S ARE HOAXES
Mercenary Medjugorje
Why Mary is not Appearing There
Vicka
jumps away from the man about to stab her in the eyes during a “vision”. She claims she is not aware of what is
around her when seeing the Virgin and that she jumped because Mary seemed to
be about to drop the baby Jesus and she wanted to catch him! Then why jump backwards and not open the
hands to catch the child? Also note
that these two visionaries are not looking in the same direction. It is as if they are only pretending that
there is a person only the visionaries can see in front of them.
Again
two “visionaries” looking in different directions and expressing different
emotions as if they are play acting
External
Link
OFFICIAL
CHURCH DOCUMENTATION REFUTING THE APPARITIONS
This book
The Setting
Heresy And
Medjugorje
The Setting
The apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six youngsters in the
Top of the Document
What are we aiming to refute?
In 1981, on June 24th, a strange report heralded the
beginning of the Medjugorje industry.
Six children reported seeing a shape standing up a hill. The next day four of these with a few
others went back to the hill and they got a closer look at the figure who
said she was the Virgin Mary. Soon the
Lady began to appear to them in the
Medjugorians make out that the
bishops are acting in bad faith which justifies their ignoring them. But even then they have to be obeyed for
that is what the rule about obedience is for: making you do what you are told
even if you think the bishop is wrong or in bad faith for the sake of unity
and order in the Church. If you keep
thinking the bishop is wrong or deceiving and that entitles you to disobey, there
is no point in him asking for your obedience.
Jesus would then have been a fool for setting up the apostles and
bishops to lead the flock.
The fact that the Virgin has
revealed ten secrets some of which are scary and predicted war and
chastisements from God if her message is unheeded is adequate proof that the
visions are heretical. The Church says
that apparitions are not to add to the gospel message which was delivered
once and for all by the apostles to the Church hundreds of years ago. So they do not add to revelation which is
why, in Catholic dogma, you are not bound to believe in them. But an apparition that makes threats of
natural disasters and plagues and wars is stating very serious stuff. Information like that has to come from a
totally reputable source. And if it
comes from such a source the source has to make it clear that it is not
enough for it to be honest and knowledgeable but it has also to be able to
prove to the people that it is such a source.
The Medjugorje Virgin with her dislike of scientific investigation which she stated was not necessary is obviously either not aware of this or she does not care or she does not exist. The visions then by making threats are claiming to have as much authority as scripture which the Church says they cannot have for scripture cannot be added to and therefore they are heretical. The Church has tolerated many apparitions similar to Medjugorje which made violent threats and evoked much terror which indicates that the Church has no competence in judging if an apparition is supernatural or not. How could it manage that when it cannot even judge if it is heretical or not?
Top of the Document
The Medjugorje Deception was written by E Michael Jones.
It claims to expose Medjugorje as more than just being a hoax, but as
a very dangerous hoax.
It reveals that Fr Tomaslav
Vlasic became a father by a nun called Manda in 1977. Yet the Virgin had nothing but praise for
this man. She should have said nothing
but simply recommended somebody more suitable to direct and guide the
visionaries. A priest who does that is
supposed to own up and stop celebrating the sacraments. Again the Virgin condones and even encourages
disobedience and deception. Vlasic
manipulated the nun by convincing her that it was God’s will that she say
nothing about the child’s paternity.
He compared her to Mary and said she and her baby would be blessed
with wonderful gifts from Heaven (page 49).
The real Virgin would not tolerate a man as sly as that. It would reflect badly on the authenticity
of her appearances for he could be manipulating the visionaries. Sr Briege Mc Kenna told Vlasic that God
would send him his mother Mary and she prayed over Vlasic. Briege must have approved of his deception
for she had acquired a reputation for reading minds. Soon the Virgin began appearing in
Medjugorje.
The Franciscans engaged in a
regime of horrific persecution of the Orthodox Church in
The time the lady doctor
tried to touch the apparition the visionaries all said the Virgin had called
the doctor a disbelieving Judas whereas she should have said a disbelieving
Thomas. Ivanka felt pressured when
attention was drawn to this mistake so she changed the subject by claiming that
the doctor saw a cloud as the Lady departed (page 78). Laurentin changed Judas into Thomas in his
book on the messages (page 78). Even
he agreed that the Virgin had made a mistake that the real Virgin wouldn’t have
made and he decided to hide it.
