PRIVATE REVELATION
Medjugorje, Banality, and the
Balkans:
The "Seer"-ing
Truth
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"For there shall be a time, when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires,
they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the
truth, but will be turned unto fables."
2 Timothy 4.3-4 |
(Latest
Updates appear at the end of this article)
Private
revelation and "private interpretation" — the benchmark of the
Protestant Reformation — have, regrettably, much in common in the
way of cultic practices that often emerge from them, practices that
as often as not assume a primacy in the way of revelation that
presumes, however implicitly, to supersede the definitive Revelation
of God in Jesus Christ that comes to us through Holy Scripture.
Saint Paul himself speaks of it unsparingly — and how presciently!
In some magnificent instances — exceptions, really,— private
revelation has been the seed of wide spiritual renewal, much as we
had found, and still find, at Fatima and Lourdes. Bear in mind that
both St. Bernadette and Sister Lucia had assiduously avoided
publicity and sought refuge in anonymity, living the remainder of
their lives in poverty and seclusion.
In other instances, the result has been less salutary for the
Church. There are far, far too many to enumerate. The "Bayside
Apparitions" revealed to the discredited "Seer", Veronica Leuken,
suffice for us in America, but you can choose your own country. So many "private revelations" have been flagrantly
contra fide, leading the credulous and erstwhile faithful into
error, sometimes very serious error — to the point of contention
with, and disobedience to, the Church itself.
These are deep and potentially hostile waters; in many cases
veritable vortices of misguided spiritual excess that drain upon
themselves ignominiously in an inevitably and ultimately embarrassing denouement — an excess that results from, and thrives
within, the suffocating spiritual vacuum so often experienced in our
parishes-become-civic-centers, and at our sometimes shamefully
trivialized Masses.
Seeking spiritual meaning, a dimension of being that is
realistically tangent to supernatural realities for which they
experience a connatural affinity, so many faithful Catholics flee to
the first rumor of things supernatural ... to the promise of
tangible realities that are either sadly lacking or simply denied
them in their own pews. The disinterested and perfunctory recitation
of Masses by Priests, the appalling state of increasingly
secularized music and instrumentation — the increasingly feminized
complexion of the Sanctuary and Altar — and a gospel that becomes
increasingly "social" and "gender-laden", drives the thirst for
authentic spirituality to be quenched elsewhere. As "New Age" and
"Woman Church" spirituality encroaches on the pews, however thinly
disguised, the pews become vacant in the desperate pursuit of
something authentic, "something genuine", something apart from the
vapid desiderations and bankrupt manifestos of aging social
activists who are allowed a podium at the pulpit.
"We don't find Jesus Christ there.
Perhaps we can find Him ... or
this failing, His Mother! ... elsewhere!"
If these understandably disillusioned souls remain in the Church,
they often remain a cult in the Church, a cadre, really, of the
"initiated" who will bring something spiritual back to the Church
— and sadly, so often, something corrupt. The seat of authority in
Rome is often effectively displaced by authority elsewhere: whether
Bayside or the Balkans, the effect is the same.
When we cease to find — when we are no longer led to — when we
are actively deprived of — the authentic Word of God spoken once,
unequivocally, authoritatively, and unalterably in the Person of
Jesus Christ through Holy Scripture and in the Most Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass — we go, in our desperation, to where rumor leads us
... and if that to which it leads us speaks decisively, with
conviction, even with presumed authority — we will
listen. It appears to us that at least someone is quite clear
about where we are going and what we must do ... however bizarre or
banal it may be. It is the human and immemorial quest for certainty,
a certainty that the Church has hedged upon, to its own decimation,
for the past 40 years. Not without reason did Jesus pity us as
"sheep without a shepherd", knowing neither where, nor to whom, to
go. He knew us well.
