Our Lady of America--canonically approved apparition

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thistle said:
As far as I know its not approved by the Church but has only reached the first step in the process and that is local approval only by a local Bishop.
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This process, How long can discernment take? Tim
 
thistle said:
As far as I know its not approved by the Church but has only reached the first step in the process and that is local approval only by a local Bishop.
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Doesn’t that constitute “approval by the Church”? :confused: At least, so far?
 
Genesis315 said:
Check out this intereting article–I had never heard of this before:

te-deum.blogspot.com/2007/07/canonical-approval-for-our-lady-of.html

:getholy:
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However, this is indeed promising in an era when “apparitions” are a dime a dozen. In this case, it has won ecclesiastical approval at the local level, which is the first level any private revelation must clear.

For example, Medjugorje does not enjoy this first level of approval. In that diocese, two consecutive bishops not only would not authorize devotions, statues, etc, they explicitly prohibited it, which is within their right.

Pro-Medjugorje sites on the other hand will have everyone believe that because the Vatican is permitting people to visit Medjugorje, provided they do not do so on the premise that it is an authentification of the apparitions, that the bishop has effectively been “castrated” of any authority on anything.

This is not the case at all. He still has the right to govern his diocese and to prohibit the making of statues, the dissemination of “messages” (which he has done), and more.

Now, Our Lady of America is at a stage where a cult following is done with the approval of the local Ordinary. When he put his nihil obstat on the introduction to the messages, and on the prayer itself, it didn’t necessarily mean that Abp Pilarczyk will promote it, but the auxiliary bishop responsible at the time, did promote it. That is what Abp Burke is using to promote this private revelation - the fact that the Bishop to whom this nun was entrusted (he was her spiritual director), authorized the prayer, medals to be stamped, etc.

I can’t recall all of the stages - I think there are 4. But it seems to me that the stamping of medals and making of statues is stage or level 2. I think 3 is when it is given “shrine” status and perhaps when the statue is placed in the National Shrine, it will have gotten to that level. The highest attritube any apparition can have is for the Pope to pay a visit, such as when Pope John Paul II visited Fatima.

I don’t even know if these are considered stages, levels or a hierarchy of acknowledgements. All I know is that once a local Ordinary - the bishop responsible stands behind it, it is good and well for the faithful to put some stock into it.

As with all private revelations, including Fatima, no one is bound to accept or believe in them.
 
Approval Process For Discerning Apparitions and Revelations.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith elaborated, from 1974-1978, some new criteria for discerning apparitions and revelations, which were expounded in a normative text, which, for a long period, was only made available to the Ordinary [local bishop] who, confronted with the fact of an apparition, addressed himself to the Sacred Congregation. These standards govern the treatment of events after 1980 (notably Medjugorje), and they also brought about the resumption of certain previous investigations (those of Bonate and Garabandal, amongst others):
Preliminary Note: Origin and character of these norms.
At the time of the Annual Plenary Congregation during November 1974, the Fathers of this Sacred Congregation studied the problems relating to apparitions and supposed revelations, and the consequences which often result from these, and they arrived at the following conclusions:
  1. Today more than formerly, the news of these apparitions is spread more quickly among the faithful thanks to the means of information (“mass media”); in addition, the ease of travel supports more frequent pilgrimages. Also, the ecclesiastical authority was itself brought to reconsider this subject.
  2. Similarly, because of current instruments of knowledge, the contributions of science, and the requirement of a rigorous criticism, it is more difficult, if not impossible, to arrive as speedily as previously at judgements which conclude, as formerly happened, investigations into this matter (“constate de supernaturalitate, non constat de supernaturalitate”); and because of that, it is more difficult for the Ordinary to authorize or prohibit public worship or any other form of devotion of the faithful.
    For these reasons, so that the devotion stirred up among the faithful by facts of this kind can appear as a disposition in full communion with the Church, and bear fruit, and so that the Church itself is able to ultimately distinguish the true nature of the facts, the Fathers consider that it is necessary to promote the following practice in regard to this matter.
    So that the ecclesiastical authority is able to acquire more certainty on such or such an apparition or revelation, it will proceed in the following way:
    a) Initially, to judge the facts according to positive and negative criteria (cf. below, n.1).
    b) Then, if this examination appears favorable, to allow certain public demonstrations of cult and devotion, while continuing to investigate the facts with extreme prudence (which is equivalent to the formula: “for the moment, nothing is opposed to it”).
    c) Finally, after a certain time, and in the light of experience, (starting from a particular study of the spiritual fruits generated by the new devotion), to give a judgement on the authenticity of the supernatural character, if the case requires this.
    I. Criteria of judgement, concerning the probability at least, of the character of the apparitions and supposed revelations.
    A) Positive criteria:
    a) Moral certainty, or at least great probability, as to the existence of the fact, [revelation] acquired at the end of a serious investigation.
    b) Particular circumstances relating to the existence and the nature of the fact:
  3. Personal qualities of the subject—in particular mental balance, honesty and rectitude of moral life, habitual sincerity and docility towards ecclesiastical authority, ability to return to the normal manner of a life of faith, etc.
  4. With regard to the revelations, their conformity with theological doctrines and their spiritual veracity, their exemption from all error.
  5. A healthy devotion and spiritual fruits which endure (in particular, the spirit of prayer, conversions, signs of charity, etc).
    B) Negative criteria:
    a) A glaring error as to the facts.
    b) Doctrinal errors that one would attribute to God himself, or to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Holy Spirit in their manifestations (taking into account, however, the possibility that the subject may add something by their own activity—even if this is done unconsciously—of some purely human elements to an authentic supernatural revelation, these having nevertheless to remain free from any error in the natural order. Cf. St Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises, n. 336).
    c) An obvious pursuit of monetary gain in relation with the fact.
    d) Gravely immoral acts committed by the subject, or his associates, at the time of the facts, or on the occasion of these facts.
    E) Psychic disorders or psychopathic tendencies concerning the subject, which would exert an unquestionable influence on the allegedly supernatural facts, or indeed psychosis, mass hysteria, or other factors of the same kind.
    It is important to consider these criteria, whether they are positive or negative, as indicative standards and not as final arguments, and to study them in their plurality and in relation with the other criteria.
continued…
 
