Path: utzoo!censor!comspec!lethe!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Why Believing "Bible Alone", is Wrong Message-ID: Date: 27 Jan 91 08:10:15 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 47 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Don Muench (another good German name like Buehler?) wrote: Readers need to know that, according to a recent article in Newsday, the Vatican has forbidden official pilgrimages to Medjugorje and that the Bishop there considers it a "hoax". This means that all pilgrinages there are without official church permission. Apparently the Bishop there has written a lengthy article on the matter. I have no idea where to get this article. I have heard that there has been an official statement by the Vatican on Medjugorje, but don't know its contents. I may have misinterpreted what I heard, also. I have an official statement by the bishop of a couple years back, that may be what you're talking about. Perhaps the press just got a hold of it. I have a dossier in front of me on Medjugorje, prepared by a French religious who is an expert on the Fatima apparitions. There has been a lot of clerical politics involved. At the time of writing of my source, it was essentially run by a group of charismatic Franciscans, who were rebelling against their bishop. I have posted extensive material on Medjugorje in the past. The local bishop condemned the apparition, after an investigation. The problems with the apparitions are so great that it doesn't take a great theologian to see them. The prayer that was posted is apparently the same one that was dictated by "our Lady" herself on 19 April 1983 to Helena, one of the seers. I don't have a copy of the prayer in front of me, just the extracts which my source finds objectionable: "I pray you that you may give me the grace to be merciful towards you." "And if by chance I lost your grace... I ask you to restore it to me." If those two phrases were really spoken by the apparition, Medjugorje is certainly not genuine. It was forbidden to publicize apparitions not approved by the Church until Paul VI changed the law. This is why; many of them are not genuine. Joe Buehler