Deprived of the "Authentic Revelation" of God and His will in the
Person of Jesus Christ, we succumb to "private revelation" and
attempt to build a church within the Church, not founded on Peter
... but on the utterances of "Seers" and "Visionaries" who will
tell us, unequivocally, what we must do — where our priests and
bishops, in an apparent state of theological apathy, meekly and
uncertainly ... "suggest" what we must do — in deference to a
"correctness" that will offend no one.
Man, however, does not want to be "correct,"— He wants to be
saved.
"Visionaries" and "Seers" are well aware of this.
Regrettably, many of our bishops, priests, and Directors of
Religious Education — to say nothing of our seminaries —are not.
Very clearly, we will not go to those who, charged with the truth,
are alternately reluctant, embarrassed, or unwilling to "speak" it.
To what end?
So let us go to those
who, while not charged with it, at least purport to "see" it — let
us go to the "Seers"!
This is the sad state of much in the way of "private revelation". It
has the uncanny ability to metamorphose into authority. The Vicar of
Jesus Christ on Earth speaks daily. Do you know of any organized
group that (apart from ZENIT
www.zenit.org ) takes the time or makes the effort to
listen, and to disseminate what they have heard from him to whom
Christ has entrusted his Church?
The "Gospa" of Medjugorje, on the other hand, has
delivered over 30,000 messages ... to date ... and they are, for all their
simplicity, rote, and banal, and published voluminously in every
imaginable format — as well as studied assiduously in thousands of
"Medjugorje Centers" in America and elsewhere.
"What has the Gospa revealed today?
What are the catastrophes
looming over us as the Sword of Damocles suspended by the thinnest
strand of a horse's hair — and held by the Gospa alone from
plunging down upon disbelievers and sinners alike, fraught with
towering anger and impending rage?"
Peter speaks but, turning no Rosaries to gold, is politely ignored.
Ivan, and five others speak (at "scheduled conferences" world wide)
and the masses await with bated breath. Odd. Let us look at this
notable case in point — and undoubtedly to the consternation of
many readers.
Medjugorje: A Paradigm of Private Revelation Gone Awry
... 25
years ...
30,000 (thousand) messages ... and still counting ...
The first apparition at Medjugorje in the former Yugoslavia was
on June 24, 1981, occurring on the "Hill of Apparition" immediately
behind which — precisely on that day 40 years earlier — Utashi
Croats, allies of the Nazis, had massacred 600 Serb women and
children for two reasons: they were not Catholics, but Orthodox
Christians, and they were not fascists. The ghastly specter of
scandal involving the complicity of the Franciscans with the
genocidal mania of the Nazis, Croats, and Muslims has not subsided
to this day (http://news.suc.org/bydate/2001/Feb_05/13.html).
These are the same Franciscans who are now the spiritual managers of
the "Seers" — and what is most notable and very much to the point
is that all have acted in disobedience to their local Ordinaries
(that is, the Bishops of Mostar: first Pavao Zanic, and,
subsequently, Ratko Peric) of the diocese in which the "apparitions"
occur:
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"The
Franciscans who claim to be serving Our Lady at
Medjugorje have been formally expelled from the local
diocese of Mostar and Duvno. The expulsion was made by
both the bishop of Mostar and the father general of the
Order of Friars Minor. This took effect on February 21,
1999. The joint expulsion was approved by the Vatican.
The rebel Franciscans continue to control parishes in
the diocese in disobedience to the Church. The latest
expulsions follow the expulsions of the other two
Franciscans who refused to hand over the parish of
Capljina in 1996. Their expulsion was confirmed in
1998".
"According to
Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, whose diocese
includes Medjugorje, the messages now number more than
30,000, a fact that only increases his own skepticism
about the authenticity of the apparitions.
Bishop Peric discussed Medjugorje with Pope Benedict XVI
earlier this year during a visit to the Vatican. In a
summary of the discussion published in his diocesan
newspaper, Bishop Peric said he had reviewed the history
of the apparitions with the pope, who already was aware
of the main facts from his time as head of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"The Holy Father told me: We at the congregation always
asked ourselves how can any believer accept as authentic
apparitions that occur every day and for so many years?"