continued…

II. Intervention of the competent local Authority
  1. As, at the time of a presumed supernatural fact, worship or an ordinary form of devotion is born in a quasi spontaneous way among the faithful, the competent ecclesiastical Authority has the serious obligation to inform itself without delay and to carry out a diligent investigation.
  2. At the legitimate request of the faithful (when they are in communion with their pastors and are not driven by a sectarian spirit), the competent ecclesiastical Authority can intervene to authorize and promote various forms of worship and devotion if, assuming the criteria given above having been applied, nothing is opposed to it. But there must be vigilance nevertheless, to ensure that the faithful do not regard this way of acting as an approval by the Church of the supernatural character of the event in question (cf. above, Preliminary Note, c).
  3. By virtue of his doctrinal and pastoral duty, the competent ecclesiastical Authority can intervene immediately of his own authority, and he must do so in serious circumstances, for example, when it is a question of correcting or of preventing abuses in the exercise of worship or devotion, to condemn erroneous doctrines, to avoid the dangers of a false mysticism etc.
  4. In doubtful cases, which do not involve the welfare of the Church, the competent ecclesiastical Authority may refrain from any judgement and any direct action (more especially as it can happen that, at the end of a certain time, the supposedly supernatural event can lapse from memory); but he should not remain less vigilant about the event, in such a way as to be in a position to intervene with swiftness and prudence, if that is necessary.
    III. Other Authorities entitled to intervene
  5. The foremost authority to inquire and to intervene belongs to the local Ordinary.
  6. But the regional or national episcopal Conference may intervene:
    a) If the local Ordinary, after having fulfilled the obligations which fall to him, resorts to them for a study of the event in its entirety.
    b) If the event assumes national or regional importance.
  7. The Apostolic See can intervene, either at the request of Ordinary himself, or at the request of a qualified group of the faithful, or directly by virtue of the immediate right of universal jurisdiction of the Sovereign Pontiff (cf. above, IV).
    IV. Intervention of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
  8. a) The intervention of the Sacred Congregation can be agreed to be necessary either by the Ordinary, after he has fulfilled the obligations falling to him, or by a qualified group of the faithful. In this second case, vigilance is necessary so that the recourse to the Sacred Congregation is not motivated by suspect reasons (for example to force, in one way one or another, the Ordinary to modify his legitimate decisions, or to confirm the sectarian drift of a group, etc.)
    b) It belongs to the Sacred Congregation to intervene of its own accord in serious cases, in particular when the event affects a broad portion of the Church; but the Ordinary will always be consulted, as well as the episcopal Conference, if the situation requires it.
  9. It belongs to the Sacred Congregation to discern and approve the way of acting of the Ordinary, or, if it proves to be necessary, to carry out a new examination of the facts distinct from that which the Ordinary carried out; this new examination of the facts will be done either by the Sacred Congregation itself, or by a commission especially established for this purpose.
    The present norms, defined in the plenary Congregation of this Sacred Congregation, were approved by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Paul VI, on February 24 1978.
    At Rome, the Palace of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, February 27, 1978.
    Francis, Cardinal Seper, Prefect, Fr. Jerome Hamer, O.P., Secretary.
 
Thank you both, It will be interesting to see how this works out. This is close to home and our Bishop had alot to do with the shrine in DC. Tim
 
Thistle…

Consider just a few lines, then a direct link to your source rather than taking up several threads.

Please note: The 1978 criteria for discernment of apparitions does not apply to something which happened well ahead of that. It already had Archbishop Leibold’s backing. It does, however, apply to Medjugorje and was something Bishop Zanic and Peric have used and followed. This document was unknown to many until years later when it was put out on the web.

This apparition - Our Lady of America - has canonical approval at the local level.

Archbishop Burke is himself a canon lawyer and would not be promoting something if he did not feel it had local approval. He goes by the book.

One of the moderators can correct me if I’m wrong, but Our Lady of America can be promoted here at Catholic Answers by virtue of the fact that it has local ecclesiastical approval.
 