Mirjana read a book on
Fr Bubalo had a taped
interview with Vicka who did not know what the annunciation, the time an
angel told Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus Christ, was
(120-121). Vicka was asked if she
could recall a feast when the Virgin dressed richly. She thought on one at the end of
March. He asked her if it was the
annunciation. She said she was not
sure and did not remember what the Virgin said about that day. She said that it is clear and it isn’t
clear to her what is remembered on that day.
Bubalo then told her what the annunciation was. Vicka said that the Virgin was extremely
happy that day and was not as happy even at Christmas. Yet Vicka was allegedly told the life story
of the Virgin in the apparitions. Her
reply when asked about what the feast commemorated is a typical brush-off
when one does not know the answer.
Bubalo tries to prompt her for he is embarrassed by her
ignorance. If the Virgin was that overjoyed
she would have remembered why the Virgin was so hyper. And it is strange that Mary would be
happier about the annunciation than the birth of Jesus. It was not as if the angel told her she was
conceiving that very moment. The
existence of Jesus is more important than the announcement that Jesus will
exist.
The Virgin continues to
invite and welcome pilgrims to Medjugorje even after the
Zanic had a second commission in 1986
which pronounced the visions false but never made its conclusions
public. This belies the notion that
Zanic would do anything to destroy Medjugorje (124). He behaves like an honest man who does not
wish to upset anybody. If he has to
say something he says it but he does not set out to discredit Medjugorje so
enthusiastically that his integrity comes under question. The
A minority of experts claim
that the apparitions cannot be naturally explained but the ones employed by
the commission thought of natural explanations. In cases of doubt, the preference must be
given to the persons who plausibly deny the supernatural appearances.
Fr Jozo Zovko who has spoken
many things that make it seem the apparition is genuine and from God is said
to be a molester of female pilgrims (164).
A man called Waterinchx from
Medjugorje is a major place of
pilgrimage for New Agers (191). New
Agers are into occultism and pantheism and believe that every person is God
and tend to believe that there is no such thing as sin or evil. They can use Catholic terminology but with
the meanings changed. A Fr Pavich
found a quote from one of their occult books in a message of the Virgin in
1991. The book was dictated by a
spirit called Orin who said that negatives should be changed into positives
which was exactly the advice that the Virgin said.
Since the children do not read the priest thought they were
communicating with Orin and not Mary.
Perhaps it is coincidence?
Maybe. But then again, maybe
not!
But Ivan Dragicevic once said
that they were seeing something (352).
This hints that he was not sure what they were seeing. Mirjana once had a vision of a handsome
young man who said that the Devil can appear as a something beautiful and
that makes people happy. One time the
Virgin appeared and then Mary appeared and chased this Virgin away saying the
first was the Devil. This looks too
staged for the Devil would know that she would not be letting him take his
form unless she was planning to make a fool of him.
Zanic commanded the children to deliver
all messages to him and not to make them public (193). They disobeyed and if they had really been
seeing the Virgin and they were going to disobey she would have said nothing
to them at all. This was perfectly
reasonable of the bishop for the authenticity of the apparitions was not
certain. The bishop whether right or
wrong has the right to stop messages that may be made up or from Satan or
from psychic powers. Authority is not
about being right but about keeping up order.
The Virgin approved the
fanciful book of revelations about the life of Jesus by Maria Valtorta called
the Poem of the Man-God (200-201).
It is enough that this book says the Turin Shroud is authentic even
though the Shroud man was not Jesus for he bled too when he was laid
out. The Church put it on the Index in
the sixties and though the Index was done away Catholics are still forbidden
to read what was on it (202).
The Wikipedia article on Poem of the
Man-God says, “The Medjugorje visions by Marija Pavlovic and Vicka
Ivankovic have both stated that Maria Valtorta’s records of her conversations
with Jesus are truthful. According to Ivankovic, in 1981 the Virgin Mary told
her at Medjugorje: “If a person wants to know Jesus he should read Maria
Valtorta”.”
Vego and Prusina
In 1980, Zanic made a parish in Mostar by taking away most of those
parishes run by the Franciscans. The
Franciscans rebelled viciously against the bishop and the two worst
recalcitrants were Fathers Vego and Prusina.
They were suspended in 1980 and were told to leave Mostar the next
year. The
The Virgin told the children in January 1982 that Vego and Prusina should stay in their ministry at Mostar (page 41, Medjugorje After Fifteen Years). She repeated herself in April that same year. Vicka said on tape that the Virgin said all this and she never went back on that (page 42). The Virgin has no right to cause trouble in a Church that says apparitions are not a substitute for Church authority but are optional for belief. The Med Virgin should be honest and claim that her utterances are new scripture.
