Question about Luisa Piccarreta's writings

[Monica4316]

I have a question about Luisa Piccarreta’s writings that I really can’t seem to find an answer to… and I’m really running out of options. I emailed pretty much all the people that I think could answer it, and everyone must be busy because I haven’t gotten a detailed reply yet. I understand that people are busy. I was wondering if somehow, someone here might know the answer???

I** don’t** want this thread to be a debate about Luisa Piccarreta’s writings or whether you personally believe in them or not, etc. The Archbishop of Trani said in his letter that the Church has **not **said there’s anything against doctrine in her writings, neither has he personally said this, and that people who say otherwise cause scandal to those who are spiritually nourished by her writings. I know that sometimes there’s controversy over these writings, and the Vatican is looking into them to make a final statement, - but two theologians have found nothing against doctrine, and the Archbishop supports Luisa, and there are good articles online that try to dispute any claims about Quietism, etc. I would be glad if this thread was just a discussion about the actual question that I’m trying to ask, and not a controversial debate thank you.

I read the letters of the Archbishop of Trani, where he said that there’s a moratorium on Luisa’s writings because of how some people have misinterpreted them. The moratorium is to minimize this, while the Church prepares an official version of Luisa Piccarreta’s writings that would be approved and would give a clear and unified interpretation. (so the ideas themselves are not banned, in fact the originals have Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur from St Annibale Maria di Francia). Here’s a link to the letters: forums.catholic-questions.org/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=102

In the letters, it says that any and all publications at this time are not allowed, (until this official edition comes out). However, in an article from EWTN, and another one from another website, I read that there are exceptions for certain books: miraclerosarymission.org/luisap.html
ewtn.com/expert/answers/luisa_piccarreta.htm

I can’t seem to reconcile these statements and I can’t find a source for this second statement… I was wondering if anyone knows if it’s indeed the case that books like the Hours of the Passion and the Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will, could still be diffused. I think there were two Italian companies that were allowed to finish diffusing them, but I’m wondering if the books were also permitted to continue being published after that?

My second question, is if anyone knows if it’s okay to have copies of Luisa’s books that were published for private use, not for sale. Would this contradict the moratorium or the rights of the Archdiocese, since it owns the legal rights to the books?

The problem for me is that I’m reading different things and I can’t seem to put them together or figure out what the full reality is…

does anyone for sure know, or know someone who I can ask, who for sure knows?

thank you

(if you don’t know, please say a prayer for me, because I’ve been trying to find an answer to this for a while I’m looking for a source… because sometimes I read that it’s okay, but I don’t understand how this goes together with the letters. I’m not saying that it doesn’t though! I just don’t understand).

 

[Dorothy]

Monica,

Just my thoughts…when there is so much confusion about whether the Church has or has not given her final approval as to whether it is okay to read certain spiritual writings, it is good to remember that we have all the means we need to become saints if we cooperate with God’s grace.

We have the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, sacramentals, excellent spiritual classical writings of the saints on prayer, Sacred Scripture to meditate on, lives of the saints to inspire us, consecration to Our Lady, and various ways to be of service to others according to our state in life.

 

[Bookcat]

Your giving a summation by Colin B. Donovan, STL there (who has been on Catholic Answers). He is a good source.

 

[Jennifoo]

Hi there. In situations like this I prefer to leave it alone until the Holy See makes some sort of statement or declaration approving the person’s writings. My reasoning is twofold: 1) there is already a wealth of holy writings I can read and benefit from and 2) the person in question, including their message, will be approved when God chooses and not a moment sooner so any worry on my part is fruitless. Any attempt to read the messages in question could be detrimental as well as disobedient.

I hope this helps. God bless you.

 

[Monica4316]

Monica,

Just my thoughts…when there is so much confusion about whether the Church has or has not given her final approval as to whether it is okay to read certain spiritual writings, it is good to remember that we have all the means we need to become saints if we cooperate with God’s grace.

We have the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, sacramentals, excellent spiritual classical writings of the saints on prayer, Sacred Scripture to meditate on, lives of the saints to inspire us, consecration to Our Lady, and various ways to be of service to others according to our state in life.

