Catechists and private revelation from apparitions

[Miserissima]

Have ever you heard that Private Revelation from approved apparitions is binding? How does one respond to that succinctly?

Knowing that several self-proclaimed Catechists have been posting here (and in real-life conversations) with misinformation, how does one offer correction charitably?

Most importantly, how to undo the possible damage they did to RCIA / Religious Education / Faith Formation of our youth…possibly for YEARS?

I know we’re all fallible, but approved apparitions cannot add to the Deposit of Faith.

“Worthy of belief” does not mean it is binding. I even checked Ask an Apologist, like these from Michelle Arnold:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=49310&highlight=worthy+of+belief " Catholics are not bound by private revelations; only by public revelation, which ceased at the death of the last apostle. However, it should be noted that the Church does sometimes approve private revelations as worthy of human belief, leaving the decision of belief up to individual Catholics, as it has done with the Divine Mercy revelations …]"

and:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=1492&highlight=worthy+of+belief

“Private revelation is never binding on Catholics, even when the revelations are deemed by the Church to be worthy of belief.”

and:

mycatholicsource.com/mcs/pc/the_Blessed_Virgin/apparitions.htm

Apparitions may not add to the deposit of the faith, which was completed with the apostles. [Error CONDEMNED by Pope St. Pius X in “Lamentabili”: “Revelation, constituting the object of Catholic faith, was not completed with the apostles.” (Pope St. Pius X, This proposition was condemned in “Lamentabili”, 1907 A.D.)] No one is bound to believe that any particular apparition is true, even if the Church has ruled it “worthy of belief”.

**Persons should not center their faith around an apparition.
** “Faith rests on divine revelations made through the prophets and apostles and set down in the canonical Scriptures, not on revelations, if there by any, made to other holy teachers.” (St. Thomas Aquinas…]).

So how do I respond charitably to misinformation and

how to undo damage that may have been done?

 

[Sunbreak]

I would just tell it like it is. You can’t get any clearer than what’s in the Catechism as posted on the Vatican website:
“67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.”

 

[glendab]

No one is required to believe in any apparition after the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven.

Those who come on strong in parishes in hope of obtaining adherents for a particular apparition site can be quite off-putting to some. I know the feeling from when I was a new Catholic and had many things offered me by others in the parish. Some meant well and some didn’t. My most recent encounter was with a gal at the new parish I live in about a year ago. She tried introducing me to a lady from Germany called Maria of Divine Mercy who supposedly has communications from Mary and Joseph and Jesus, etc. Fortunately I have a skeptical mind. Ummmmm…sad to say she too came on really strongly in favor of this blather and when I confronted her with some of the truth about the supposed “apparitions” her reply was that* she was a Catholic and she believed as if her acceptance said it is okay for all *Catholics to believe. She was leaving hand made leaflets regarding this Maria of Divine Mercy and some website you could go to for information and tried getting a prayer group started at her home to follow along with all that the Maria of Divine Mercy folks were supposed to do from some booklet they published. All of this came from a “private revelation” to this gal from Ireland who went to Germany with her hubby and were having a hard time paying of their mortgage so they went into religion for their business. Awful stuff. It was all very shocking to me at the time. To be honest with you, my contribution to the issue was to take all the leaflets she’d leave and put them quietly into the nearest waste can where they’d do no more harm to folks in the parish. She never caught on to me being the fairy who spirited away all those nasty leaflets. It was funny at the time - she was the leaflet fairy *leaving them *and I was the leaflet fairy removing them. But really nothing is funny about them at all. It really is horrible stuff and could land someone in Hell for following it. It was that bad.

Now there is a guy at the parish where I live who is really pushing Medjugore. I know it is still suppressed and told him so. That left me on his “oh, you’re one of those,” list. He is polite but not quite as friendly as he used to be towards me. Oh well. I’m better off if the only reason he was being nice to me was to get me to join the little group of Medjugore folks at the parish. Can you tell I’m not really interested in fitting in much?

Oh well. Some folks want to believe other stuff. I think it was W.C. Fields who said, “If you don’t believe in something, you’ll fall for anything.” Turns outs he’s right.

Glenda

 

[pianistclare]

The problem is that many people cannot separate their true love for Our Lady and her worthiness of our love from the devotions that spring up from the Apparitions, approved or not.
And at times when loads of people say they don’t “get” why Catholics love Mary…these things become a battle cry of sorts.
There’s plenty to love Mary for…in salvation history alone.
Many cultures have a favorite title of Mary…and it is as close to a family loyalty as you can get. Emotion factors in.
They mean to spread devotion, but sometimes they do confuse.
The bottom line is that in every approved apparition, Mary points to her Son.
THAT is where everyone’s focus should be. Look to the Words of Christ. That’s really what Our Lady desires. And that what the Church never has an issue with. Can’t go wrong.
God bless you, truly.