Medugorje...what you may not know ( Official pilgrimages are now allowed, the bishop of Mostar had originally supported the apparitions,millionaire campaigning against the apparition dies...)

MEDJUGORJE… WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Mark

The six seers of Medjugorje when they were children

The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church continues to tear away at her credibility. But did it also undermine the apparitions taking place in Medjugorje, the one place on earth where conversions, healing, and vocations spring forth on a daily basis?

 

AFTER having followed the Medjugorje apparitions for years, and researched and studied the background story, one thing has become clear: there are a lot of people who reject the supernatural character of this apparition site based on the dubious words of a few. A perfect storm of politics, lies, sloppy journalism, manipulation, and a Catholic media mostly cynical of all-things-mystical has fuelled, for years, a narrative that the six visionaries, and a gang of Franciscan thugs, have managed to dupe the world, including the canonized Saint, John Paul II.

 

Strangely, it doesn’t matter to some critics that the fruits of Medjugorje—millions of conversions, thousands of apostolates and religious vocations, and hundreds of documented miracles—are the 

most extraordinary that the Church has ever seen since, perhaps, Pentecost. To read the testimonies of people who have actually been there (as opposed to nearly every critic who usually hasn’t) is like reading the Acts of the Apostles on steroids (here is mine: A Miracle ofMercy.) The most vocal critics of Medjugorje dismiss these fruits as irrelevant (more evidence in our times of Rationalism, and the Death of Mystery) often citing fictitious gossip and unfounded rumours. I have responded to twenty-four of those in Medjugorje and the Smoking Guns, including allegations that the seers have been disobedient. [1] Moreover, they claim that “Satan can produce good fruit too!” They’re basing this on St. Paul’s admonition:

…such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, who masquerade as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So it is not strange that his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 For 11:13-15)

Actually, St. Paul is contradicting their argument. He says, indeed, you will know a tree by its fruit: “Their end will correspond to their deeds.” The conversions, healings, and vocations we’ve seen from Medjugorje over the past three decades have overwhelmingly shown themselves to be authentic as many of those who have experienced them are bearing the authentic light of Christ years later. Those who know the seers personally attest to their humility, integrity, devotion and holiness, contradicting the calumny that has spread about them.[2] What Scripture actually says is that Satan can work “lying signs and wonders”.[3] But the fruits of the Spirit? No. The worms will eventually come out.

More importantly, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith refutes the notion that the fruits are irrelevant. It specifically refers to the importance that such a phenomenon… 

…bear fruits by which the Church herself might later discern the true nature of the facts…—”Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceeding in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations” n. 2, vatican.va

These evident fruits should move all the faithful, from the bottom to the top, to approach Medjugorje in a spirit of humility and gratitude, regardless of its “official” status. It is not my place to say this or that apparition is true or false. But what I can do, as a matter of justice, is counter the misinformation that is out there so that the faithful may, at the very least, remain open—as the Vatican is—to the possibility that Medjugorje is a profound grace given to the world at this hour. That’s precisely what the Vatican’s representative in Medjugorje said on July 25th, 2018:

We have a great responsibility towards the whole world, because truly Medjugorje has become a place of prayer and conversion for the whole world. Accordingly, the Holy Father is concerned and sends me here to help the Franciscan priests to organize and to acknowledge this place as a source of grace for the whole world. —Archbishop Henryk Hoser, Papal Visitor assigned to oversee pastoral care of pilgrims; Feast of St. James, July 25th, 2018; MaryTV.tv

Dear children, my real, living presence among you should make you happy because this is the great love of my Son. He is sending me among you so that, with a motherly love, I may grant you safety! —Our Lady of Medjugorje to Mirjana, July 2, 2016

STRANGE TWISTS…

In truth, the apparitions of Medjugorje were initially accepted by the local Bishop of Mostar, the diocese where Medjugorje resides. Speaking of the integrity of the seers, he stated:

No one has forced them or influenced them in any manner. These are six normal children; they are not lying; they express themselves from the depth of their hearts. Are we dealing here with a personal vision or a supernatural occurrence? It is hard to say. However, it is certain that they are not lying. —statement to the press, July 25, 1981; “Medjugorje Deception or Miracle?”; ewtn.com

This favorable position was confirmed by the police who initiated the first psychological examinations of the seers to determine if they were hallucinating or simply trying to cause trouble. The children were taken to the neuro-psychiatric hospital in Mostar where they were subjected to harsh interrogations and exposed to severely demented patients in order to frighten them. After passing every test, Dr. Mulija Dzudza, a Muslim, declared:

I have not seen more normal children. It is the people who brought you here who should be declared insane! —Medjugorje, The First Days, James Mulligan, Ch. 8 

Her conclusions were later confirmed by ecclesial psychological examinations, [4] and then again by several teams of international scientists in the ensuing years. In fact, after submitting 

the seers to a battery of testswhile they were in ecstasy during apparitions—from poking and prodding to blasting them with noise and monitoring brain patterns—Dr. Henri Joyeux and his team of doctors from France concluded:

The ecstasies are not pathological, nor is there any element of deceit. No scientific discipline seems able to describe these phenomena. The apparitions at Medjugorje cannot be explained scientifically. In one word, these young people are healthy, and there is no sign of epilepsy, nor is it a sleep, dream, or trance state. It is neither a case of pathological hallucination nor hallucination in the hearing or sight facilities…. —8:201-204; “Science Tests the Visionaries”, cf. divinemysteries.info

More recently, in 2006, members of Dr. Joyeux’s team again examined some of the seers during ecstasy and sent the results to Pope Benedict.

After twenty years, our conclusion has not changed. We were not wrong. Our scientific conclusion is clear: the Medjugorje events must be taken seriously. —Dr. Henri Joyeux, Međugorje Tribune, January 2007

CONTINUED
https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2018/10/18/the-truth-of-medjugorje-you-may-not-know/