I know what you mean, but my concern isn’t really with whether it’s been approved or not because the Bishop is okay with people being interested in Luisa, being in a prayer group (even though I don’t have a prayer group), etc. From reading his comments, it seems to me like he personally likes Luisa too. he’s not critical of her, though he leaves the final decision to the Vatican. So my concern is not so much being totally unsure of the spirituality - usually if I’m totally unsure about something and confused, I tend to leave it for the time being and just “leave it up to God”… but with Luisa’s spirituality, it’s something that I believe God has lead me towards and I have found spiritual help there, and the Archbishop also said that many people find spiritual nourishment in her writings. It’s not just reading, one of the main things is the way of praying. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if the Church is skeptical of Luisa or not, and if there are any actual doctrinal disagreements, and I have not found this on an official level - the people who are critical tend to not be those who are actually giving the decision from the Church’s point of view. Two theologians, the Bishops of Trani, Luisa’s spiritual director who is a Saint - all who have more of a direct or formal link to her Cause, have not found anything against doctrine. So of course, I’m waiting for the Vatican to make a final statement just like everyone else, and if they publish an official version of the writings, I would be very glad. but following the spirituality has helped me a lot and it doesn’t cause me anxiety. My issue is more with the moratorium - and the moratorium has nothing to do with the Bishop being unsure of Luisa’s teachings - it’s only to prevent wrong interpretations like what happened before. That’s why those involved in her Cause say that we should be guided by priests in learning about Luisa, and to read with the mind of the Church… I got a book written by a priest that was approved in Rome and it’s a thesis to link Luisa’s teachings to Church doctrines. The book is called “The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the writings of Luisa Piccarreta” by Fr Iannuzzi. (I hope I got the title right). My question though is simply about the moratorium and other books.

Your giving a summation by Colin B. Donovan, STL there (who has been on Catholic Answers). He is a good source.

Sure! but do you think he’s talking about the 2 Italian companies that were allowed to finish their supplies of the two books, or actually that the two books can continue to be published? I also read that it’s not disobedient to simply have books… it’s not disobedient for sure to have books that were published before the moratorium. I’m just wondering about after the moratorium.

 

[Monica4316]

Hi there. In situations like this I prefer to leave it alone until the Holy See makes some sort of statement or declaration approving the person’s writings. My reasoning is twofold: 1) there is already a wealth of holy writings I can read and benefit from and 2) the person in question, including their message, will be approved when God chooses and not a moment sooner so any worry on my part is fruitless. Any attempt to read the messages in question could be detrimental as well as disobedient.

I hope this helps. God bless you.

I think that given that the Archbishop of Trani said that many find spiritual nourishment in Luisa’s writings, his personal support, and that the ideas themselves have not been rejected - I wouldn’t say it’s disobedient or detrimental to practice this spirituality… I mean, prayer groups are not discouraged, and I think God could lead people to this before it becomes well known, - however of course, it’s important to ALSO be obedient to the Church, at the same time like I said above, - this spirituality became a part of my life and it’s something that if you begin to practice it, it sort of stays with you, even if you don’t read anything, don’t go to any conferences, etc. From what I hear, people receive a lot of grace through this spirituality. (even the diocese said that people find it helpful).

I guess my question isnt’ if the teachings are approved - because the original books did have Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, and everyone who examined the writings so far has not found any doctrinal error, though we are waiting for a final official pronouncement from the Vatican. I’m waiting too. Meanwhile, it seems from the Archbishop’s words that it’s not wrong to like the spirituality, though there are limits to what we can do, for example there are limits on public promotion. But this is more to limit wrong interpretations, to protect the Cause, and it’s made very clear that everything needs to be understood with the teachings of the Magisterium and with the help of priests. That is important to me too. I tried very hard to find out if anything is against doctrine, but the Bishop said that the Church has never said this, - so we’re just waiting for the final decision

My question is just about the moratorium… because a big part of this for me is not just reading, but using the spirituality in your life, and this could be done once you understand what it is. I have never read anything forbidding this… all we’re asked, is just to be patient as the Church keeps examining it, and of course to wait for the critical edition and the Church’s interpretation, so we don’t fall into wrong interpretations, and meanwhile we need to be guided by orthodox priests.