Heresy and Medjugorje
Let us look at the religious evidence against the apparitions.
In a pro-Medjugorje
booklet, “I beg you: listen to my
messages and live them,” we find some of it. This was published by Padraic Dunne of
Drogheda,
“I have come to call the
world to conversion for the last time.
Later, I will not appear anymore on this earth” (May 2, 1982). There have been more credible apparitions
since for example the apparitions to Maria Esperanza and hundreds of others
in
The first sentence shows she
means the apparitions of Medjugorje will be the last. The Devil might fake Medjugorje solely to
draw people away from and scorn upon anybody who has a real vision of Mary in
the future. The Virgin is telling the
Church not to approve any other apparition and that is wrong when the Church
says it is never sure of apparitions but merely permits them. She is obviously commanding that Medjugorje
be recognised by the Church. The
Church is over the apparition and the apparition is not over the Church. The visionaries say that the Virgin told
them that when the visions of Medjugorje stop all other apparitions around
the world will stop (page 60, Medjugorje by David Baldwin). There is no point in the Virgin saying this
for there will always be people who lie about having visions and who seem
plausible if visions are ever plausible.
She is declaring that a bishop who does not believe in Medjugorje and
who decides to authenticate another apparition after Medjugorje ceases is
wrong to do so and has no legitimate authority to do so. But according to Catholic dogma he has for
he does not have to believe in Medjugorje even if the Church accepts it so he
will feel free to recognise the new apparition. The Virgin has no need to say such things
at all. The message is clear: the
visionaries are claiming to be the most important visionaries ever. They are also trying to become the only
ones that are listened to. This
arrogance in them is taken in others as evidence that their apparitions are
not from Heaven for they are not making them holy.
Medjugorje claims to be the
site of the last apparitions. The
threats it makes, make its “good” fruits (which supporters appeal to as
evidence that the visitation is from Heaven!) useless because we cannot help
suspecting that they are produced by fear and not love. Its desire to prevent its supporters from
agreeing with the Church should the Church approve apparitions after its time
is a sure mark of inauthenticity. The
real Virgin would not say if the apparitions were final and would leave it to
the Church to work that out with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Medjugorje Virgin is tying the hands of
the hands of the Church and yet she can have no right to authority without
the Church. What does that say? The apparitions are not from Heaven!
“Pray, Pray, Pray. You will get nothing from chatter, but only
from prayer. If someone asks you about
me and about what I say, answer’ it is no use to explain. It is in praying that we will understand
better” (October 27, 1983).
This is nonsense. Mormons pray a lot and their prayers only
make them love the lies and fictions of their religion far far more. Chatter conveys information more than
prayer does. The Church says that
prayer enables you to receive help from God to understand the gospel. Why does she say we and not you? Because the message was made up by the
children.
In 1983, the Virgin said that
the creed is the most beautiful prayer.
She meant the Apostles Creed which was the mainly used creed in that
area. People recited it to bless holy
water and her beloved rosary began with it.
It is the depth of spirituality in it that would appeal to her and not
the words. And this depth consists of
the fact that it contains doctrines God has revealed and is praising God
indirectly by saying that his words are true.
But there are so many doctrines left out of the creed. The Apostles Creed which is used at the
start of the Rosary is the worst and the Nicene Creed which is an improvement
but not great either but it would have been better. Why didn’t she recommend the Creed of Pope
Pius V which confesses all the major Catholic doctrines? The Virgin did not say that the creed was
the nicest prayer. To her the Our
Father which prays for God to change you would be better and contains prayers
of submission to God such as, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done” would have
been the nicest prayer. Jesus recommended
the Our Father when he was asked by people who used creeds and scriptures and
psalms to pray as if it was better than any other prayer and nicer. If she liked creeds because they state
beliefs then she would have put the best creed of all at the start of the
Rosary which she said she revealed, not the worst and vaguest one.
“But why are you
praying? To be with God. To experience God within you. After five minutes of prayer something
ought to happen within you, if you do it properly” (March 1985).
This denies that quality and
not quantity matters. It is putting a
time limit on God’s power. Jesus said
that we must not think that God will hear us better if we pray more. The Church tradition has recommended
ejaculations or short prayers. “Sacred
Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in thee”, is an example. The Church always said that you can pray
for a grace from God and you will only know if something has happened to
bless your soul with virtue because of that prayer later – later as in may be
years later. And you will know you
have been blessed when you do something good but unusual for you to do.
