QUESTIONING THE OUTRAGEOUS CLAIMS

OF THE GARABANDAL APPARITIONS

In the 1960s, four years of alleged apparitions of Mary and others at Garabandal in Spain made a media storm.  Four young girls reported locutions and messages and visions.

Catholic opponents to the Garabandal apparitions suggest that it was not Mary for she showed too much interest in mundane things while the real Virgin would focus on the religious message almost entirely. Another problem is that the Lady asked the children to bring unblessed items to her for she wanted to bless them herself rather than a priest doing it. The Church has authorised only priests to do that and Mary is not a priest.

The Catholics say,

The bishop banned apparitions at the Church. The visionaries just knelt at the Church door and had their vision. The believers in the apparitions see no disobedience in this. But it shows disrespect for the bishop's reasons for banning them from the Church. Having the apparitions in the Church is disrespectful as the vision might not be authentic. Also, the Church says that false diabolic apparitions like to attract people to the healing power of the mass so that they can get the credit for the blessings. Satan tries to thwart God's ways not by totally working against them but by introducing problems bit by bit. It is a good strategy. Are we to think that it is not a sin to do a striptease in a Church but it is okay to do it on the doorstep?

The children touched Jesus and Mary but could feel nothing which seems to be evidence of an illusion for Jesus and Mary have bodies and Catherine Laboure rested her head on Mary’s lap.

They point out that the miracle the Lady promised that would be a warning to the whole world would disprove the scriptures when they say the return of Jesus would be unexpected for it would mean we can’t rest assured he will not come back until after the miracle. Yet the scriptures forbid such complacent attitudes. The Virgin was proved wrong when Padre Pio and the pope, Paul VI, would see the miracle for they are both dead. Supporters will be tempted to say that they will rise again in time for the show. But if you start assuming miracles to account for seeming failures you will end up having no rational reason to believe one seer and not another and the result will be chaos.

Another objection to authenticity is the fruits of Garabandal. Conchita married a divorced man which was a terrible sin according to the Lady who appeared to her and it is a problem why she lives in America rather than Garabandal where the miracle is supposed to be destined to appear. She says she does not remember the visions anymore. The real Virgin would not let such a thing happen. Neither would the Devil so Conchita was a fake. At other times she says the Church alone is to decide if she saw Mary and most of the time she says she thinks the visions were not from God. Since Garabandal says John Paul II is the last pope it follows that when the next pope is appointed there ought to be a schism for the Garabandal supporters won’t be able to recognise him as a real pope. That is schism even if they do not form a new visible Catholic Church. And the trouble is that trusted mystics of the Church say the next pope will be very very holy – meaning he will be outstanding among the popes for holiness. Catholics say that the Devil is happy to bring about conversions and cures over Garabandal with the goal of tearing the unity of the Church apart. And also a fake pope would only be allowed to exist if there was a real pope at the same time for if a fake pope could be made without a rival then we could query the authenticity of any pope. Because an apparition is optional for belief any apparition that makes such a serious claim can only be false for it is overstepping the mark.
 
APPENDIX - HOW THE CHILDREN GOT "HEAVENLY" COMMANDS TO ATTEND TO AN APPARITION
 
Hearing about the summonses, the parish priest arranged to have the little girls separated, leaving Mary Loly and Jacinta at Mary Loly's house, while Mary Cruz and Conchita remained at the latter's. The children indicated when they felt the first call and, later, the second. The instant they received the third summons, the two at Mary Loly's home and the other pair at Conchita's all dashed out at the same time and reached the lane together. There, the Blessed Virgin was waiting for them, bearing the Infant Jesus in her arms.
 
This time, the Vision had come without the angels. The Virgin and the Infant Jesus were smiling. When asked where St. Michael was, Our Lady's smile broadened.
 
The Infant Jesus was very little. He looked barely a year old. He did not utter a word, but He was laughing. On occasions, the Virgin allowed the children to hold Him. Then, the spectators observed how they held Him, adopting all the natural postures for cradling a baby. The children said afterwards that He was weightless, but that their hands met an obstruction when they touched Him.
 
"Come with me," said Mary Cruz to the Infant Jesus, "and I'll give you some candies."
 
"He didn't say anything, but she talked to us a lot," Conchita commented.
 
The apparition commenced at half-past seven and ended at eight o'clock.
 
"God shall be with you, and so shall I," said the Vision. "You will see me again tomorrow."
 
Owing to the frequency of the visions from then onwards, it is not easy to establish a definite chronological order, or to detail the main features of each occasion. Therefore, except in the case of particular visions where the dialogue was recorded, either on a tape recorder or in shorthand, we shall be obliged only to mention the outstanding points as reported by several eyewitnesses, but without stating exactly in which vision they occurred.
 
Early in July, people noticed the children picking up little pebbles from the ground and raising them on high for the Vision to kiss. At the moment of offering these stones to be kissed, they dedicated them to particular people. "This one for Andrew . . . This one for Millie . . ." and so on.

MY COMMENT: How reliable is the data on the summonses when what they were summoned for is beyond the heights of absurdity?  Sweets for Jesus?  How reliable is any of it?  If Garabandal saw miracles then the miracles were done by some God taking the piss.