P
puzzleannie
Guest
I had three separate conversations with women of this parish in the last 2 weeks, one today after Confirmation class, which have taken my breath away. All three of these women, raised Catholic, raising good Catholic families, all of Mexican heritage but in this country for at least 2 generations made similar statements. Simply that they consider Our Lady of Guadalupe, the virgin of los Lagos (another popular image of Our Lady in Mexico who has a shrine near us), and Mary as she appeared in Fatima and Lourdes as different persons. All 3 were astounded when I assured them that all of these apparitions and the artistic renderings of them are images of the same woman, Mary the mother of Jesus Christ. I related the stories of these various apparitions and images, yet all 3 still expressed doubts that they all represent Mary. Has anyone else encountered similar misconceptions about Marian apparitions and images? What is lacking in our teaching on these things that Catholics can absorb such misinformation? I don’t know if this is a cultural thing or a generational thing, as all these women are younger than 35.