“Today, I invite you to pray
every day for the souls in purgatory…By this way, dear children, you will gain
new intercessors” (November 6, 1986).
If the souls in purgatory only pray for those who helped them then
they will never get out of that place or if they are in Heaven they should
not be. And the Virgin dares to preach
loving the person who has not helped you and enemies!
“Every agitation comes from
Satan” (August 15, 1983). As if Satan
cannot give you good feelings to seduce you and as if God cannot annoy you to
benefit your soul! If she is right the
Catholic God does not exist.
In the booklet by Fr Tomislav
Vlasic OFM (Spiritual Director of the Visionaries), Our Lady Queen of
Peace, published in 1984, East Sussex, England, page 7 we read that the
Virgin said on the subject of world conversion: “Tell the world not to wait,
it needs to convert. When God comes he
will not be joking; I tell you that you must take my messages
seriously.” This implies that the
punishment is nigh but it has not happened yet.
The Virgin told a group that
they could not do their duties for they did not pray enough (page 11). Quantity more than quality again.
In the book, Scientific
and Medical Studies on the Apparitions at Medjugorje, page 121, the claim
that the Virgin said that all religions are the same is answered. This claim had arisen over the Virgin
saying that there is neither division or religion in God. It is said that she only meant that God is
not a divisive bigot and loves you for what you are and not because of what
religion you belong to. But she never
clearly said she meant this. God could
love you as you are and treat you differently because of your wrong religion
for his purpose which she believed he did do for he does not give the
Protestants the Mass so it is unlikely that she meant that. She meant that the doctrinal components of faith
do not matter and that God sees neither different faiths or religions.
She did say that men caused
divisions and not God. She and the
visionaries know that is untrue for God converted the Jews and left the rest
of the world to their own devices meaning that error and division were
predominant. The Bible itself says
that God creates division for God told the Jews to be holy that is separate
from other nations and to look down on them and Jesus himself did not go out
of his way to convert Gentiles though he easily could have but focused on the
Jews. Jesus commanded division from
the Jewish leaders even those who seemed decent for he accused them of being
actors.
As coherent as ever the
Virgin said, “The fact that you belong to one religion or another is not
without importance. The Spirit is not
equally present in each Church” (page 121).
So, she is saying that sincerity is not enough. That is an appalling statement. If you sincerely believe that fire will not
burn you and get burnt that does not mean that sincerity should not ideally
be enough. Fire may have to burn us in
this world but that does not mean that
God has the right to go out of his way to hurt us by our
sincerity. To say there is one true
faith is one thing and you can’t have a religion or a Church without it but
to start running down the holiness of other Churches is not on. Wrong Churches can be closer to God than
the right one. The Lady is causing
division by her silliness. If all
religions are equal and the Catholic Church is the holiest then she is saying
that doctrine does not matter. She
forgets that by appearing she is indicating that it does matter.
The very fact that the
visions of Medjugorje are revelations is proof enough that they are
false. Revelation implies that
sincerity is not enough by merely happening.
If sincerity sufficed there would be no need for it to get into
Heaven.
The Virgin is really into
ecumenism with a vengeance. She
stresses reconciliation between enemies and different religions. That is why she calls herself the Queen of
Peace. She commands that the gospels
be read and says they are the word of God.
Then why does she contradict Jesus in Matthew 18:15-18 who commands
division? He says you should send a
person who offended you some warnings and if they don’t repent then send them
to
Laurentin argues that the
Lady gave an apologetic for the Catholic Church when she told the visionaries
that her appearing in a Catholic Church should say a lot to them (121). But maybe she just meant she could not be
the Devil when she appeared in a Church?
She did not say and Laurentin guesses that she meant to imply the
Catholic Church was true. Perhaps she
was just implying that Catholic Marian devotion was being approved or that
the Catholic Church was the holiest Church?
The Virgin and her cronies agree
that the message of the apparitions can be summed up in Conversion, Mass,
Bible-reading, Prayer, Penance and Confession. The Virgin said that the Bible is the
number one book to read for spiritual development. That is untrue because the Bible is full of
unsavoury morality and fanaticism and does conjuring tricks with facts. The New Testament is full of commands like
be gentle and loving but that is too vague.
We need to know what love is and it does not tell us. There are millions of books that are better
and more edifying and clearer than the Bible.
The vision was a liar or the visionaries are lying for even the Devil
would know not to say anything so ridiculous.
