Miracle or Myth

Medjugorje is back in the news today as Pope Benedict XVI “has authorized ‘severe cautionary and disciplinary measures’ against Father Tomislav Vlasic, the former ‘spiritual director’ to six children who said Our Lady was appearing to them at Medjugorje in Bosnia.” (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1052230/Pope-finally-launches-crackdown-worlds-largest-illicit-Catholic-shrine-suspends-dubious-priest.html#)

The alleged apparitions began in June 1981. “Three Church commissions failed to find evidence to support their claims and the bishops of the former Yugoslavia finally declared that ‘it cannot be affirmed that these matters concern supernatural apparitions or revelations’”.

The pope was forced to punish Father Vlasic after the Franciscan refused to cooperate with a
Church investigation of him for the following:

· Scandalous sexual immorality aggravated by mystical motivations
· Diffusion of dubious doctrine
· Manipulation of consciences,
· Suspected mysticism
· Disobedience towards legitimately issued orders
· Suspicions of heresy and schism

Although then-cardinal Ratzinger banned pilgrimages to Medjugorje in 1985, hundreds of thousands of people continue to flock to the site. Many have returned with anecdotal evidence of the site’s holiness. A priest once told me that a friend of his—also a cleric—entered a Medjugorje church with an old, tarnished set of rosary beads. When he left the church the rosary beads had turned to shining gold.

Were these alleged apparitions truly visitations from the Virgin Mother and is Medjugorje another Fatima? Or is the whole phenomena a case of mass hysteria where people are seeing what they want to see? Or worse, is the whole thing merely a hoax?
One detail that seems more than coincidental is that the phenomena took place just a few years prior to the War in the Balkans that ravaged the former Yugoslavia and saw unspeakable acts of cruelty and genocide. One would expect that if there were a place Mary would visit to warn of doom it would be the location of a future war.

However, there are also legitimate arguments against the apparitions’ credibility. For ex, the above article mentions that “the seers have grown wealthy as a result of their claims – and so has their town, which has boomed as a result of the ‘Madonna gold rush’. Some today own smart executive houses with immaculate gardens, double garages and security gates, and one has a tennis court.”

It seems unlikely that those blessed by apparitions from the Virgin Mother would be concerned with accumulating wealth or that the town blessed by these supernatural visits would transform itself into a country-club community. One would think that being visited by Our Mother would be a life-altering experience revealing the necessity of seeking God’s kingdom as opposed to the transitory gifts of this world. For instance, Lúcia de Jesus Rosa Santos was one of the witnesses of Mary’s apparitions at Fatima. As an adult she entered a convent and became a Carmelite nun. (The other two children who witnessed the Fatima apparitions, Jacinta and Francisco, died shortly after the visions)

This issue will not go away anytime soon. It’ll be fascinating to see how it unfolds. Will Medjugorje’s followers be vindicated or will Italian Bishop Andrea Gemma’s claim that Medjugorje is the “‘work of the Demon’” prevail?


Donald Tremblay

The Wrong One

“And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are.” (John 17:11)

What if the Church itself is a big reason why Christ’s followers are not “One”?

The schism in the Anglican Church has raised the possibility of a mass conversion to Roman Catholicism. However, experts in greater numbers are openly questioning whether certain elements in the Roman Church will try and prevent this unity. Syndicated columnist Rod Dreher points this out in his Beliefnet.com column, “Ex-Anglicans: The Wrong Kind of Catholics?” (http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/08/exanglicans-the-wrong-kind-of.html) The traditional, conservative bloc of the Anglican Church is in revolt over the American Anglican Church’s decision to ordinate homosexuals and women as bishops. Serious discussions are ongoing about this disaffected group uniting with Rome in some capacity. More priests, more Catholics, and more supporters for the Vatican . Why would anyone in the Roman Church object? “Some Catholic clergy don't want those traddie Episcopalians, presumably because they would be a force for Catholic orthodoxy.”

Bingo.

Dreher hits it on the head. The Roman Church, particularly the American branch, contains a strong liberal contingent among its clergy. The shift toward tradition already underway thanks to Pope Benedict is already marginalizing these liberal factions. What could be worse for their careers than an influx of religious conservatives who will diminish their influence even further?

Dreher relates a story “about a former Episcopal bishop of Fort Worth who wanted to convert to Rome but was sabotaged by Catholic clergy”. It’s worth reading.



Donald Tremblay

Mass Conversion in Rome ’s Future?

Damian Thompson covers the Roman Catholic Church for the London newspaper the Daily Telegraph. His “Holy Smoke” columns often raise issues that you rarely read in American religious publications and virtually never read in our secular newspapers. An example of this can be found in his Wednesday, July 16 column “Benedict is Encouraging Anglican Converts” (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2008/07/16/benedict_is_encouraging_anglican_converts)

Thompson correctly points out that “progressive” American Catholics are horrified at the prospect of a mass conversion of orthodox Anglicans to the Roman Church. In response they are spreading the fallacy that Pope Benedict rejects any support of those in conflict with the Anglican churches latest moves supporting homosexual clergy and women bishops:

“Liberals claim that Pope Benedict has ‘let it be known that he does not support the defection of conservative Anglicans to the Roman

Catholic Church’. He has done no such thing.

The Pope is supporting moves by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to construct a model whereby a group of rebel conservative Anglicans, the Traditional Anglican Communion, can be received en masse and occupy their own structures inside the Roman Catholic Church. This model which is being constructed in secret – could serve as a blueprint for mainstream Anglicans wanting to convert as a group.”

Thompson also reminds readers that this is not the first time that Pope Benedict has supported conservative Anglicans. In 2003 then-Cardinal Ratzinger “sent a personal message of support to conservative Anglicans meeting in Dallas ,” an action that put him in conflict with the Vatican ’s ecumenism representatives.

Read Thompson’s column.

Donald Tremblay