What does "approved" apparition mean? Did it happen or not?

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jmisk said:
So let’s take Lordes for example
I am able to pilgrimage there and see the site and pray there and even accepts that the events recorded did in fact take place.

So if the church allows me to do that why does that apparition not become some form of official church history/doctrine.

And if there any reason not to include the sayings of Mary at these events NOT being added to sacred Scripture? What would be the argument not accepting non-conflicting statements of Mary to scripture?
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There aren’t any approved apparitions of Mary where she says anything other than what the Chruch has been saying for 2000 years. They’re about deeper conversion, penance, forgiveness, prayer, obedience to God, etc. There is nothing new to add in terms of doctrine.
 
Being approved means that you are free to believe Mary appeared and gave a private revelation to the people to whom she appeared. Nobody else is bound by those revelations.

Additionally, you are not required to believe they occurred. One can be a Catholic in good standing and not believe Mary appeared in Lourdes or Fatima.
 
Catholics are not required to believe in apparitions and they are not part of the deposit of faith. Therefore, we do not use them to teach the faith to Protestants. It may be that a Protestant or other non-Catholic is brought to Jesus through an apparition, as happened with Our Lady of Zion (Vatican approved). But that is God’s choice.

Furthermore, in terms of doctrine/ dogma, apparitions do not say anything that isn’t already in the Deposit of Faith. There is no need to rely on them to teach doctrine/ dogma. Our Lady of Lourdes brought up the Immaculate Conception only to confirm her identity for the priest who might doubt who she was. She wasn’t doing it to teach people.

From a practical standpoint I also have my doubts about apparitions as a teaching tool. Your average Protestant is a lot more likely to be swayed by Scripture than by some apparition of the Virgin Mary - whom Protestants usually don’t understand very well anyway - that Catholics aren’t even required to believe in.
 
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If you search “Benedictine prophecies false” or “forgeries,” you’ll find them.
 
The distinction between public and private Revelations is crucial. THIS distinction is really important, not just the distinction between approved and unapproved private Revelations.

Any one page in the Catechism communicates more truths for our mind than all private Revelations combined. I hasten to add that I am deeply devoted to the Diary of St Faustina, volunteer in an inner city mission dedicated to Divine Mercy, and often visit a shrine to Our Lady of Fatima.

Private devotions nurture the heart. They may encourage us, or some of us, to live out public Revelation. All of public Revelation applies to everyone. Different private revelations benefit different persons.
 
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There are some who overemphasize church music. There are others who overemphasize church art. But it would be a mistake to eliminate them. We just have to keep affirming that these need to be in their proper place. They do not equate to Public Revelation. The fact that some art and music is approved by the Church is useful.
 
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My favorite is Fr. O’Brien’s well researched book: AN HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECY OF ST. MALACHY, 1880. Fr. O’Brien proves that St. Malachy did not author this list of predictions and that it must have been composed sometime after 1550.
 
JulianN said:
If you search “Benedictine prophecies false” or “forgeries,” you’ll find them.
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Fr. O’Brien was a Jesuit, and this order is known for taking a negative view on relics and prophecies. (For instance, Fr. Thurston, a Jesuit, wrote many articles against the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.) Nontheless, O’Brien’s book contains much useful research, and he remarks of Religio depopulata: “Troubled times are foretold by this. The blood of the martyrs will flow.” If only he had lived to see it.
 
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