Jesus said in the last days
that many and even the elect could be deceived by the mighty wonders the
false Christs and false prophets will perform – which by the way is one of
the reasons the fruits of Medjugorje are not as good as they look for the
vast majority of pilgrims have not done the through checking up on the
messages and the visions that would be necessary to avoid deception. Their prayers lead them away from God as he
is to their own false perception of a God who sanctions their disobedience
and carelessness. The fruits cannot be
used as evidence that God is really working there.
Brother Michael
A great devotee of Fatima and expert on apparitions, Brother Michael of
the Holy Trinity had an article in the traditionalist Catholic,
Here is a synopsis. My comments are in brackets.
A lady doctor once told the
visionaries in 1981 that they were too much into fashion to be real
visionaries. Fr Kraljevic said that
the apparitions did not make much of a change in Mirjana’s lifestyle.
The visionaries said that the
first time they saw Mary on the hill they were there to gather flowers or
collect sheep. Laurentin sought hard
to cover up their admission to the bishop that this was lies for they went
there to smoke. Laurentin’s cover up
was more than clumsy. Vicka confessed
that they did go to smoke. Laurentin
says that they lied because they were afraid to break the oath by telling the
whole truth. That is bizarre reasoning
and shows that he would do anything to make the apparitions look good. Laurentin tried to say then that it was
nothing important but it was when they lied to the bishop.
Vicka and Ivan were terrified
at the first vision which suggests they saw something sinister or were in the
presence of an evil spirit. (Who would
be afraid of Mary holding a baby? The
entity then seems to have persuaded them to say it was the Virgin Mary.)
Laurentin says that the
Virgin never told the children she would stop appearing at the end of the
week of the first apparitions.
Zanic and the parish priest
knew the Virgin did say it.
Vicka was questioned by
Bubalo and she said she could not remember if the Virgin said it. That would be impossible to forget. (She could not deny it for they said they
heard the Virgin say it and she could not affirm it for she could not say the
Virgin was wrong. So all she could do
was say she forgot.) She said that if
the records say they said that then they must have said it. But she had to be sure they said it.
The miracle of Mirjana’s
watch changing time is rightly rejected as too silly and easily faked to be
taken seriously. When she would delude
herself about something like that she would do anything to promote the
visions even lying.
Vicka told Bubalo that people
trampled on Mary which is grotesque.
Laurentin ignores the
numerous times the visionaries let people touch and hug the Virgin Mary for
this claim is too much to believe.
Vicka said the Lady’s veil can be dirtied and she saw people leaving
marks on her as they touched her so Laurentin can only say it is not
important. (That would make him a liar
for touching the Virgin would be more than important.) Marinko who was in the middle of a mechanic
job was summoned to Mary for a kiss.
He felt something like static on his face but not a kiss. (That static is just like what you feel
when you think somebody is about to hit you unexpectedly on the face within
the next twenty seconds.) The Virgin
would do better than that. Vicka got a
doctor to feel behind the Virgin and guided his hand (page 116, Scientific
and Medical Studies, etc.). This
would be most immodest.
The people are so deeply Catholic that
they will obey the priests if they tell them to honour Mary of
Medjugorje. This obedience rather than
the vision is the cause of the good fruits.
God set up one true faith so
division from false religion and error is necessary. The Lady of Medjugorje condemns division
and says that divisive religion does not exist in God’s sight. She says that division exists because
believers separate themselves from one another. The assertion that God doesn’t care what
faith you belong to denies the Catholic teaching that God gives all the light
to see the truth or at least know that they need to look further into the
matter that they feel like disputing to keep the real Church of God together
and so anybody who separates from it is breaking away from it and altering
the faith revealed by Christ.
Her command to respect other
religions is disturbing for there is only one faith that should be respected,
the true one. (Michael would believe
that you respect persons in other religions but you must hate their beliefs
and be nice to them and try to enlighten them because you hate these
beliefs. Religion is a faith system
and not the people in it so we have to hate wrong religion. It has to be hated because we love the
people. Michael Davies teaches that
the Virgin is teaching heresy when she commands, “You must respect each
person’s religion” for the same reason: page 14, Medjugorje – After
Fifteen Years).
Brother Michael is one of
Fr Vlasic sent a report to Pope John Paul II and Bishop Zanic on
St Paul wrote that Christians
must respect and obey and pay taxes to the Roman Empire for God gave it
political power even though it is pagan and brutal and unjust (Romans
13). The children of Medjugorje had
visions and promoted them in spite of governmental prohibitions as did the
children of Fatima and Bernadette of Lourdes.
