Does your parish promote Medjugorje?

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Does your parish promote Medjugorje by any of the following:
  1. Priest, deacons, youth ministers, etc., say things like “Mary said at Medjugorje…” in homilies, parish bulletin, or web site.
  2. Invite Medjugorje speakers
  3. Organize pilgrimages to Medjugorje
 
Not an approved apparition by the church. we are free to visit on our own, as I understand it, but priests are not allowed to organize pilgrimmage. Lot’s of controversy surrounding this place.
 
I know lots of people who have gone to Medjugorje, including family. The hype about it has died down quite a bit. I don’t think that it was ever promoted by priests in my area. I think it was promoted more by lay people.
 
Yes, unfortunately. Our pastor is devoted to Our Lady. That’s great, but the Medjugore thing… One of the visionaries came to our church, apparently Our Lady appears to him everyday at the same time, so our pastor says She appeared to him HERE (in Las Vegas, if you please…I feel about like I did when She supposedly appeared on the roof of a charismatic parish in Lubbock, Texas), we have rosaries in the gift store that supposedly Our Lady blessed, every week in the bulletin there’s a message from Her. He’s redone the church (magnificently…it looks lots more Catholic) which is Marian in its name, etc., with murals of Fatima and Lourdes at the back, and supposedly we’ll have all the Marian apparitions as murals as well. We’re hoping NOT Medjugorie, though I’ve not notion how anyone could reign in this otherwise orthodox man. I’m not even sure the word “orthodox” should enter the conversation, has it been completely condemned or is the Church in a wait and see mode? I haven’t been keeping up.
 
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JKirkLVNV:
Yes, unfortunately.
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Please vote in the poll, if you don’t mind. Thank you.

Much sympathy for your parish situation.

Peace.
 
No promotion here. The only major promoted pilgrimage here is to Lourdes.

The parish where my (non-christian) parents live promotes Medjugorje. When I visited in the summer they were organising and plugging a pilgrimage there.
 
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nobody:
I know. It’s becoming a stumbling block for me.
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this is one (not the only) thing considered in judging the validity of apparitions or locutions. The very fact that it has become a stumbling block for many casts grave doubts on the motives of the alleged seers. If one reads the messages or makes a pilgrimage, and rather than leading to a conversion, it causes one to doubt or dissent from Church teaching, then it is highly suspect.
 
Unfortunately one priest does. :rolleyes: he organized a pilgrimage, to which I refused to go on.
 
Just a preventative reminder:

Medjugorje is NOT an approved apparition of the church. As such, Content Rule 6 applies in that it forbids the posting of material from unapproved private revelations.

I applaud all of you for sticking to the topic of the thread. Good job guys!
 
I voted no because I don’t ever remember the parish priest mentioning it. I can think of a few couples in my parish who have been there. All of these couples were very active Catholics. They came back excited and enthusiastic. I don’t know of anyone who came back with a negative opinion. It always seemed to enhance their Catholic faith. I have never heard of anyone who went and then decided to change churches.

My husband and I have been there too. We were on a European tour led by two Catholic priests. We stopped at many spiritual places in Europe, such as Loreto and Padua.

My Catholic husband always stays away from apparitions. He doesn’t care at all about Fatima and Lourdes. However, he loved stopping at Medjugorje, and it may not even have been because of the wonderful spiritual atmosphere there. Whether the apparitions are true or false, when you meet up with thousands of people who desire to be closer to God, it really lights the place up.

First of all, you can’t beat the scenic drive down the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The scenery is absolutely specacular. The weather in Medjugorje was sunny and warm. The people at the Pension we stayed at (who were relatives of one of the visionaries) were very warm and friendly, although they didn’t speak English.

Almost everyone there has a vegetable garden, and there are chickens running around. Every night at dinner, there was a pitcher of homemade wine on the table that they had made from the grapes in their yard. The food was delicious - it reminded me a little of the food you get in Greece, with cucumber, tomato and cheese salads made from the freshest vegetables.

The plazas there are made of solid marble. The plaza around St. James Church was something to see! I think they said they took a lot of the monetary contributions they got and put them into their church building. There was a huge restroom facility with many stalls for handicapped people. For me, it was simply the highlight of that particular trip to Europe. I had never before crossed the border of a country that used to be a communist country. Without even considering the apparitions, it was a pretty exciting trip.

I highly recommend a book called The Miracle Detective by Randall Sullivan. It tells a lot about the history of that area and is fascinating to read if you have been there.
 
Many of you have already acknowleded or have been in a thread I created on the subject. If you have not seen it, please have a read.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=59439

None of the parishes I have belonged to in the last 20+ years ever have mentioned it, which is about 7 and includes my present parish.

However, a Croatian-American parish (latin rite) near me is into it big time. The parish was probably 95% Croatian/American-Croatian and I’ll bet the non-Croatian have swollen its ranks.
 
Our priest doesn’t discuss it, but we have several prominent women who really believe in Medjugorje, but it’s not promoted by the parish. I try to stay out of discussions with them about it, because it’s not an approved apparition.
 
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nobody:
I know. It’s becoming a stumbling block for me.
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Same here Nobody.

My biggest issue is; just how do I reconcile the six childrens’ motives (no longer children of course). I’ve read a number of books on Medjugorje.

If you do the; hoax, crazy, or real, scenarios it becomes difficult to attribute any-of-the-above.

hoax - very doubtful, if you read the book (not mentioned here for fear it may break a rule)I think most will agree.

crazy - well possibly I suppose but again very doubtful. Not all six simultaneously

real - well I’d love to think so but the troubling nature that people have put forth on this forums casts doubt.

Of course I suppose there is a fourth – demonic. Although this one is difficult to attribute as well. There have been many conversions and devil is supposed to be wise.

certainly a mystery!
 
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Lux_et_veritas:
If anyone is reading books on Medjuogorje, hopefully they are including the one being endorsed by Bishop Ratko Peric, Ordinary of the place. that is, “Medjugorje - After Twenty One Years” by Michael Davies.
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Diane, is it possible that we communicate by private email?
(I don’t know how else to share some things with you, and I know we must honor forum rules… I don’t want to get “scratched”!)
 
WARNING:

The public posting of private email messages is not allowed.

IF both parties are in agreeance, you may use the drop down box from the person’s handle and send an email or a PM to each other.
 
I voted not at all, but remember now that Father Sudac was at our Parish. I am not sure if he is associated with M. but I think he is from Yugoslavia. Other than that event, there is no mention of M. at my parish.
 
I don’t think my parish promotes Medjugorje- it’s a pretty orthodox parish and I don’t think they’d actively promote something that wasn’t yet approved by the Church. There’s an adoration chapel in my town that is filled with books and other literature on Medjugorje. If what is happening at Medjugorje is getting people to set up perpetual adoration chapels, then it can’t be all bad. To put it bluntly, I think the visionaries are crazy. Even if the aparitions aren’t genuine, however, God could certainly work through something that isn’t what people think it is to bring people back to Him.
 
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