DavidB:
…I read too many quotes from these so-called apparitions to believe it could really be Mary. I believe they are demonic counterfeits. My opinion is not in any way intended as a slight against the mother of Jesus. It’s just a proper judgement that actually agrees with a number of Catholic bishops who’ve expressed similar misgivings over many of these apparitions. I mean, Medjagurie [sp] is so obviously a demonic fake that it practically screams satan as it’s source . . . to actually claim that all religions lead to God and that books such as the Poem of the Man God is good . . . hmm, it’s not hard to discern the source of that.
David
Good for you for being cautious and skeptical, that’s exactly the policy the Catholic Church follows regarding claimed Marian or other apparitions.
Some claimed apparitions are in fact false. Some may be intentional lies by people with axes to grind against the Church, others are perhaps not intentionally false, by people who mistakenly believe they are receiving a special message from God. One thing we know is that God will never allow any apparition to contradict anything definitively held true by the Catholic Church (and that Mary and all other saints and holy angels would never desire to do such a thing anyway), so any claimed apparition which is found to do so upon investigation by competent authorities is condemned by the Church.
On the other hand, the entire history of our faith is a continuous story of God communicating with His people, sometimes directly, sometimes through the mediation of human prophets, and sometimes through the agency of angels or other heavenly messengers. The Catholic Church does not take the position that God may no longer do in the present what we believe as articles of our Faith that He has done in the past. Some claimed apparitions, after being thoroughly investigated, pass muster as not being in any way contrary to the Faith. These apparitions may be approved by the Church, especially if other corroborating evidence exists, such as the miraculous healings at Lourdes, the Roses at Tepeyac, or the image on St Juan Diego’s tilma. It must also be noted, though, that even when such apparitions are approved by the Church, they still remain within the realm of private revelation and all Christians, exercising their own good judgement are free to believe them or not. They are not Dogma.
And finally, many, possibly most claimed apparitions have been neither approved nor condemned. This may be because the claimed apparition, while not known to be in any way contrary to the faith is still an ongoing phenomenon, or it may be for other reasons. Apparitions that have been neither approved nor condemned likewise fall within the realm of private revelation.
Medjugorje is still an ongoing phenomenon, so it can not be approved at this time (although if competent authorities determine that it is contrary to the Faith it certainly can be condemned while ongoing.) While there is certainly a wide range of opinion on Medjugorje, this writer does not specify what he thinks is “so obviously a demonic fake” about it, so it is not possible to answer his objection. I have never been to Medjugorje, but I know many who have, and who have, as a result become much stronger in their Faith. If “by their fruits you shall know them” is a reliable guide, I would have to say that those fruits of Medjugorje with which I am familiar all seem to be good.
I have not read
Poem of the Man God so I can not comment on it.