Bishop Peric said.
Bishop Peric noted that Yugoslavian bishops in 1991
issued a statement that "it cannot be confirmed that
supernatural apparitions or revelations are occurring"
at Medjugorje.
Bishop Peric said he told the Pope that his own opinion
was even stronger -- not only that a supernatural
element cannot be proven, but that "it is certain that
these events do not concern supernatural apparitions."
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0603480.htm |
Mary,
it is alleged, appears at least monthly to the ... "Seers" or
"Visionaries" as their followers call them ... which means that the
Mother of God has appeared well over 300 times to the
"Visionaries/Seers" in the ensuing 28 years. Her Son, Jesus Christ,
"publicly" appeared for 3 ...
Thousands upon thousands make "pilgrimages" to Medjugorje in the
hope of seeing their Rosaries turn gold (an often cited
"supernatural" occurrence ... although of the many, many, thousands,
I have known none who have brought one gold Rosary back).
That a far greater and authentic miracle occurs in the humble Mass
of every parish throughout the world where ordinary bread and wine
are turned into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is, apparently,
less ... sensational. How is the hidden Christ, eluding our senses
in the Sacred Species of Bread and Wine, to contend with an
unparalleled opportunity to see and even speak with a "Seer", a
"Visionary" — perhaps with with several of them — who
(unlike St. Bernadette or Sister Lucia) make themselves eagerly
available to the well paying crowds and whose itinerary rivals the
peregrinations of St. Paul. Consider the following:
http://www.medjugorje.org/ivanse.htm
This site lists Ivan's (one of the 6 Seers, or Visionaries) Speaking
Schedule for 2009 — there are 24 — and a "Prayer
Experience Package", stating that:
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Your
Prayer
Experience Package
Includes:
-
Quality
Air and Ground Transportation
-
Air
Conditioned Accommodations (double & triple
occupancy, Private baths)
-
Hot
Breakfast & Dinner Daily (served by Ivan & Family)
-
English
Speaking Tour Guide
-
Meetings
with Fr. Jozo & other visionaries (when available)
-
Prices
are for New York departures and do not include
airline tax. Prices are subject to change. If seats
are no longer available in class quoted,
reservations will be made at a higher rate.
Deviations will affect tour prices. Please ask us
about airfare rates from your city.
Furthermore, the site, in the classical
parlance of the lucrative travel and tourist
industry, offers:
****** Exclusively for our Prayer Experience
Pilgrims******
-
Special
Times of Prayer & Group Meetings & Discussions with
Ivan in our home chapel
-
Unlimited use of our private home chapel (apparition
room)*, books & tapes
-
Ivan
will take you back and share his experience of the
first days of the apparitions during a
private tour guided by Ivan. Relive the first days
of the apparitions as though you were there.
-
Morning
Prayer & Rosary together daily
-
Ivan
will take group to Apparition Hill for Prayer &
Meditation
-
There
will be plenty of opportunities to speak privately
with Ivan during your stay
And all
for just under $2800.00 dollars US
http://www.pilgrimages.com/prayerexperience
Quite a bargain ...
Of course, there is one official proviso:
-
"WE CANNOT PROMISE THAT THE GROUP WILL BE ABLE TO
ATTEND AN APPARITION WITH IVAN. Simply because we
are not sure when our Blessed Mother will stop
appearing to him." (ibid.).
Of course ... We can never tell, after all, when
these things may cease — after 28 years and counting.
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The
point?
Medjugorje is roughly 5,000 miles from Boston.
Your Bible is beside your bed (or ought to be). The Altar of God is
very likely a few minutes from home.
