Eastern Catholic View of Fatima?

[Aramis]

St Dominic codified a particular Rosary system. That system is now pretty much the default; it’s far from the only one in use. He made its prayer part of the prayer-life of his order of friars. The Dominicans even have the rosary as part of their habit.

It is correct to refer to the commonly used 55-60 bead as the Dominican Rosary… not because St Dominic invented it, but because he codified it and it spread because of the order bearing his name.

 

[JAGCath28]

I’m not doubting people have had positive experiences there - maybe even miracles. God will work His grace wherever He can. But that’s not the entire story. What about the systemic disobedience shown to the local ordinary? What about the scandalous life of the seers’ priest? What about the lack of vocations? What about the strong-armed attempts by the Franciscans to shut down all local opposition? These are all huge red flags, and why even now the Vatican has not approved the site(to say nothing of the questionable content of the messages themselves).

And this raises another question: why are people still visiting Medjugorje when it’s been called into question by the Vatican itself? This is the real problem I have with the widespread obsession with apparitions I see among fellow Catholics: they start to put more faith in the apparitions than in the Church itself, even to the point of disobedience to the Church. I’m reminded of a “seer” in, I think, Texas in the 1980s who claimed something apocalyptic was going to happen. The local bishops and presbytery were opposed, and told their congregations not to go. Sure enough, lots of people went. Nothing happened.

Nothing from God will lead us into spiritual conflict with the appointed leaders of the Church.

From what I had read, the Bishop was originally for the seers, but after the government strong-armed them, he became opposed. So much so, that the investigation was removed from his hands and his appointees to individuals put in place directly by the Vatican because of his obvious bias against. I don’t know much about the scandalous life of the priest that you are referring to or any attempts to cease local opposition via force on the Franciscans part. I will have to look into that a little more.

I’m a convert to Catholicism from hard-core Bible Belt Protestantism. The idea of apparitions, in general, is somewhat new. But as I read about the ones, especially the ones approved by the Vatican, to me, I look at it as a gift from God that there are still such obvious signs that he is with us. Most Protestants, at least in my small circle of people growing up, NEVER heard of these things. To me, these are such a great witnessing tool especially a witnessing tool for the Catholic Church (Orthodox included). What protestant church do you know has had these things happen? I don’t know of one, maybe there are…but to me this is just another testament that our Church is the Church started by Christ and handed to Peter. That’s what these apparitions mean to me. They are a witness to God’s love by sending his messengers and sometimes even himself (through Christ, with Saint Faustina) to give us hope and remind us that even with all the evil in the world, he is still with his faithful.

 

[Vico]

You can read a very negative Orthodox view of Fatima here, for perspective.

orthodox.org/Fatima.pdf