http:\/\/vaticaninsider.lastampa.it\/en\/the-vatican\/detail\/articolo\/medjugorje-ruini-31362\/<\/a><\/p>\nA few months ago Mystic Post spent some time with the journalists and bloggers who have taken it upon themselves to \u201cprotect\u201d and warn Catholics and Christians about the potential dangers of becoming \u201cattached \u201d to the extraordinary event known the world over as \u201cMedjugorje\u201d
\nMedjugorje is renowned for a great mystery that centers on claims that apparitions of the Blessed Mother have been taking place since 1981. Medjugorje is a small village town in Bosnia\/Herzegovina<\/p>\n
After spending hours talking to a number of Medjugorje \u201cDoubters\u201d the debate boiled down to the following three points:<\/p>\n
1. Doubters say the phenomenon is a gigantic case of fraud and disobedience towards the Bishop of Mostar. They say Bishop Peric, who oversees the parish in Medjugorje, has already ruled against the authenticity of the apparitions and that his proclamation against the matter should have ended the Medjugorje movement long ago. Everything associated with Medjugorje from that point forward has been disobedient to the local Bishop and therefore to the \u201cHoly Mother Church\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who \u201cbelieve\u201d in the events, on the other hand, understand that the decision to rule on Medjugorje has now been placed into the hands of the Vatican and the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) and will take their marching orders from the Pope not the Bishop Mostar.<\/p>\n
2. Doubters do not dispute the enormous \u201cspiritual fruits\u201d of Medjugorje, but conclude it is a giant devil\u2019s snare. Some doubters like Mark Shea call Medjugorje a fraud (with no evidence) Even his own readers think Mark Shea is a bully when it comes to criticizing Medjugorje including priests who leave comments on his blog.<\/p>\n
Medjugorje believers simply accept the events at face value. The visionaries say \u201cWe see what we see\u201d and what they claim to see is the Virgin Mary. And the Virgin Mary known as the Queen of Peace has brought \u201cmessages\u201d to the world focused mostly on a call for a return to prayer. Millions of Christians admit that the so called \u201cmessages\u201d have helped them deepen their faith.<\/p>\n
3. The Doubters of Medjugorje find great fault with the lifestyles of the visionaries \u2013 To them it is inconceivable that those who see heaven and speak with the Blessed Mother would not have chosen celibate vocations in a convent or seminary. Believers admire the visionaries modern example of the Catholic lifestyle they live and greatly respect the choice of marriage by the visionaries as their Catholic vocation.<\/p>\n
Speaking with the doubters somewhere along the line it occurred to us that the doubters had no real answers that could explain the great mystery of Medjugorje in a satisfactory manner. They had no smoking gun to support their claims of a fraud or hoax.<\/p>\n
Today, most doubters interestingly do not think Medjugorje is fraud, though some do. So if it is not a hoax, \u00a0then what is it?<\/p>\n
The so called \u201chigh profile\u201d Medjugorje critics were very uncomfortable with having to stick their necks out and come up with a viable explanation. When pressed to explain the mystery they simply pushed the Bishop Mostar forward and said \u201cThe Bishop has ruled the events are not \u201csupernatural\u201d. A few brave critics flat out said Medjugorje is the work of the Devil.<\/p>\n
But the Bishop of Mostar\u2019s ruling still did not explain the mystery. The visionaries have spoken as well and clearly their narrative of the events of Medjugorje are viewed with credibility by millions of Catholics around the world.<\/p>\n
We want to know what is going on in Medjugorje. The events are too extraordinary to simply put one\u2019s head in the sand and accept at face value one man\u2019s opinion. After all,the Catholic Church has a long history of Bishops making errors eg. ex-communication of the Australian Saint Mary Mackillop.<\/p>\n
We point out to the doubters that they have had over \u00a0thirty years to unravel the hoax. We have asked them to tell us \u2013 who or what \u2013 is behind the events of Medjugorje.<\/p>\n
Bring us the\u00a0\u201cMastermind\u201d, we say, \u00a0and then Medjugorje will end. \u00a0The \u201cDoubters\u201d are a tireless lot for sure \u2013 there is not a rock unturned in their quest to find the smoking gun. But so far \u2013 no guns \u2013 no bullets \u2013 no smoke.<\/p>\n
The village of Medjugorje is still missing its \u201cMasterminds \u201d and its inventors.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Medjugorje skeptics turn up empty in search for\u00a0\u201cMedjugorje Mastermind\u201d As the world waits for the Vatican to decide on how the Church will move forward into the future with Medjugorje, it seems believers \u00a0in the events \u00a0are not the only ones nervous about what the Pope may say. Skeptics of Medjugorje have put down good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2537,"featured_media":460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medjugorje"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>Medjugorje skeptics turn up empty in search for\u00a0\u201cMedjugorje Mastermind\u201d<\/p>\n