Bernadette went to the grotto to have her vision because she had the
supernatural feeling that the lady was planning to appear meaning Mary called
her to the grotto despite her parents forbidding it. The Med six risked their safety for the
apparitions which is foolish for when apparitions have been made subject to
the Church and are under Church authority it is dangerous to take risks for
them. The apparitions put them in
unlawful danger for most apparitions according to the Church are not
supernatural and are not from God if they are supernatural and only the
Church is in a position to decide. The
apparitions encouraged disobedience to political authority so they cannot be
really from God for the Bible and commonsense cannot condone their
action.
Mirjana said that the Devil did not know that Mary would often appear during the twentieth century to warn, that God would give more grace then than ever before, and would sent chosen people whose loyalty to him could never be shaken (page 11, Fall 1995). As if the Devil wouldn’t know what God was like and would do something cataclysmic to counteract the satanic influence even if God gave him more influence and power.
Does Satan know
that Mary is appearing in Medjugorje if she is? He might be intelligent but
that doesn't mean he knows. He might have no explanation for the visions
either. He might not use God as an explanation. Attacks on
Medjugorje are blamed on Satan. But those who blame the attacks on him are
doing wrong to him for they have no reason to think he knows what or who is
appearing in Medjugorje. Apparitions always lead to slander even against
the Devil.
The Virgin told Mirjana in
the second year of the apparitions that anybody who has an abortion has to do
penance for it all their life (Queen of Peace, Fall 1995, page
17). Rationally and theologically,
abortion cannot be the worst sin. Most
abortions are done when it is believed the baby has not become a person yet.
The Queen of Peace
newspaper prints all sorts of material from discredited stigmatists and
visionaries and ones who have not been checked properly. It shows no regard for scientific or even
religious honesty. Yet among its
directors is Medjugorje apostles, Fr Rene Laurentin and Fr Michael O Carroll. Their names appeared in an ad for it in the
edition for spring 1997 which listed them as advisers and directors.
The
Virgin of Medjugorje claims that she was 2000 on
No
apparition can be true because Jesus said God comes first and he claimed to
be the way and the truth and the life meaning that we should investigate
Jesus and see who he is and get the facts right about what he stood for above
all things. It is only natural if God
comes first that you will put truth first and keep it pure and check that it
is pure. Apparitions call us away from
this for we can’t investigate everything and they call out for
investigation. It takes a vast amount
of money to investigate them and Jesus was the one that wrecked the
PRIVATE REVELATION: UNRAVELLING MEDJUGORJE by Carey Winters
www.geocities.com/militantis/medjugorje.html
This excellent site points out that when Satan speaks, in the
experience of the Church, he states 99% of the truth that God has revealed
and 1 % untruth because every little error helps his cause. In the Church’s experience, that is the way
it seems to be which means nobody should be accepting the visions of
Medjugorje for they tell some lies.
It says that by Church law that
published details of the teaching of apparitions have to get an imprimatur
from the Church, which is a permission to publish on the grounds that nothing
that scandalises faith or morals is in the document. The Medjugorje Virgin has never worried
about that (she has even recommended books of supposedly supernatural origin
that the official Church did not like to be promoted so to authenticate
Medjugorje would be to authenticate these supernatural claims too though
there is no reason to take them seriously) which shows that she cannot be a
supernatural entity for Satan himself would not fear it and would see no good
in not getting it for his lies are very clever and that she cannot be the
real Catholic Mary does not need saying.
Any spirit that gets published without the green light from the Church
is definitely not Catholic though it may say it is which only compounds its
dishonesty. Apparitions in Church
dogma are only for creating fervour and not for teaching new dogma. That would eliminate the authenticity of
Fatima as well as Medjugorje for they make predictions that are not in the
Bible and predictions have nothing to do with fervour especially when they
are frightening for the Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear. An apparition that was into increasing
devotion would just give out spiritual advice.
The Church has always taught
that apparitions have to be approached with extreme caution for the risk of
illusion and preferring the apparition to the authority of the Church is
great for faith is hard at the best of times.
Leaving aside the fact that the apostles gave no evidence that they
checked their own visions of Jesus with complete circumspection it is clear
that the Church is right that caution is an essential. The site states that the visionaries said
that Mary told them that a baby does not receive a human soul until it is
half-term and that Hitler and Pope Paul VI were good men and kidnapped and
replaced by evil doubles. This false
pope idea is definitely schismatic and denies the Catholic doctrine that the
Church would not be built on a false rock.
