Matthew Fox's The Pope's War and the Return from Medugorje

I returned from Medugorje this afternoon only to find Matthew Fox's explosive new book, The Pope's War, waiting for me in the mailbox. The timing could not be more providential, coming right on the heels of a week's retreat in Medugorje. I'm now going through three books of very moving testimonies from persons whose lives have been changed by their encounter with the Marian shrine, and they encompass the full range of Christian belief and persuasion. Very inspiring and provocative accounts, which I hope to comment on further. But Fox's book makes the perfect complement for reasons I hope to reflect on at a later time.

At the same time, however, I've been reading the great Russian journalist (murdered in 2006) Anna Politkovskaya's collection of essays, entitled Nothing But the Truth, a harrowing account of her investigative reports from Chechnya and beyond and filled with stores of unimaginable atrocities and human suffering. Somehow this felt providential as well, and perfectly complemented my stay in the Bosnian Marian shrine, since there seems to be a connection between the witness of the Heavenly Mother, crying out for peace and reconciliation,  and the very worst of human depravity and cruelty. You cannot go to Medugjore and simply float in a cloud of euphoria and spiritual consolation. Something about the clear, limpid light of the place uncovers all illusions and forces one to remain grounded on earth where humans do terrible things to one another and corruption and duplicity seem to rule the day - except that the message of Medugorje is that they do not rule the day, the Lady in White through the power of the heavenly Mother/Father of us all and the suffering witness of Yeshua triumph over all.

However, truth telling must also apply to the darkness surrounding the shrine itself, and while I teasingly said in the first posting four days ago that 'the critics are full of shit,' that was only tongue in cheek in reference to my frustration at not being able to find a decent, classy restaurant in the village, despite the insistence of the harshest critics that such places exist. (I wined and dined pleasurably in Split last evening) No, underneath the extraordinary peace and joy of Medugorje darker currents swirl, the same viral currents that orchestrated the assassination/murder of the saintly reformist Pope John Paul I. The destructive evil in the church has reached its tentacles into this Bosnian village as well, and if one loves and cherishes the charism of Medugjorje and treasures it as the locus of Mary's holy manifestation, then one must long for, call for, Nothing But the Truth, so that Medugorje can be cleansed and purified and its precious holy mystery protected from all harm. 

I hope to say more about this later, but for now, here is Matthew Fox:

If you can no longer take the lies and theological deadness of the Roman Catholic church, then do as Jesus said to do: "Shake the dust from your feet" and find another community that nurtures you and where you do not have to give out more energy than you receive back. Be assured there is life after Roman Catholicism, lots of it. Become a 'had it' Catholic if your conscience tells you so. Do not settle for denial of what the truth tells you is really happening in the Vatican church today/ Do not waste your precious time or your soul trying to build up or reform that which your gut tells you is unreformable.

There will be some who, upon praying about it, will be called to stay, and others who are called to move on. Support one another in the overall spiritual vocation of invigorating an authentic spiritual renewal. There is no one path to church renewal. When you pray about staying or leaving, ask yourself the following questions: What does all this have to do with Jesus? With his teachings and life? Is this what Jesus would have me do ? Even if you choose to exit, do not imagine you are "out of the church." You are reforming it from another place of leverage. The church is not a box or even a noun. It is where the Spirit lives and comes alive.

postscriptum; I've decided to have a new button made here in Prague, one with a rainbow sash across it and the words, Gays for the Gospa (the affectionate term used in Medugorje for Mother Mary). I plan on wearing it the next time I visit the village. That should set a few wigs on fire. 

Read More

Medugorje Day Three: Peace and Reconciliation

Well, after the lull of yesterday (though the church was packed all through the day and night) the crowds have returned to Medugorje,the streets are bustling and the cafes are, well, at least half full. I've yet to find a quiet moment alone in the church this visit, which wasn't the case a year ago.

