In case you missed it earlier this week, there is a bunch of ruffled feathers in the land of major googoo. St. Louis archdiocese sent a reminder to the faithful this week that we should not be promoting the story fantasies of this alleged vision. Probably because they’ve read the lives of the visionaries as well.
The miracles attributed to the place are because of the around the clock confessions. I have news for people —
Fr. Hardon said it himself in 1997:
ANY PARISH COULD BE BIGGER THAN MEDJUGORJE IF THEY’D DO THE SAME THING.
All the sacraments, no matter where given in the world have the ordinary power to give extraordinary miracles. All of them. period. end of discussion.
That there are any miracles at the place in Bosnia is to be attributed to those confessions and masses offered ’round the clock because the messages and the lives of the visionaries do not bear out evidence of supernatural origin. Thus, they weren’t the source. People today think trinkets and secret messages from Lil’ Orphan Annie that have to be decoded with the club members decoder rings bring miracles. No. Only in fantasyland. For us members of the Church militant, all Masses and Confessions are the means of miracles. all of them. Even the confessions heard round the clock in Medjugorje.
The people that have had good experiences with Medjugorje should have been insisting that their own parishes have round the clock confessions by now and we’d have seen far greater things happening all over this country by now. Instead, there’s always a gig with this place…
Says the diocese:
“The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is reminding Catholics that they should not participate in events that promote the alleged visionaries of Medjugorje.
“The reminder came after an event featuring Ivan Dragicevic, one of the alleged visionaries, was scheduled to take place in St. Charles this month. The event was cancelled.
“The Vatican ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, has previously noted that the Vatican has not recognized alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, as authentic.”
via Vatican: No participation in events promoting Medjugorje ‘visionaries’ | St. Louis Review.
The Facebook page of the pay-to-play “Medjugorje Today” website (making people pay to access the content of their response… nice) had this to say:
They claim the CDF is over-exaggerated by the diocese.
I went to read their side of the story, and got this:
click for full size
The page redirects me to an error URL that insists I subscribe at $19/month… $228 per year for the privilege of accessing their explanation of why the diocese is exaggerating the ban. I won’t be posting a reaction to what they said any time soon.
Apparently, this is all our fault for not subscribing, though, as the Facebook page has this as the follow-up post to the earlier news posted just moments before I wrote this post:
“MEDJUGORJE SEER: LACK OF PRAYER HINDERS MARY’s PLAN
The Virgin Mary’s plan is far from being realized because the necessary prayers do not come, Medjugorje visionary Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic tells upon receiving message from Mary in Saint Padre Pio’s hometown.”
They apparently haven’t figured out how to make Facebook into pay-per-click yet. Also, notice how it is our fault (as in you, the reader, and me) that Ivan got stopped. It has nothing to do with him or with faults in the messages (or the pay per view business model), but apparently because you and I are not paying $19 per month, Mary’s messages cannot be heard.
Does anybody know if Ivan’s talk had paid admission? That makes it tough to make a buck if it was.
It’s sad how difficult they make it to get ahead these days…
Meanwhile, saying a rosary is free, but you can make it mean more and advance the cause of getting the message out by sending me $15 per month, or I can cut a deal for students, priests, and teachers of $12 per month. Shout “Amen!” and send the money to me.
While you’re at it, consider what a bargain the Bellarmine Forum is — free online and our print magazine price covers the cost of printing and production only. See the latest hot issue here.
This article, Vatican smacks down Medjugorje Ivan talk in St. Louis is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/vatican-smacks-down-medjugorje-ivan-talk-in-st-louis/
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