
happening in Medjugorje is deceptive and dangerous. It is trying to prevent
their voice from being heard. It is really an admission that one doesn't care if
the truth is that the apparitions are false. If the apparitions are producing
that kind of false devotion then Satan is on to a winner in Medjugorje if he is
orchestrating the apparitions.
Some Catholics believe that there were real apparitions of Mary at the start but
now the visionaries have gone over to the Devil or are using psychic powers to
see the Virgin. If there is power at Medjugorje then it is certainly not down to
the current apparitions. The Church says too that beneficial spiritual effects
come from the prayer, Eucharist and confessions that take place at Medjugorje
and that people may be mistaking these effects as the work of the apparition. So
the good fruits are possibly fruits of the praying and devotion and the
sacraments not the apparition.
If there was no proof that bad rivets were used in the Titanic the following
would happen. Some people would say that bad rivets were used. Their critics
would say, "But the ship was produced by the best ship building minds in the
world. Impossible!" But it really happened - bad rivets were used. The critics
are just as bloody-minded as Medjugorje fans.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, November 1996
Regarding the circulation of texts of alleged private revelations, the
Congregation states:
The Interpretation given by some individuals to a Decision approved by Paul VI
on 14 October 1966 and promulgated on 15 November of that year, in virtue of
which writings and messages resulting from alleged revelations could be freely
circulated in the Church, is absolutely groundless. This decision actually
referred to the "abolition of the Index of Forbidden Books" and determined that
--- after the relevant censures were lifted --- the moral obligation still
remained of not circulating or reading those writings which endanger faith and
morals.
In should be recalled however that with regard to the circulation of texts of
alleged private revelations, canon 623 #1 of the current Code remains in force:
"the Pastors of the Church have the … right to demand that writings to be
published by the Christian faithful which touch upon faith or morals be
submitted to their judgment".
Alleged supernatural revelations and writings concerning them are submitted in
first instance to the judgment of the diocesan Bishop, and, in particular cases,
to the judgment of the Episcopal Conference and the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith.
Any apparition that breaks this rule, and the Medjugorje Virgin commands that
her messages be distributed as they are received, is not a Catholic apparition
or concerned about Catholic orthodoxy. The bishops are the official Catholic
teachers not apparitions. The vast majority of modern visions break the rule and
so are themselves disobedient apparitions.
THE IRISH CATHOLIC
Irish Catholic, Thursday, January 15 2009:
"Vatican to Tackle Alleged visions
People who claim they have seen the Virgin Mary will be forced to remain silent
about the apparitions until a team of psychologists and theologians have fully
investigated their claims under new Vatican guidelines aimed at stamping out
false claims of miracles. The new guidelines approved by Pope Benedict XVI, may
have grave implications for alleged visionaries such as Christina Gallagher and
her controversial Achill House of Prayer. According to the directive, anyone who
claims to have seen an apparition will only be believed as long as they remain
silent and do not court publicity over their claims. If they refuse to obey,
this will be taken as a sign that their claims are false. Ms Gallagher has
consistently refused to integrate her work into the local Church. An ongoing
investigation into Ms Gallagher's claim that she receives visions of the Virgin
Mary has found no evidence. Local Archbishop, Michael Neary, has consistently
pointed out that the Achill organisation has no Church backing and insisted that
Ms Gallagher's work does not enjoy his confidence".
Despite the directive, the Medjugorje visionaries continue to give messages from
Mary and court publicity. They are in effect accusing the Roman Catholic Virgin
Mary of disobeying the pope despite her messages that the pope is her Son's
representative on earth and to be obeyed! If these visions are miraculous then
they show that we should not regard apparitions as reliable sources of truth or
doctrine. It is obvious that since the Roman faith is fairly complicated and
there is supposed to be a very clever Devil influencing people, that no genuine
Catholic would give a message supposedly from Heaven without first having it
looked over by the Church and found to be compatible with and supportive of
Catholic doctrine.
The Medjugorje Virgin never directed the visionaries to have the messages
checked by the authorised representatives of the Church before they were
delivered to the people. They indeed never made any effort to do so. This was
certainly a very dubious thing to do - they were more concerned about pleasing
people, they were more concerned about an apparition and they were more
concerned about the glory of being thought to be messengers of Mary than the
purity of the Catholic faith. The Catholic faith teaches that it is the Church
that holds the word of God not visions which are supposed to only draw attention
to the Church's authority to teach instead of assuming an authority of their
own.
UNDERSTANDING MEDJUGORJE, HEAVENLY VISIONS OR RELIGIOUS ILLUSION? Donal Anthony
Foley, Theotokos Books, Nottingham, 2006
To Order Understanding Medjugorje visit http://www.theotokos.org.uk or write to
Theotokos Books, PO Box, 8570, Nottingham, England
Videos
VISIONS ON DEMAND, Network 5 International, 1997
DIVINE OR DECEIVED? COVER-UP, Network 5 International, 1998
Contact:
Network 5 International
PO Box 51
Liverpool
L69 3EE
