By Stephen K. Ryan
Ministry Values
March 20, 2010
http://www.ministryvalues.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=878&Itemid=125
"Hail Mary Full of Grace the Lord is with you." These words are part of a short prayer, a prayer about the Virgin Mary and Catholics are taught early on that this magical little appeal contains a mysterious power against evil. We are told to pray the rosary because the words defend us against Satan and the prayer promises us protection "at the hour of our death". In times of trouble, the Catholic Church encourages the faithful to look to Mother Mary, to seek her "whispering words of wisdom".
Perhaps not at its hour of death, but by all accounts the Catholic Church today is in need of help. Recently, the Church has taken a historic pounding and it now finds its back against the wall and no doubt it must feel in trouble and under siege. For many, it seems, an evil has descended and it is engulfing the Catholic faith. A Bishop in Ireland suggested that because of the sex abuse crisis - a scandal that is shaking the very foundations of the Catholic Church - it could take generations to repair the damage to the Church's reputation.
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In the past days we have seen the child abuse crisis explode around the world, most ominously in Germany, to the point it may be reaching a sitting Pope. For those who spend anytime following events of the Catholic Church, online and in the news, clearly it seems "Evil" is everywhere and running rampant. It is in cyberspace, inside the Vatican, in faith based press and the Mainstream media. Everywhere we turn we encounter Lucifer, exorcists, "satanic smoke", demons and devils. For the Church, darkness, death and sex scandals seem to lurk in all corners of the world, and now even the Prince of Darkness himself, Christopher Hitchens, sensing blood on the streets, has come forward with his lance, hoping to fatally spear the head of the Catholic Church. Swinging his mighty pen, he has come to eternally define the Pope as evil incarnate.
Christopher Hitchens predictably hammers away in Slate.com in an article called the Great Catholic Cover-Up with the catchy tag line "The pope's entire career has the stench of evil about it." He writes: "The chief exorcist of the Vatican, the Rev. Gabriele Amorth (who has held this demanding post for 25 years), was quoted as saying that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican," and that "when one speaks of 'the smoke of Satan' in the holy rooms, it is all true-including these latest stories of violence and pedophilia." This can perhaps be taken as confirmation that something horrible has indeed been going on in the holy precincts."
In response to this tsunami of bad publicity, publicity that is creating genuine crises for the Catholic Church, the Vatican, in dramatic fashion this week, perhaps desperately, perhaps divinely, has turned to Mother Mary seeking her protection against an evil that is relentlessly attacking the faith. In these times of trouble, the Vatican is turning to Mary for help and they think they may have found her in a small village town called Medjugorje. In Medjugorje, in southwestern Bosnia, apparitions of the Virgin Mary are said to be taking place, and Rome in a stunning development this week, at a time when they are in broiled in a worldwide crisis, announced, very publicly, unusual for this kind of thing, that they have formed a special commission to finally investigate the controversial apparition site.
This is the first time in Church history an investigation of an apparition site of the Virgin Mary has been handled directly by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith while the visions are still taking place. Make no mistake about this - this is a big deal.
We wonder: Is there no time left on the clock? Is it fourth and long, and the Catholic Church is now dropping back to throw one last giant Hail Mary pass. This time is the pass going to the Virgin Mary herself, in the sense that the Church is opening up an investigation into a real live apparition of the Madonna. Are they hoping for a miracle? Or has the Church, as penance for its sins, in a mysterious way, been asked to pray a unique form of the Hail Mary. Is the entire body of the Catholic clergy seeking forgiveness for its sins by looking to the Mediatrix, to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who points the way to her Son by participating in a collective pilgrimage to the foothills by a town called Medjugorje? In Medjugorje, it has been claimed, and many believe, the Virgin Mary has come to earth to encourage the world to reconcile with God, She asks us to convert, 'to put God in the first place in our lives" and to seek forgiveness from her Son.
She says quite simply, above all, "I have come to tell the world that God exists".
An international commission of inquiry headed by Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini – a top adviser to the late Pope John Paul II – has been formed to study the case of alleged apparitions and report back to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday. The Medjugorje apparition has been disputed from the first days beginning in 1981. Nearly thirty years ago six youths said they had regularly seen visions of the Virgin in Medjugorje. Distinct for Fatima in Portugal or Lourdes in France, the Vatican has been cautious about declaring the sightings authentic. Rome, despite millions of visitor to the town, has not formally approved Medjugorje as an official shrine site.
But that fact has not kept the faithful pilgrims from flocking to Medjugorje. For many Medjugorje is no longer a place or town but an idea and a hope. John Paul II said of Medjugorje "It is the spiritual heart of the world" Medjugore is most famous for its "messages" messages that are said to come from Heaven delivered to six "visionaries" by the Virgin Mary herself, the "Queen of Peace" as she is known by the devoted. We are told by the "seers" who literally receive her "whispering words of wisdom" to seek "peace in our hearts" and to convert back to God. For years, those devoted to Medjugorje's simple message of peace, including Bishops, Cardinals and the "millions" of lay faithful have asked, even pleaded, that the Church look into the authenticity of the apparition of Medjugoje. They pointed to the enormous "good fruits" of Medjugorje as a sign that the apparitions are true and that the town is worthy of a special status as a "Holy Shrine".
During a week that seemed to encompass the Catholic Church with "the stain of evil" it is curious that the Vatican announced its investigation into the apparition site that many call "the spiritual lung of the world" at the height of the storm. We are not sure of course if this was a coincidence but it is interesting to note that on the same day of the announcement of the Vatican inquiry, mainstream media filled there papers and blogs with stories asking if the Pope would be forced to resign.
Is there a secret force behind the sudden announcement to open up the investigation into the apparition? Some see Cardinal Schonborn, the Archbishop of Austria's hands in the developments. He is a close confidant of Pope Benedict XVI, and an esteemed scholar. The Cardinal visited Medjugorje over New Year's, sparking a minor diplomatic incident and international headlines since official church pilgrimages to Medjugorje are barred. In his visit to Medjugore, Schoenborn told reporters that he traveled to the shrine in a private capacity. But he celebrated Mass there, met with the visionaries and granted several interviews afterward. To a reporter and speaking of Medjugorje the Cardinal asked "Who can make this up." He called the Blessed Mother "The best pastoral theologian" He also said that the spirit of Medjugorje a tree that has "bore many fruits," in terms of vocations, conversions and rediscovery of faith.
His activities in Medjugorje prompted the local bishop of Mostar, Monsignor Ratko Peric, to write him a letter Jan. 2, sharply criticizing his visit and suggesting that his "presence there was by no means a formal recognition of the apparitions."
Schonborn after returning from his very public visit to the apparition site again made international headlines by calling for an "unflinching examination" into the causes of sexual abuse by priests including what role celibacy contributes to the problem.
Is the fearless Archbishop, Cardinal Schonborn, the friend and protégé of Pope Benedict XVI, a man who believes the Virgin Mary is supernaturally speaking to the world, the secret power behind the Churches decision to investigate the mysterious phenomenon in Medjugorje? Some believe he is, and some also believe that potentially the investigation could lead to the most important event in the history of the Catholic Church since the birth of Christ..
It has been said Heaven is calling in Medjugorje. And now with all that has happened to the Catholic Church in the past few week and months, many are hoping and asking "Is the Church ready to listen?
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