Anthony Gonzales - The same tired old objections. People are reading from the same pages and borrowing objections from one another.
Below are some of the more common objections to Medjugorje
brought up time and time again by detractors. The answers
are very briefly summarised here, but all of these arguments
have been addressed in finer detail in this
article by Paul Baylis, which refutes the objections brought
forward by Unity Publishing in a marathon article written
by Rick Salbato, who himself has borrowed from various sources.
The Virgin made the following comments to the visionaries
question "Are all religions the same?"
"All religions are dear to my son. It is you on
earth who are divided. We are all children of God. The Moslems
and the Orthodox for the same reason as Catholics are equal
before my son and me. All religions are not equal. All men
are equal before God. It does not suffice to belong to the
Catholic Church to be saved. It is necessary to respect
and obey the commandants of God in following one’s
conscience. Those who are not Catholics are no less creatures
made in the image of God and destined ultimately to live
in the house of God. Salvation is available to everyone
without exception. Only those who refuse God deliberately
are condemned by their own choice."
Detraction articles you have read most likely take portions
of this text out of context, for example, as Rick Salbato
did "The Moslems and the Orthodox for the same reason
as Catholics are equal before my son and me...".
Quite clearly, all that Mary is saying is a reiteration of
the biblical truth that all people are loved by God and have
the opportunity to be saved if they obey His commandments.
DISOBEDIENCE?
This is a charge directed at Franciscans by detractors. They
cite alleged disobedience by Franciscans to the orders of
secular bishops. Unfortunately, it is not as black and white
as the detractors would have us believe. And, in fact, the
secular bishops of Mostar have been caught out themselves
for selective obedience and manipulation. The problems between
Franciscans and secular clergy has a long history. Unfortunately,
civility appeared to have flown out the window during the
long-running Herzegovina Affair. It is too long and complex
to go into here. Readers should take the time to read the
full story
of what has transpired since the 1800's between Franciscans
and the secular clergy in the Herzegovina region. Readers
will then be in a better position to judge who has been "disobedient"
and the reasons for it. While the Vatican waits for the apparitions
to end before pronouncing on Medjugorje (a standard Vatican
treatment of apparitions), detractors hope to cast doubt on
the genuineness of Medjugorje through alleged bad fruits such
as disobedience. The fact is that most of the unfortunate
events occurred long before the apparitions began, so they
cannot be said to be fruits of the apparitions themselves.
Detractors have tried to paint the visionaries as naughty
rascals, pointing out such things as the visionaries out having
a cigarette when the virgin first appeared to them (They forget
to tell you, incidentally, that every visionary has quit smoking
since). Some point the finger at the size of the visionaries'
houses, but they forget to tell you that the houses are no
bigger than the average American house and most of the house
is used to accommodate visiting pilgrims. Jakov and Ivan were
lambasted for marrying beautiful women, but male detractors
fail to explain if and why they themselves would prefer not
to do so. Remember, these visionaries have seen the most beautiful
woman in the universe. Detractors point out that none of the
visionaries has committed to religious life, even though Mary
asked them to. But they've conveniently overlooked the salient
point that "Mary asked them to", meaning
they can't fault Mary or the apparitions; they can only possibly
fault the visionaries for their choices. But anyway, it cannot
be said that the choice to have a family instead of entering
a convent is a bad one.
Detractors take another of Mary's sayings out of context.
Remember, Vego was accused of having an affair with a nun,
but this was not the relevant issue when Mary said the following:
"The bishop is to blame for the disorder in Herzegovina,"
said the Gospa. "Vego is not to blame. If they expel
him from the Franciscan order, may he remain courageous."
It is clear that the Virgin is referring to the state of
disorder in Herzegovina. At this time, Vego and Prusina were
being dragged over the coals by Bishop Zanic in what has become
known as the "Mostar Affair". Detractors try to
make is seem as though Mary is referring to the indiscretion
of Vego's affair with a nun, which apparently had not happened
at that time. When they use the above quote, they often omit
the first and last sentences, leaving "Vego is not to
blame". He was not being turfed out of the order for
having an affair with a nun. He and Prusina were accused of
having administered the sacraments, in the Franciscan chapels
in Mostar, to people who did not want to attend the new parish
under the secular clergy at the Cathedral (Please read "The
Truth about the Herzegovinian Affair" for the full
background). Both of them approached, through Vicka, the Virgin
Mary, who agreed that they did not commit any offence. Ten
years later, this was also confirmed by the Apostolic See
in Rome which on 27 March 1993 stated that Franciscans had
not committed any violation of the rules, but on the contrary
that Bishop Zanic had been acting in contradiction to canonical
law. Case dismissed.
HOW COULD THE REAL VIRGIN REPRIMAND A BISHOP
Detractors say "Surely, sweet innocent Mary wouldn't
slander a Bishop". They, are of course referring to the
comments made by Our Lady about the Bishop of Mostar.