Fr Vlasic’s interview with
Mirjana shows that she is a bit mentally disturbed despite what the
psychiatrists who have proclaimed all the children normal have been
saying.
Ivan wants people to fast on bread
and water three days a week according to the Virgin’s command. But he is not doing it himself for he is
very heavy and I would add the following: his example is a poor one for he
lives in a mansion and drives a Mercedes.
The visionaries make the excuse that this does not mean that his heart
is not with God alone. But Jesus
himself in the Sermon on the Mount stated that we must not hide our light
under a bushel which is what Ivan would be doing then. If we start accepting excuses like that we
will never know when a religious nut is taking us for a ride for a nut
rolling in cash and donations is most likely to be a confidence
trickster. It is interesting that Mary
does not correct her visionaries’ errors when it comes to money and glory.
Fr Vego had been trying to
make young people have visions of Mary before the apparitions took place and
there is a video to prove it. He was
believed to have had a lot to do with the entire hoax.
Vicka’s lie about not being
aware of her surroundings when having a vision – a lie which was backed up by
some scientists who tested her – and Mirjana’s lie about the Virgin going to
appear for the last time in three days in 1981 and years later she is still
appearing are mentioned. Mirjana was
stated by her schoolmates to show signs of very bizarre and even crazy
behaviour. Despite the fact that the
visionaries say that God will overthrow all things and send a terrible
disaster over the whole world they have built opulent houses for
themselves. They are not very trusting
of their Virgin when they feel they should enjoy their lives so greedily
while the poor starve. Why not give
the money to them when their houses will soon be in ruins? The site exposes the lies of Fr Rene
Laurentin, the main instigator in the respectability that the cult has got,
who has apparently resorted to getting people to forge and lie to cover up
the blunders made by the so-called Virgin Mary. Laurentin asked Bishop Zanic in 1983 not to
publish the fact that the visionaries said the Lady had been speaking against the bishop.
Cardinal Kuharic, Archbishop
of Zagreb, said in 1984 that the Medjugorje apparition was not the real Mary
because the real Mary would not have spoken about Bishop Zanic the way the
apparition did. Zanic gave out several
commands in 1986 none of which were obeyed including forbidding apparitions
to be held in the Church and requesting the removal of an unauthorised statue
of Mary in the
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 Vatican has not clamped down hard on Medjugorje. This clearly implies tacit approval for the idea that as long as the Church gets publicity and converts and money thanks to an apparition it doesn't matter if the apparition is genuine or not. The false Knock visionaries such as Joe Coleman are allowed into the basilica despite turning it into a circus by pretending to have visions over the altar. It is no wonder that it is in fashion for a Catholic to claim an apparition today!
Belief in miracles, when you see how fake miracles such as those of the US televangelists, Hindu "holy" men and Medjugorje and so on are the most popular, has mostly bad fruits. Religion, in its duplicity, ignores this in order to pretend that some miracle sites such as Lourdes are good. They say we are throwing out the baby with the bath water. We are not. There is not enough good coming from belief in miracles to make the propagation of that belief acceptable.
CONCLUSION
The feet of the Virgin Mary have never touched Medjugorje.
The logic in this book should
be applied to similar cases. Let it
stand as a warning that people can be so persuasive and seem sincere and
still be leading you astray. It shows the
madness of letting religious figures like Jesus and Mary have the final say
in what you decide to do.
It is easier to prove that an apparition
is false for only one mistake tells the tale than to prove that it is true
and has the hallmarks of a divine origin for faith itself demands complicated
evidence. Medjugorje offends the
Catholic faith and refutes it if it is genuine for it demands belief and if
the Catholic faith is true then Medjugorje is false. The Bible says that Jesus is the only
mediator between God and man. It says
that Jesus was the perfect man and intercessor and saviour and there is no
need for the Med Virgin to be another mediator. Medjugorje is certainly more convincing
than the gospel accounts of the risen Jesus appearing to the disciples. Hoax or not, it is clearly proof that
something that is without authority from Jesus though it uses his name has
done better than he ever could. Evangelicals cannot use the gospels to prove
or give convincing evidence for Christianity when something has went into
competition with their Jesus and won.
