Apparitions Anyone?

I get lots of emails recounting the latest messages of visionaries. As eager as I am to have the Blessed Mother appearing like she did at Fatima, Lourdes, and Guadalupe I tend to be a skeptic. One thing I know for sure. True visionaries never benefit monetarily from their visions. St. Bernadette wouldn't take a sou from anyone and was furious at her little brother when a visitor left a coin on the bench in their home and he put it in his pocket. The three little peasants at Fatima did not benefit monetarily although because of the apparitions Lucia was sent to school to learn to read. Mary told Francisco and Jacinta they were going to heaven soon so they did not. Francisco, however, could often be found in the church with his arms wrapped around the tabernacle. He and Jacinta died in the influenza epidemic of 1918. Bernadette and Lucia became nuns. Juan Diego was still a poor Aztec indian after Mary blessed her "little son" with several visits and entrusted him with her mission to the bishop.

So when I see today's "seers" living in mansions, collecting buckets of cash (unaccounted for), and receiving all kinds of benefits because of their "visions of Our Lady," I just can't buy it. Is this the same woman who told Bernadette she could not promise her happiness in this life, but in the next? Visionaries more typically get extra sufferings; they don't win the lottery.

The Medjugorje apparitions are particularly unbelievable to me. Mary is like a vending machine: put in your buck and get out a message -- 40,000 and counting. Is this the humble lady who speaks only a handful of sentences in Scripture "pondering things in her heart?" When did she become the town cryer?

Compare that with approved apparitions:

1531 Guadalupe - Our Lady appeared four times to Juan Diego
1838 Paris - Mary appeared three times to St. Catherine Laboure
1858 Lourdes - Bernadette spoke with Mary at Massabielle 18 times
1879 Knock - Mary, St. Joseph, John the apostle, and a lamb on an altar appeared over the church and no one said anything
1917 Fatima - Three peasant children received an apparition with an angel and six apparitions with Mary
1932-33 Beauraing and Banneux, Belgium - 33 and 8 Marian apparitions respectively
1972-1981 - Sr. Agnes received three messages from Our Lady; other signs included a statue of the Blessed Mother weeping 101 times over several years.

Go here for a list of approved apparitions. Note how few times Mary appeared to the visionaries and how little she said. She appeared several dozen times at most. And yet today countless visionaries claim that Mary appears daily for 15 or 20 years leaving all kinds of banal messages for the world. Is this plausible? Not to mention things like the Scottsdale debacle with child abuser Fr. Dale Fushek, an early proponent of Medjugorje, who is now leading people right out of the church. If the Medjugorje folks point to every good thing that happens to someone who went to Medjugorje as a "fruit" they certainly need to take responsibility for the evil things as well.

In most cases the Church makes no decision about the claimed apparition. They take the position of Gamaliel in Acts of the Apostles when he advised the Sanhedrin how to handle the apostles preaching, "My advice is that you have nothing to do with these men. Let them alone. If their purpose or activity is human in its origins, it will destroy itself. If, on the other hand, it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them without fighting God himself." If you look at a list of alleged apparitions, you note that most came to nothing without the Church taking any action. If the Blessed Mother wants them approved it will happen through the Church. But some apparition promoters claim that a non-decision by the Church implies the authenticity of the apparition. That is dishonest nonsense.

No doubt a Medjugorje enthusiast will criticize what I've written saying I've never been there. Well, in fact, I have. I went for a week with a friend in the early 90s. We were traveling in Ireland and hitched up with a group of Irish pilgrims. I saw nothing unorthodox, and heard some good homilies at the English Masses. I walked up the mountain and prayed. I spent a lot of time reading scripture, meditating, saying the rosary and praying. It was a good personal retreat, but I came home unconvinced. The fact that people find comfort and are converted in Medjugorje is no proof of anything supernatural taking place there. The Lord and His mother will always bless a sincere heart.

But there is a dark side to Medjugorje as well and many unanswered questions. I recommend Donal Foley's book Understanding Medjugorje: Heavenly Visions or Religious Illusion? You can read reviews of the book here and here. The second one is mine.

My personal recommendation is, if you have money for a pilgrimage, go to an approved site where you know the Blessed Mother actually appeared. Or just stay home and go to your local parish. Jesus is there in the tabernacle waiting for you.