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Hi Livius,
To my knowledge, this has been written
by people who have had private revelations
that have not been approved by the
Church.
There is nothing in your question
that is required for Catholics to
believe. Of those things related
to private revelations from Our Lord,
Our Lady or of any Saint, the Church
teaches that the apparition is either:
- Approved: Meaning the faithful
may optionally follow its messages
because it can help the faithful
spiritually. Examples of approved
apparitions are:
- Juan Diego at Guadalupe
in Mexico, in 1531
- Catherine Labouré and
the miraculous medal at
Rue du Bac, France, in 1830
- the apparition of Mary
at La Salette in France,
in 1846, to two young children,
Mélanie Calvat aged
14, and Maximin Giraud aged
11, took place shortly before
the European revolutionary
outbursts of 1848.
- the apparition at Pontmain
in France to four young
children, in 1871
- the apparition at Knock
in Ireland a group of villages
of mixed ages, in 1879
- The apparitions at Fatima
in Portugal to Lucia dos
Santos, aged 10, and her
cousins, Jacinta and Francisco
Marto, aged 7 and 8 respectively
in 1917
- at Beauraing, to five young
children, and Banneux, to
one young girl, Mariette
Beco, in 1930s Belgium,
happened just as Hitler
was coming to power in Germany
OR
- Unapproved: meaning "unapproved
by the Universal Church".
Examples of unapproved apparitions
are:
- Garabandal apparitions from 1961 to 1965
- messages from Veronica
Lueken as Our Lady of Bayside were declared invalid by
Bishop Francis Mugavero
OR
Unapproved but under investigation:
Examples of apparitions
unapproved but under investigation
are:
- the apparitions reported
in Medjugorje
Note: The Vatican is currently
investigating this apparition.
Read the following comments
from my colleague, Richard.
Hope this helps,
Mike Humphrey
My colleague Richard offered me the
following information on Medjugorje:
To clarify about pilgrimages to Medjugorje: individual Catholic faithful
cannot be forbidden to go to St. James Church in Medjugorje. It is, after
all, a Catholic parish, and people can go there to attend Mass or for
any other legitimate reason.
What is forbidden is making pilgrimages: that is, going there on the
basis of claimed supernatural events. Many well-meaning people have never
heard that the bishops of Yugoslavia have prohibited pilgrimages, and
intended the ban to be so sweeping. Anyone needing clarification, especially
priests, can and should write to the bishop of Mostar-Duvno (even by
e-mail to biskupija@cbismo.hr !) for information.
Here are some resources:
This document cites statements and directives by the Yugoslav bishops
and CDF officials. Note: the English version is a bit awkward in places.
A news item, as it appeared on my blog:
Former advisor to seers is laicized for suspect mysticism,
heresy, disobedience, and sexual misconduct within the context
of the Medjugorje phenomenon:
Books on the case:
The Medjugorje case is a complicated matter, with its own dramatic aspects,
and the critical books about it are relatively few and unpublicized.
The best
recent book on Medjugorje is by Donal Foley, and published
by his small company Theotokos Books, which is in Britain. The book is
pretty thorough about the history of the alleged apparition, including
its problematic aspects.
I know it can't be easy to read a lot of skeptical material about something
you might have been favorably disposed to, but I hope this helps!
— Richard |
[Related posting]
[Related posting]
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