TOP said:
So far, but I think an individual Bishop’s say is not infallible. Please someone correct me if I’m wrong. Tim
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Infallibility only applies to public revelation, not private ones.

The spread of this devotion, the approval of multiple bishops, and the lack of controversy bode well for its authenticity.
 
Genesis315 said:
Infallibility only applies to public revelation, not private ones.

The spread of this devotion, the approval of multiple bishops, and the lack of conterovery bode well for its authenticity.
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Got it, thanks, Tim
 
Our Lady of America enjoys complete canonical approval.
Archbishop Burke,by way of letter, makes clear that Archbishop Leibold had indeed approved of the messages from Our Lady to Sister Mary Ephrem. The United States of America now has a approved apparition of The Blessed Mother. A Divine Mandate as well. We must do what Our Lady has asked of us as a country.
Return to purity. It will be the faithful bishops who put Our Ladys statue in the shrine. …It will be a place of wonder…,said Our Lady to Sister Eprem. Greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima (spiritual miracles),are the promises that await our land. Dedicated to Our Lady so long ago.
Spread the good news. Get a medal, and prayer the prayer to Our Lady of America. And while youre at it send the good sisters in Fostoria Ohio a blessing for all they have endured. And a donation as well as they build their community.
OUR LADY OF AMERICA CENTER
PO BOX 445
FOSTORIA OHIO 448
 
triumph said:
Our Lady of America enjoys complete canonical approval.
Archbishop Burke,by way of letter, makes clear that Archbishop Leibold had indeed approved of the messages from Our Lady to Sister Mary Ephrem. The United States of America now has a approved apparition of The Blessed Mother. A Divine Mandate as well. We must do what Our Lady has asked of us as a country.
Return to purity. It will be the faithful bishops who put Our Ladys statue in the shrine. …It will be a place of wonder…,said Our Lady to Sister Eprem. Greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima (spiritual miracles),are the promises that await our land. Dedicated to Our Lady so long ago.
Spread the good news. Get a medal, and prayer the prayer to Our Lady of America. And while youre at it send the good sisters in Fostoria Ohio a blessing for all they have endured. And a donation as well as they build their community.
OUR LADY OF AMERICA CENTER
PO BOX 445
FOSTORIA OHIO 448
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link to website
Sure hope She makes it to Washington DC!

ourladyofamerica.com/news.php
 
Lux_et_veritas said:
Thistle…
**
Consider just a few lines, then a direct link to your source rather than taking up several threads**.

Please note: The 1978 criteria for discernment of apparitions does not apply to something which happened well ahead of that. It already had Archbishop Leibold’s backing. It does, however, apply to Medjugorje and was something Bishop Zanic and Peric have used and followed. This document was unknown to many until years later when it was put out on the web.

This apparition - Our Lady of America - has canonical approval at the local level.

Archbishop Burke is himself a canon lawyer and would not be promoting something if he did not feel it had local approval. He goes by the book.

One of the moderators can correct me if I’m wrong, but Our Lady of America can be promoted here at Catholic Answers by virtue of the fact that it has local ecclesiastical approval.
Click to expand...
I would normally do that but I have this saved only as a word document and inadvertantly previously deleted the link which I have been unable to find again.
 
I too will agree with Bishop Burke. This is a private revelation that can be promoted.

Our Lady of America Pray for us!

:highprayer: :crossrc:
 
thistle said:
I would normally do that but I have this saved only as a word document and inadvertantly previously deleted the link which I have been unable to find again.
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The 1978 CDF document on the discernment of apparitions can be found on the Theotokos website.

Now you can bookmark it. 👍
%between%
 
triumph said:
Our Lady of America enjoys complete canonical approval.
Archbishop Burke,by way of letter, makes clear that Archbishop Leibold had indeed approved of the messages from Our Lady to Sister Mary Ephrem. The United States of America now has a approved apparition of The Blessed Mother. A Divine Mandate as well. We must do what Our Lady has asked of us as a country.
Return to purity. It will be the faithful bishops who put Our Ladys statue in the shrine. …It will be a place of wonder…,said Our Lady to Sister Eprem. Greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima (spiritual miracles),are the promises that await our land. Dedicated to Our Lady so long ago.
Spread the good news. Get a medal, and prayer the prayer to Our Lady of America. And while youre at it send the good sisters in Fostoria Ohio a blessing for all they have endured. And a donation as well as they build their community.
OUR LADY OF AMERICA CENTER
PO BOX 445
FOSTORIA OHIO 448
Click to expand...
This is indeed AWESOME news. I have already gone onto the website to print out an order form and ask to be updated via email.

This is I am sure premature (and somewhat off topic) but I am already wondering about the canonization of Sister Mary Ephrim:shrug: (sp?)
OUR LADY OF AMERICA PRAY FOR US!
 
*The article that you linked to the first post only tells of the approval of the apparition but not of the apparation itself. In fact all of the posts talk of the process of approving an apparition. How about giving some info of the apparation. I, as I am sure many others, have never heard of this apparition - how about some info or a link to info about the apparition. *
**
Thanks,
**
Danny
 
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