When one analyzes many of the alleged miracles that accompany Marian apparitions, they seem to be of a different kind than those found in Scripture. This is true of biblical miracles as a whole, as well as the miracles in Jesus' public ministry. When did Jesus ever make the sun dance or crosses spin? All of His miracles were done in the context of ministry. Biblical miracles had a strong practical aspect. Many of the miracles associated with Marian apparitions seem dramatic and sensational; attention-getting if you will -- the kind of miracles that Jesus consistently refused to perform (Matt. 12:38-39). This is a good reason to at least suspect the source of these miracles.
BOOKS CONSULTED
“I BEG YOU:
LISTEN TO MY MESSAGES AND LIVE THEM,” Padraic Dunne, published privately,
Drogheda,
BIBLICAL
EXEGESIS AND CHURCH DOCTRINE, Raymond E Brown, Paulist Press,
LOOKING FOR A MIRACLE, Joe Nickell, Prometheus Books,
MEDJUGORJE, David Baldwin, Catholic Truth Society,
MEDJUGORJE HERALD, Vol 13, No 2, Feb 1999,
MEDJUGORJE, A TIME FOR TRUTH AND A TIME FOR ACTION, Denis Nolan
MEDJUGORJE, FACTS DOCUMENTS THEOLOGY, Fr Michael O Carroll, Veritas,
OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE, Tomislav Vlasic OFM, published by Peter Batty,
POWERS OF DARKNESS, POWERS OF LIGHT, John Cornwell, Penguin,
QUEEN OF PEACE (Newspaper), Fall, 1995,
SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL STUDIES ON THE APPARITIONS AT MEDJUGORJE Rene
Laurentin and Henri Joyeux, Veritas, Dublin, 1987.
THE APPARITIONS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY TODAY, Rene Laurentin,
Veritas,
THE HIDDEN SIDE OF MEDJUGORJE, Fr Ivo Sivric, Ed. Psilog, Saint
Francios Du Lac, Quebec, 1989.
THE THUNDER OF JUSTICE, Ted and Maureen Flynn, MAXCOL,
UNDERSTANDING MEDJUGORJE, HEAVENLY VISIONS OR RELIGIOUS ILLUSION? Donal
Anthony Foley, Theotokos Books,
VISIONS OF THE CHILDREN, Janice T Connell, St Martin’s Press,
WORDS FROM HEAVEN, Anonymous, Caritas of
The following books are available from Militia Immaculatae Trust,
CRITERIA FOR DISCERNING APPARITIONS REGARDING THE EVENTS OF MEDJUGORJE
by Monsignor Peric.
MEDJUGORJE – AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS, Michael Davies, Remnant Press,
MEDJUGORJE THE UNTOLD STORY, E Michael Jones Fidelity Press,
MEDJUGORJE, Bishop Zanic, Mostar, 1990.
THE
THE MEDJUGORJE DECEPTION, E Michael Jones, Fidelity Press,
TWENTY QUESTIONS ABOUT MEDJUGORJE, Kevin Orlin Johnson, Ph.D. Pangaeus
Press, Dallas, 1999.
THE WEB
CHRISTIAN REFUTATION OF MEDJUGORJE
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/web/crj0079a.html
CRITIQUE: POEM OF THE MAN-GOD
http://members.lycos.co.uk/jloughnan/critique.htm
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES DONE ON THE VISIONARIES OF MEDJUGORJE – 1998
SCIENTIFIC STUDY ON THE VISIONARIES
www.childrenofmedjugorje.com/medj/research.htm
THE WANDERER by Paul Likoudis, 1998
www.unitypublishing.com/wanderer.html
Unity Publishing has pictures allegedly proving that the messages from
Mary are being made up by the priests and that the visions are hoaxes. Ivan was snapped acting as if he was
guarding the door while the priest and a visionary were inventing the
message. This is however is a
pro-Catholic site.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC TESTING OF VISIONARY
http://members.aol.com/bbu84/biblicalstupidity/science.htm#10
DISCERNMENT AND SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF VISIONARIES FROM THE MEDJUGORJE
STAR
http://members.aol.com/bbu84/biblicalstupidity/study.htm#11
Videos
VISIONS ON DEMAND, Network 5 International, 1997
DIVINE OR DECEIVED? COVER-UP, Network 5 International, 1998
Contact:
Network 5 International
L69 3EE
UNDERSTANDING MEDJUGORJE, HEAVENLY VISIONS OR RELIGIOUS ILLUSION? Donal
Anthony Foley, Theotokos Books,
To Order Understanding Medjugorje visit http://www.theotokos.org.uk or write
to Theotokos Books, PO Box, 8570,
Saturday, 26 January 2008