My final reflections on this pilgrimage will have to wait until I return to Prague this Wednesday. Some observations of a critical nature, however, are in order. I browsed through the various "Catholic" bookstores, which have a very narrow range of selections, most of them characterized by a very traditional mindset. This includes the largest English language bookstore in the village, whose shelves are filled with old classics of the most traditional piety and many editions of Tan Books, Visions of Catherine Emerich, etc. I found one book advocating Catholic home schooling, and immediately thought of my blogger friend, William Lindsey, of the blog On Bilgrimage, and the family of his partner, Steve. The woman author of the book boasted that she had seven sons and not one of them turned out to be a rebel son, because we all followed 'the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church." My heart sank at those words, what kind of an upbringing must these boys have endured? The woman also described the rooms of her house in detail, with holy pictures, icons, crucifixes, statues filling the walls and cabinets in every room, it was oppressive just reading about it, like being locked in a mad house. But here was her book - alongside many others of a similar mindset - prominently displayed on a bookshelf in Medugorje. There were old, old biographies of Catherine of Sienna, St. Martin de Porres, Margaret Mary Alacoque, with prefaces written by priests whose theological formation took place in the 1920's. This is very much old time Catholicism and it dominates the bookstores of Medugorje, leading me to believe that far from needing another restaurant with a decent wine list, what Medugorje most needs is a contemporary, updated theological Catholic bookstore to offset this dominance of the religious right. No wonder progressives feel uncomfortable about coming here! However, in one small corner of the store, I did come across (shock, horror) a selection of writings on devotion to the Sacred Heart by the saintly, socially progressive Father General of the Jesuits during my stay within the order, Pedro Arrupe. In Him Alone ... Our Hope, the book was entitled and I grabbed it immediately, together with a pair of fairly decent, trustworthy collations of Medugorje testimonies, gathered together by Sister Emmanuel of the Beatitudes Community. Inspiring works on Medugorje that do not offend a more liberal outlook do exist but one must search for them carefully. Generally, all the works of the saintly Father Slavko Barbaric can be trusted, though even his theological outlook can seem somewhat quaint and outmoded. Not so his personal holiness, however, which is of a profound nature. He died, fittingly, of a heart attack on Holy  Cross Mountain in the year 2000, at the age of 54, after having led a group of pilgrims on the arduous Stations of the Cross to the summit of this very sacred spot. His death, however, left a profound vacuum at the heart of the village, when it comes to truly discerning spiritual fathers. Father Jozo Zovko, however, whose books figure very prominently in all of Medjugorje's bookstores, is another matter. While undoubtedly a good and sincere man, there is something of the cult figure about him and his followers and a brief dipping into his writings has always left me with a very queasy feeling. Just not quite right. Disturbing. On a similar note, I opened at random another book of reflections on Medjugorje by another friar  and found a rant against uppity women who rail againts the 'proper order of nature' by seeking greater authority in the church, etc. etc. The Friar was presenting the Madonna of Medugorje as the perfect antidote to such uppity female heretics. Well, this is when I want to stand on a pedestal/soap box in the main street of the village and give a rant myself against the co-option of the Medugorje charism by these right wing extremists. Quite simply, because progressives are simply not interested in reflecting theologically on this phenomenon, the right wing has taken over, which is a shame. There is nothing, nothing at all, in the 'messages of Our Lady themselves which support any kind of right wing agenda. The messages scrupulously avoid taking sides in any of the most partisan, controversial issues in the church today - be it women's rights, ordination, contraception, gay marriage. There isn't even a suggestion of which direction the heavenly lady might bend on these issues, except her evident good sense and tolerance. All that can be said is that she is issuing a gentle call for a return to the some of the old devotional practices, but even these are limited to fasting, prayer, confession, the Eucharist, and contemplation upon the passion of Her Son. 

And on the same note, I purchased a copy of the magazine, Medugorje Tribune. In its pages is an article entitled "Holy Mass for the Martyred Friars," and it describes the ceremony which takes place every year in the village on the feast of 'Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac.' Oh dear, I thought. Here is where Medugorje needs some profound and critically responsible theological reflection, of the kind that would most likely disconcert a great many people (and might finally cause the Vatican to shut the whole place down). The very simple, uncontroversial messages themselves call for repentance and conversion. But there can be no true repentance and conversion unless the Church in Croatia recognizes and repents of its own complicit crimes committed during World War II by the Ustashe and by many Franciscan religious themselves - horrific crimes of which Cardinal Stepanic was the pre-eminent enabler. Where is the Mass for their victims? As long as this denial exists and as long as Medugorje itself is used as some kind of holy screen or filter, then it's essential message and experience will not be acceptable to a great many thoughtful, informed persons. Medugorje, in a phrase, has been co-opted and its message of peace and reconciliation is only very selectively applied. The profound experience of that peace, however, is a reality, which can only lead truly prayerful, discerning people to a full uncovering of  'the truth.' There can be no true reconciliation and peace without it. 