If you lust after the extraordinary, the "supernatural", if you long
for the holy, and wish to be witness to and the recipient of the
greatest miracle of all time —- go to Mass. It is not
likely that your Rosaries will turn to gold, but perhaps something
far greater still will come to be transformed: your very heart. Two
things surely will be transformed — mere bread into the
Body of Christ, and the simplest wine into His Blood.
When you have read the Bible and all that God has definitively said
to you once and for all time in and through His Only Begotten and
Beloved Son; when you can recite Scripture chapter and verse ... and
still you long for the Balkans, go. But you will not find
there what you have failed to find in Jesus Christ — Who comes to
you in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the
words of Sacred Scripture!
Such
magnificent humility!
Would
that we learn from God and see with eyes that see ... rather than
through the eyes of others who are "Seers" for us.
Printable PDF Version
Former Medjugorje pastor laicized, dismissed from
Franciscans July 27, 2009)
______________________________________________________________
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Medjugorje bishop
emphasizes: don’t view alleged apparitions as 'worthy of faith'
September 29, 2009
In a homily posted on his diocesan website, Bishop Ratko Peric, who
has led the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno since 1993, has emphasized that
the alleged apparitions and messages of Medjugorje are not to be
treated as “worthy of faith.” The bishop has imposed a series of
restrictions on activities in Medjugorje, clearly designed to
discourage interest in the supposed apparitions.
“Brothers and sisters, let us not act as if these 'apparitions' were
recognized and worthy of faith,” he said. “If, as Catholics, devoted
sons and daughters of the Church, we want to live according to the
norms and the teaching of the Church, glorifying the Holy Trinity,
venerating Blessed Mary ... and professing all the Church has
established in the creed, we do not turn to certain alternative
'apparitions' or 'messages' to which the Church has not attributed
any supernatural character.”
Bishop Peric has also written to the parish priests of Medjugorje,
reminding them of a series of restrictions. The priests have been
instructed not to identify the site of the alleged apparitions as a
"shrine," not to promote events connected with the apparitions, and
not to include the "seers" in parish activities. The prayers and
messages connected with the alleged apparitions are not to be
printed in the parish bulletin, nor used in parish prayer services;
the priests are not to comment on them. Priests who come to
Medjurgorje from outside the diocese are not to hold conferences or
retreats without the bishop's permission, and any priest who visits
the parish is required to provide proof that he has proper faculties
from his own bishop before celebrating Mass there.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=4170
MEDJUGORJE-RULES
Sep-28-2009 (600 words) xxxi
Mostar bishop reiterates rules for Medjugorje parish
By
Catholic News Service
MOSTAR, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNS)
-- Confirming young people from the parish in the Bosnian town of
Medjugorje, Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno asked
them not to behave as if the alleged Marian apparitions reported in the
parish were real.
In late September, the bishop posted on his diocesan Web site an Italian
translation of his homily from the June confirmation Mass, as well as
letters to the Franciscan pastor of the Medjugorje parish and to another
priest serving there.
Bishop Peric had told the young people that, during a visit to the
Vatican early in the year, the top officials at the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith and the Vatican Secretariat of State confirmed
they were telling anyone who asked that the Catholic Church has never
recognized the alleged apparitions as authentic.
"Brothers and sisters, let us not act as if these 'apparitions' were
recognized and worthy of faith," the bishop said in the homily he gave
June 6.
"If, as Catholics, devoted sons and daughters of the church, we want to
live according to the norms and the teaching of the church, glorifying
the Holy Trinity, venerating Blessed Mary ... and professing all the
church has established in the creed, we do not turn to certain
alternative 'apparitions' or 'messages' to which the church has not
attributed any supernatural character," Bishop Peric said.
After the confirmation Mass in Medjugorje, the bishop also made a
pastoral visit to the parish and published the follow-up letters he had
written to Franciscan Father Petar Vlasic, the pastor, and to Franciscan
Father Danko Perutina, one of the parochial vicars.
