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BY ROBERT KUMPEL
San Diego News Notes
In 1997, Bishop Brom granted permission for local parishes to celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy, even though the Church would not officially declare the Feast of Divine Mercy (and canonize its apostle, St. Faustina Kowalska) until the year 2000. Almost immediately after its approval, another devotion began showing up at local parishes with an eerily similar name: Divine Will.
The Divine Will movement began with Luisa Piccarreta (1884-1947), a woman who lived in Corato, a small town near Bari, Italy and spent most of her adult life ill and bed-ridden. Under obedience, she wrote two small volumes, Life of the Blessed Virgin and Hours of the Passion as well as 36 numbered manuscripts, which discuss “living in the Divine Will.”
While most Catholics have never heard of Piccarreta or Divine Will, her followers soon found that their message was not entirely welcome. Patrick Sullivan was instrumental in getting approval for Divine Mercy Sunday celebrations and couldn’t believe it when he began to hear about Divine Will. "I was so mad about this that I couldn’t see straight. All that work that we did to get the Divine Mercy recognized at the parishes and suddenly we hear about ‘Divine Will’ – I had to take a deep breath, step back, and say, “No. It’s not Divine Will, It’s Divine Mercy. It’s just a brilliant, brilliant ploy from Satan to counteract Divine Mercy and mislead people.”
Full article
p.s., the article quotes Fr. Terrence Staples, brother of Tim Staples, a Catholic Answers apologist.
San Diego News Notes
In 1997, Bishop Brom granted permission for local parishes to celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy, even though the Church would not officially declare the Feast of Divine Mercy (and canonize its apostle, St. Faustina Kowalska) until the year 2000. Almost immediately after its approval, another devotion began showing up at local parishes with an eerily similar name: Divine Will.
The Divine Will movement began with Luisa Piccarreta (1884-1947), a woman who lived in Corato, a small town near Bari, Italy and spent most of her adult life ill and bed-ridden. Under obedience, she wrote two small volumes, Life of the Blessed Virgin and Hours of the Passion as well as 36 numbered manuscripts, which discuss “living in the Divine Will.”
While most Catholics have never heard of Piccarreta or Divine Will, her followers soon found that their message was not entirely welcome. Patrick Sullivan was instrumental in getting approval for Divine Mercy Sunday celebrations and couldn’t believe it when he began to hear about Divine Will. "I was so mad about this that I couldn’t see straight. All that work that we did to get the Divine Mercy recognized at the parishes and suddenly we hear about ‘Divine Will’ – I had to take a deep breath, step back, and say, “No. It’s not Divine Will, It’s Divine Mercy. It’s just a brilliant, brilliant ploy from Satan to counteract Divine Mercy and mislead people.”
Full article
p.s., the article quotes Fr. Terrence Staples, brother of Tim Staples, a Catholic Answers apologist.