A reader writes concerning the defrocked Fr. Vlasic\u2019s pickle (ducking):<\/p>\n
This guy\u2019s like Maciel \u2014 they were weeds that grew during the springtime of evangelization. For how long God will continue to bring good from evil through the LC and allow Medjugorje is anybody\u2019s guess. I\u2019m sure He drew some good from the medieval flagellants and Savonarola\u2019s tirades.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, the guy does sound uncommonly like Fr. Maciel in some ways. This is why I\u2019m not too moved by the \u201cGood things came from Medjugorje, so it must be a real apparition\u201d logic. Good things came from the sincere faith and good intentions of the Legionaries who were snookered by Fr. Maciel too. God writes straight with crooked lines and brings goodness out of evil.<\/p>\n
No, I\u2019m not calling Medjugorje evil. I\u2019m saying that the argument from results is a weak one. As I told a reader yesterday, I dislike trying to second guess the Spirit. There\u2019s still a(n astronomically unlikely) chance that Rome will, after all this, suddenly be moved by the Spirit to declare the alleged apparitions there authentic. The Pope has, once upon a time, declared the condemned witch Joan of Arc a saint after all. Should that happen, I will add Medjugorje to the list of approved apparitions.<\/p>\n
But do I think that\u2019s actually going to happen. No. I think the dodgy business will trail on for a while. I think well-meaning folk will derive some benefit from whatever it is they think God is saying to them through this false apparition and that God will meet them at their growing edge and speak since they are honestly trying to listen and may be completely unaware of the dodginess of Medugorje. In short, I think God is not proud and doesn\u2019t wait around till we have perfect understanding before entering our lives in relationship.<\/p>\n
The thing I fear is that, should the whole dodgy business be definitively condemned, Medjugorje enthusiasts will, like Legionaries, be thrown into a crisis of faith and toss the baby of the Faith out with the bathwater of the false apparition.<\/p>\n
So far, the betrayed Legionaries who have been scandalized by Maciel\u2019s scam have not, so far as I can tell, bagged the Catholic faith. But there\u2019s always that risk when you\u2019ve invested a lot of personal energy in a particular movement in the Church. So I worry.<\/p>\n