The bishop praised Father Vlasic for the way he was handling what he
called "the Medjugorje phenomenon," which began in 1981 when six young
people -- Mirjana Dragicevic, Marija Pavlovic, Vicka Ivankovic, Ivan
Dragicevic, Ivanka Ivankovic and Jakov Colo -- said they had seen Mary
on a hillside near their town. Several of them say they continue to see
Mary and receive messages from her.
In his letter, the bishop reaffirmed that
priests from outside the parish
cannot give conferences or lead retreats at the parish without written
permission from his office and that no one can use parish facilities to
promote the alleged apparitions or messages. The bishop specified that
the pastor should ensure that Father Perutina stop offering comments on
the messages Pavlovic claims to receive on the 25th of each month.
He also asked Father Vlasic to remove from the parish Web
site all references to the parish and its church buildings as a shrine
or sanctuary and to ban prayers allegedly dictated by Mary or suggested
by her alleged messages from liturgies and prayer services inside the
church, including public recitations of the rosary.
"We have enough official ecclesiastical intentions (pontifical,
episcopal, missionary, etc.) and there is no need to turn arbitrarily to
the presumed apparitions and messages and mix them with the public
prayers of the church," he said.
In his letter to Father Perutina, who was assigned to the Medjugorje
parish after completing a degree in Mariology at a pontifical university
in Rome, Bishop Peric said he did not understand why the priest was
publishing a commentary on the monthly message Pavlovic claims to
receive.
"Gradually we have been able to distance the 'apparitions' and
'messages' from the parish church and church environs," the bishop said,
but the fact that a Franciscan from the parish is commenting on the
messages creates confusion.
"These are private messages to private people for private use," he said,
ordering the Franciscan to cease commenting on or publicizing them in
any way.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0904306.htm
Update: directives on
Medjugorje
By Richard Chonak on September 28, 2009 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments
(54)
[SUMMARY: Bp. Ratko
Peric of Mostar-Duvno in Bosnia and Herzegovina has sent letters to the
pastor and a parochial vicar at Medjugorje, with specific
directives about how
they and the parish are not to promote the alleged
apparitions of the place:
•that alleged messages and commentaries on them are not to be
published;
•that prayers from the apparitions are not to be used publicly;
•the parish church is not to be called a "shrine", even privately;
•that foreign priests may not give conferences or retreats without
permission of the bishop;
•foreign priests wishing to offer Mass must present a celebret from
their diocese or order, and the information is to be recorded;
•a privately-built church has already been closed and is not to be used;
•unauthorized religious communities have no permission to set up
residence;
•and about regulating several other forms of promotion of the alleged
phenomenon.
This is a newly published document from the website of the diocese of
Mostar-Duvno. (Note: the web page contains three documents; scroll down
to see the source for what follows.) Here I am presenting a translation
based on the Italian version on the website, so I have to acknowledge
the limitations involved in a derivative translation. Any mistakes are
my responsibility; please inform me via the comment box of improvements
or corrections. Thanks! -- Richard Chonak]
Letter of the bishop to Friar Petar Vlasic, parish priest of
Medjugorje
Mostar, 12 June 2009.: Prot. 648/2009
Reverend parish priest friar Peter!
After having made the canonical visit to the parish of Medjugorje last
Wednesday, 10 June, where nine other Franciscan fathers share the
pastoral care of souls with you, according to the directive issued by
this office, I wish to make reference now, by this means, to several
points.
Inasmuch as you are the current parish priest, who have been working in
that capacity since September 2007, I express to you my sincere thanks
for maintaining transparent records in the books of registration and
other matters. For a parish priest, as for a bishop - it is really
essential to carry out not only the munus docendi et
sanctificandi, but also the
munus gubernandi entrusted to us.