I hope it makes sense what I’m saying - that now that I’ve tried to understand the main point of Luisa’s teachings, I can’t just forget about them, when the Church has not forbidden the ideas or banned the doctrines or found anything to be against Church teachings. Since the Church is open to this, and the Bishop supports it, - there are no red flags… we just wait for the Vatican, that’s all. But it’s not something I can just toss aside, when I know there are no ‘red flags’ - because it’s affected my spirituality and I find myself using the ideas when I’m doing other prayers, when I’m at Mass, etc. It’s been really helpful to me and if this is a grace that God gave, I don’t want to just reject it, - the Church is not telling us to reject it or that the teachings are wrong from what I understand, we’re allowed to know the basics of the spirituality and what it entails, and pray about it, and just learn the specifics together with the Church instead of coming up with our own interpretations separate from Church doctrines. We can wait for an official interpretation to clarify various points. But we’re allowed to know, for example, that there’s a particular gift called “living in the Divine Will”, and the basic idea of it, and prayer groups of Luisa’s spirituality have also been allowed.

God bless!

 

[Monica4316]

Just a couple thoughts I had

• apparently there are many misconceptions about Luisa’s writings, some by critics, some by followers, and - those involved in her Cause said that it’s important to be guided by priests in the correct interpretation of her writings. It’s sad that sometimes people reject the writings just because of something they heard that isn’t even accurate.
• other times though, it’s just very “new” and hard to understand… I found this to be the case at first, but as I prayed, I began to understand the main point of it. I found that before, it made no sense at all, but as I tried to pray in this way and live it out, God sort of did the rest and it made sense after that. So I understand if it’s a controversial topic… honestly I’m not here to debate it. It’s something a bit personal to me maybe. I’m just wondering if anyone knows about the moratorium situation - in terms of what Colin Donovan might have meant on the EWTN article, for example. From what I read, the interviews I’ve seen, etc. - the Bishop is not against Luisa at all or against her writings. He seems supportive, and so did the last Bishop. everyone is waiting for the Vatican because that’s the Church’s protocol, but if there was something obviously and seriously wrong, I’m sure the Bishops would have noticed it and not been supportive of it. Two theologians who examined the works also found nothing wrong. So now everyone’s waiting for the final decision from Rome…

I understand if people struggle with the ideas because it is very deep, and at first it might be very hard to understand, but it’s something we can’t really understand without God’s help of course I don’t think that I can describe the teachings here (I don’t want to debate them, and I’m not qualified enough to describe them on a forum), though I can talk about Luisa’s life, but if anyone wants to learn more they can see Fr Iannuzzi’s book.

God bless!

 

[pnewton]

I** don’t** want this thread to be a debate about Luisa Piccarreta’s writings or whether you personally believe in them or not, etc…

Too late. It is not reasonable to start a thread giving an apologetic argument in* favor* of something, especially something something one which we have disciplinary instruction* against*, and then say you want no debate.

But yes, it is a violation of copyright laws to print something in its entirety for personal use. There is a provision for limited excerpts under fair usage that does not violate civil law, only the moratorium place on the action under the Church.

 

[Monica4316]

Too late. It is not reasonable to start a thread giving an apologetic argument in* favor* of something, especially something something one which we have disciplinary instruction* against*, and then say you want no debate.

The Bishop said it causes scandal when people say that there’s something against doctrine in Luisa’s writings because the Church doesn’t say this, nor the Bishop. So I don’t think the Church is against it… .if people personally don’t believe the revelations, - that’s different from trying to convince someone not to follow something… I’m just asking a question if anyone knows specifics about the article from EWTN and if books like the “Hours” were given an exception. I don’t understand why it needs to become a debate

But yes, it is a violation of copyright laws to print something in its entirety for personal use. There is a provision for limited excerpts under fair usage that does not violate civil law, only the moratorium place on the action under the Church.

I see, I guess it depends if there’s been an exception of some kind like what was described in the article, - this is why I asked, to see if anyone knows more information about what the article meant… I guess in the end, people involved in the Cause would know for sure, I did email them but they are busy and might not reply at this time. This is why I’m not really sure how to find an answer. But since this spirituality is part of my life, I can’t just ignore it because we have many other devotions in the Church, etc, - I mean there’s a difference if something has been rejected by the Church, but this has not been. This is what I meant about not wanting a debate, because sometimes people start to give each other advice on the forum but I have a confessor if I have questions like this I’m just looking for information, that is all.

God bless!

 

[frankrega]

Precisely because of the moratorium on new printings of her writings, I have been at work on a series of books which provide an “overview” of her work, without actually directly quoting her. The first three books are now in print, and cover her “Book of Heaven” from the first to the 21st volume. She has 36 volumes in all. I have been informed that some Luisa Piccarreta study groups use my books. You can find info at www.lifeofluisa.com or www.frankrega.com

Peace,
Frank