On June 19, 1982, the Virgin stated:
"Tell the Father Bishop that I request his urgent conversion
to the events of the Medjugorje parish before it is too
late. Let him begin by informing himself about all the events
with great understanding, love and responsibility. I desire
that he place no disunion between priests and that he should
not emphasize their negative sides. I ask for his conversion
to these events. I am sending him the ultimate warning.
if he is not converted he will be corrected. My judgement,
as well as that of my son, Jesus, will strike him. If he
does not put into effect what I am giving him to know, please
tell him that he has not found the path of my Son, Jesus."
On earth, certainly Mary, as the humble mother of Jesus,
was bound by the norms and customs as regards the behaviour
of women in Jewish society. But, as the crowned Queen of Heaven,
her only superior is God himself in three persons. The Pope
is her servant; the Bishop of Mostar is certainly her servant.
With this correct view, we can see how Mary's statements are
actually quite reserved. She uses words such as "I request.."
and "I desire..". She speaks about not disturbing
the peace; and evidence clearly shows that much of the disturbance
and lack of peace within the Catholic Church in the region
of Herzegovina falls squarely on the shoulders of the Bishop
of Mostar. Again, I invite readers to study The
Truth about the Herzegovinian Affair.
QUOTES FROM JOHN PAUL II AND OTHERS SUPPORTING MEDJUGORJE
ARE FABRICATIONS
Detractors seem to be very annoyed that Pope John Paul and
others have tacitly endorsed Medjugorje on many occasions,
including sending letters of support and gratitude to one
of the detractors' main "bad guys", Father Jozo
Zovko. Read
the letter and newspaper article here. The quotations
are too many and too well-backed and supported to be wrong.
Even if one or two of them are wrong, what about the rest.
Here is a long list of
quotations that I challenge any detractor to refute one
by one. In fact, the best refutations that I've seen detractors
come up with are themselves quotes from other high-level sources
which say things such as "The quotes have not been verified"
or "I cannot verify that any of these statements are
correct". What they are saying is that they didn't have
their tape recorders running when the statements were made.
There are other common objections that are eminently refutable.
MARY CHANGED HER BIRTHDATE
Mary has told the visionaries that her actual birthday is
on 5th August, not the 8th as has been previously believed.
I'm not sure why this should cause any problem, although detractors
try to piece such statements altogether to create a picture
of a false virgin trying to change the direction of the Church,
making up new rules as she goes along, including the actual
date of her birthday, which seems like a trivial thing for
a would-be demonic virgin to focus on.
OTHER CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENTS BY THE VIRGIN
Rick claimes to have a document in his possession that supposedly has answers to questions provided by the visionaries including the following:
Question 2. When does a baby receive a living soul?
Answer by Gospa: "Four and one half months."
Question 4. What about UFO’s? Are they true?
Answer by Gospa “Yes.”
Question 7. Where Adolf Hitler, Marshal Tito, and Pope
Paul VI replaced by evil doubles during their lifetimes?
Answer by Gospa: “Yes. They were good men replaced
by evil red doubles.
Question 8. Did you appear at Necedah, Wisconsin?
Answer by Gospa: “Yes. But no one listened, not the
bad bishops of U.S.
If Rick really has such an authentic document, why does he not scan it and put it online. We can find no corroboration for any of these statements. And these have never been brought up by Bishop Peric that I am aware of. Surely, he of all people would jump on these statements and the Vatican would most likely listen. Indeed if the Church had found anything contrary to Catholic teaching it would have put a stop to Medjugorje a long time ago. On the contrary, after 25 years, the Church has no objection to people travelling to Medjugorje on pilgrimage.
THE APPARITIONS ARE JUST AS LIKELY TO BE A FRAUD
I venture to say that no-one who has studied the apparitions
would dare to say they believed them to be staged, much less
there being a 50% probability of them being so. The scientific
community is simply at a loss to explain the occurrences in
any natural way. Please read Scientific
Investigation.
THE APPARITIONS ARE JUST AS LIKELY TO BE DEMONIC
Again, highly unlikely.Detractors point to an event in which
the visionaries were met by satan disguised as Mary. This
gave detractors ammunition as they tried to show us how easily
satan can appear in any guise and deceive us all. Indeed satan
may be able to appear in any guise, but as soon as he opens
his mouth, I dare say, we would all know it was him. From
this incident, we know first of all the Mary allowed satan
to appear in her place to show the visionaries that he does
exist and what he is like. Once he had served his purpose,
Mary dismissed him from her sight. When satan opened his mouth,
out came the things we can immediately recognise as being
from satan "renounce all this and follow me and be happy
in love and in life", pretty much the same things he
told Jesus in the desert. Satan cannot change, as a leopard
cannot change his spots. .