Munus docendi:
The rule is still valid that in
the parish of Medjugorje priests coming from elsewhere are not permitted
to conduct retreats or spiritual exercises, nor to hold conferences,
without the approval of this office. (Circular of 23.8.2001, #1290/2001)
Analogously, neither foreign nor domestic priests can
promote alleged "messages" or "apparitions" which have not been
proclaimed authentic in that church or on church property.
Munus sanctificandi:
It is praiseworthy that you
require from every priest who wishes to celebrate the Holy Mass at
Medjugorje the celebret of
his ecclesiastical superior and that you record in a particular book all
the concelebrants, from the beginning of this year.
As well, you have kept me informed about the "Oasis of
peace", which, since the intervention of this office on 15 December
2008, no longer keeps the
Blessed Sacrament privately in their chapel and no longer conducts
adoration, which they had been doing according to their own account.
They do not have permission as a religious association to reside in the
territory of this diocese.
Munus gubernandi:
You have informed me that the
church in Bijakovic, built by a foreign member of the faithful as his
ex voto, without the
necessary request and approval of the competent ecclesiastical
authority, has been closed by now and that no services are conducted in
it.
In the parish chronicle you have made sure to record, with the right
terminology, everything that happens to this parish as a pastoral unit
of this diocese, without regard to all the stories about "seers",
"apparitions", and "messages" connected with the parish.
"The Phenomenon of
Medjugorje":
The "Shrine".
The parish of Medjugorje cannot be called a shrine, neither privately,
nor publicly, not officially, because it is not recognized as such by
any level of competent ecclesial authority. And that wording cannot
appear on the web site of "Medjugorje - place of prayer and
reconciliation", where it is currently found in many places.
In a statement on that site - where there is no indication of who is
responsible for it - this message appears: "To avoid any
misunderstanding, we wish to underscore that the Shrine has not given
the mission of representing Medjugorje to anyone. The Shrine has not
given the mission to any community or person either in Medjugorje or
outside of Medjugorje - of speading or interpreting the messages of the
Gospa. All these initiatives are private and voluntary on the part of
the faithful and the communities."
From that statement it appears as if the site is proclaiming itself as
being a "Shrine". Then it seems in some way to be the only competent
[source] to give instruction to the world. As the local Ordinary, in
this present letter, I declare that the so-called "shrine"
has no mission to declare itself a "Shrine", nor to present (the parish)
with that title, because it has no ecclesiastical mission to present
itself in the name of Medjugorje, nor to spread or interpret the
"apparitions" and "messages" of Medjugorje.
Commentaries on the "messages": I have already discussed
with you and with another vicar, with friar Danko Perutina, who writes
and publishes the commentaries on the "messages" issued from the
"apparitions" on the 25th of the month. It was said that he receives the
"messages" of the "seer" Marija from Italy or from Medjugorje when she
is in that location, and then he presents them there, comments on them
and publishes them. This is contrary to the decision and request of this
Curia, especially after the declaration of 10 June 2006, which was
repeated in the parish church on 6 July 2009 (the accompanying homily).
The Cenacolo. After our intervention, on Christmas Day of
last year, there are no longer private "apparitions" in the courtyard of
the Cenacolo by the alleged "seer" Mirjana Dragićević, married name
Soldo, on the second of each month.
The association "Queen of Peace..." I have been informed
in our meeting that in the association founded by Tomislav Vlašić at
Medjugorje, which equally has no permission to reside in the territory
of this diocese, there are some members, men and women, who dress in lay
clothes.
The number of prayers. In September 2007, on the occasion
of your installation in the office of parish priest, I indicated to you
that the so-called "seers" cannot present themselves on any
occasion to promote their private "apparitions" and "messages", nor to
preside, nor to have anyone preside in their place, at the recitation of
a certain number of prayers "received" in an "apparition". Therefore,
they cannot use prayers from scripture or those approved by the Church
as a means of introducing "numbers" and "messages" from the private
"apparition".
The intentions of the rosary. It is
equally not permitted to introduce intentions received in an
"apparition" or "message" during the prayer of the Rosary of Our Lady.
