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mdgspencer
Guest
The Church looks very carefully, very closely at the evidence when the claim of an apparitiom of the Virgin Mary is made,
Explanation: "Church uses caution with claims of Marian apparitions." More than 1,500 visions of Mary have been reported around the world, but only a
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The Church looks very carefully, very closely at the evidence when the claim of an apparitiom of the Virgin Mary is made,
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StudentMI
Guest
La Salette! 
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commenter
Guest
The Church takes into account the current situation.
In the period between WW1 and 1960, most Catholics were well catechised - they knew Public Revelation - and there were few temptations towards subjectivism or going off on religious tangents.
In that situation, Bishop Sheen would occasionally refer to private revelation to help illustrate a point he made relying, as always, on truth from public revelation. At a time when children memorized Catechism down to the last comma, and seminarians relied almost too heavily on firing standard 5 proofs of God’s existence, Fatima was a reminder of Mary’s personal, maternal affection, the value of individualization, of personal devotion.
Fast forward to 2020. Ignorance of public revelation is rampant. There’s no danger people will fail to personalize their religion, the danger is they will do nothing else. We are saturated with religious tangents, most of which allow, or even require, defiance of the hierarchy. Private revelations are routinely misused, as “I don’t need to obey my bishop, I can obey Mary!”
In this climate the Church should deemphasize private revelation, concentrate only on public revelation.
In the period between WW1 and 1960, most Catholics were well catechised - they knew Public Revelation - and there were few temptations towards subjectivism or going off on religious tangents.
In that situation, Bishop Sheen would occasionally refer to private revelation to help illustrate a point he made relying, as always, on truth from public revelation. At a time when children memorized Catechism down to the last comma, and seminarians relied almost too heavily on firing standard 5 proofs of God’s existence, Fatima was a reminder of Mary’s personal, maternal affection, the value of individualization, of personal devotion.
Fast forward to 2020. Ignorance of public revelation is rampant. There’s no danger people will fail to personalize their religion, the danger is they will do nothing else. We are saturated with religious tangents, most of which allow, or even require, defiance of the hierarchy. Private revelations are routinely misused, as “I don’t need to obey my bishop, I can obey Mary!”
In this climate the Church should deemphasize private revelation, concentrate only on public revelation.
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Genesis315
Guest
Interestingly enough, in 1951 Cardinal Ottaviani wrote about an unhealthy increase in seeking out of wonders and signs, etc., the reasons for it and some of the problems it was causing, especially among those ignorant of the basics.
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commenter
Guest
Very interesting articlecommenter:
Interestingly enough, in 1951 Cardinal Ottaviani wrote about an unhealthy increase in seeking out of wonders and signs, etc., the reasons for it and some of the problems it was causing, especially among those ignorant of the basics.
http://thecatholicarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/178.pdf
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