We have sufficient official intentions (from the Pope, from the bishop,
for the missions) and there is no need to arbitrarily have recourse to
alleged apparitions and messages and mix them with the Church's public
prayers.
Anniversaries.
It is not permitted that the "seers" be invited and present themselves
in the parish church or on any church properties at any time, especially
on occasions related to the "apparitions" of Medjugorje, to promote
their private "messages" and "apparitions".
Therefore, we do not mix the unrecognized with what is recognized, the
private with the official, the non-liturgical with the liturgical.
Grateful for what you, together with the other friars of the parish,
undertake for the good of souls, and because you know how to clearly
separate pastoral care from private "apparitions" and "messages", I
greet you with devout respects.
And the second
letter:
Letter of the bishop to friar Danko Perutina, parochial vicar
of Medjugorje
Mostar, 12 June 2009; Prot. 649/2009
Reverend friar Danko!
After your priestly ordination in 1999 and at the conclusion of your
studies, I appointed you, at the suggestion of your religious superiors,
in 2000, parochial vicar of Humac. Then, again at the suggestion of your
provincial governor, in 2001, vicar of Medjugorje, in 2005 again of
Humac, and in 2007 at Medjugorje. In the meantime, you studied and
obtained a degree in mariology at Rome.
I write to you in reference to your commentaries on the so-called
"messages" and "apparitions" on the 25th day of the month. In an
official visit to Medjugorje on the 10 June, I had a conversation with
you, with the parish priest friar Petar Vlasic and another vicar
present.
In the conversation it became clear that Marija Pavlović, married name
Lunetti, daily "seer" who lives in Italy, and temporarily also at
Medjugorje, sends to the parish office or to some one of your pastoral
workers in the parish of Medjugorje, her "message" of the 25th day of
the month, which is then published on the Medjugorje web site and in
other mass media. And you regularly make commentary on the monthly
"message", which is published in various languages.
When I asked how the "messages" of the 25th were published, and not the
other "messages" said to be "private", I did not feel I received a clear
and convincing answer. I do not know who has sent and authorized you to
comment on them and publish them on the site. What sort of person is
assuming the right to decide that some "messages" be omitted and others
published, and that this is done through the parish office and the site
connected with the parish of Medjugorje?
We are gradually succeeding in distancing the unrecognized "apparitions"
and "messages" from the parish church and from church property, and the
appearances of the "seers" before or after Holy Mass. In that
conversation I reminded you of having asked in 2006, and reconfirmed in
2009 from the altar, that "No priest who works
canonically in this parish of Medjugorje or who is here temporarily, is
authorized to present his private opinion, contrary to the official
position of the Church on the "apparitions and messages", neither at the
celebration of the sacraments, or during the regular acts of devotion,
nor in the Catholic media."
(homily attached).
To avoid any misunderstanding, in this present letter I declare that
you, according to my decree, are not authorized, either in the name of
the parish office or as parochial vicar, to comment upon and publish the
"messages" of the 25th or any other day of the month. These are private
"messages" of private persons for private use. And we cannot permit that
this is given the form of a message from the parish office, from the
parish priest, or any parochial vicar, or even of the "Shrine" which is
not recognized as such at any level: not diocesan, or the level of the
episcopal conference, or of the Holy See.
Therefore I expect with trust, without any further admonitions, that
from now on you will not publish your commentaries, either in the name
of the parish office or in your own name, or under a pseudonym, not
after the 25th of this month or at all, as long as things continue as
is.
I greet you with devout respects.
http://catholiclight.stblogs.org/archives/2009/09/new-directives.html
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Suggested reading:
http://www.medjugorje.org/mediv1.htm
http://www.culturewars.com/CultureWars/Archives/cw_feb98/surmanci.html
http://www.culturewars.com/CultureWars/Archives/cw_feb98/surmanci.html
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