Read More

CARDINAL SCHONBORN ON MEDUGORJE

 I am still reflecting on my recent retreat in Medugorje and hope to post further comments at a later time. One of the facts that recently came to my attention is the role of the Old Catholic Church in the area, a role that has both disturbed and outraged the local ordinary, Bishop Ratko Peric, who refers to the OCC as a "schismatic sect." Apparently some breakaway parishes in the area together with defrocked Franciscan priests are attempting to link up with the Old Catholic Church, inviting their bishop to perform confirmations. I can certainly understand how this would be seen by traditional, faithful Catholics as a countersign of 'disunity,' but since I have great regard for the OCC as an alternative and very spiritual witness to a different way of being 'Catholic,' my own view is more open-minded. I'm definitely intrigued by these developments. At this point in history, and this is only my marginalized view, we are going to witness far more of these breakaway, spirit-filled alternative communities, living authentic Catholic lives on the margins outside the formal control of the institutional Roman Church. Splintering and fragmentation, chaos and disunity? Perhaps, but my own faith tells me these are the signs of the times, the dividing walls are  dissolving, and tribal distinctions in religion are no longer necessary or important. Genuinely sincere spiritual seekers are being moved to form alternative communities of Catholic belief, while other equally sincere believers are being given the strength and charism to remain within the larger tent and struggle for reform from within. There seems to be both a place and a dire need for both alternatives. The Old Catholic Church in Bosnia Herzegovina, where Medugorje is located, has already gone on record acknowledging its belief - not in the authenticity of the original visions - but in the simple fact that 'Our Lady' is at work in Medugorje in a powerful, spiritual way. Whether or not one can accept the authenticity of the original, charismatic experience - which is still ongoing - it seems hard to deny the extraordinary spiritual fruits of this very holy place. To make my point, here is a beautiful reflection from Cardinal Schonborn, explaining how he made the decision to come to Medugorje last December. The statement is remarkable, not only for the Cardinal's views on the whole phenomenon, but for what it reveals about the deeply spiritual, fair-minded, and balanced character of this very unique prelate in the Roman Catholic Church. The future pope? One can only hope and pray.

I cannot explain exactly how this happened. I have known about Medugorje for many years, not personally because I have not been here before, but I have experienced the fruits of Medugorje in our diocese and even further. I always used to say what Jesus has said in the Gospels, “You will recognize the tree by its fruits.” When I see the fruits of Medugorje back home, I can only say that the tree is surely good. I will just mention two little examples.

At the Security Check point at Vienna airport, one of the guards recognized me, looked at my ticket and asked me if I was flying to Zagreb. I confirmed this and added that from Zagreb I was going to Split and then to Medugorje. His face immediately changed and he said, “I was in Medugorje before!” And with much excitement he began to talk about his experience of climbing Holy Cross Mountain and the spiritual atmosphere he experienced there. A security check point guard talks about Medugorje! Another example, early in the morning I was standing at the local train station. The manager of the station recognized me and we started talking and he confided in me the deep pain and loss he felt when his wife died of cancer. But he immediately added that his friends took him to Medugorje and that strengthened his faith even more. His face reflected such joy.

Those are just two little examples among many, many experiences I have had about Medugorje. I will just repeat what I once said in one interview: if there was something wrong about Medugorje, we would have to dismiss half of our seminarians, since so many of our priestly vocations are both directly and indirectly related to Medugorje.

How, then, did it happen that I decided to come to Medugorje? I always used to hesitate, and being a Cardinal, I am a very exposed person in the Catholic Church. Since there are many controversies, I did not want to start additional discussions and in my opinion, Medugorje is already well known. But this summer I visited the community of Cenacolo in Saluzzo. I have known Sister Elvira for the last couple of years, I love her and respect her as an extraordinary witness of the  Risen Lord and I am aware of the deep relationship the community of Cenacolo has with Medugorje. In Saluzzo, I was able to experience a very strong feeling of interior security: my time to go to Medugorje had arrived! I would say that it was a kind of interior encouragement. I expressed a desire that my visit remain confidential. I simply wanted to spend time in silence and prayer. I did not want to hide my intention to come, but also I did not want that to be the main subject of discussions. I just wanted to come to the place where Our Lady gives so many abundant graces. Besides that, the visionary Ivan Dragicevic was in Vienna last year and I spoke with him, and with Marija Pavlovic Lunetti this year, they were both in the Cathedral of St. Stephen and I gave my permission for those events. Both of those encounters have impressed me so much, primarily because of the modesty, simplicity, clarity and warm heartedness of those two visionaries. That only strengthened my decision to quietly and simply come to Medjugorje.

Read the Cardinal's full statement (in very rough translation) here. 


Here is a video of the youngest visionary,  Jakov Colo, receiving his annual apparition on Christmas day in Medugorje this last December, four days before the arrival of Cardinal Schonborn.

Read More

ECLECTIC REFLECTIONS ON THIS AND THAT

I've posted another sane and balanced article on the Shroud by Professor Barrie Schwortz (see post below), because, apart from my own personal reverence for the Shroud, the sacred icon tends to be 'owned' by the ultra-orthodox who use it to assert that Christianity in general, and Roman Catholicism in particular, are the exclusive channels of divine grace and salvation in this world. So apart from Jewish folk and agnostics who believe in the Shroud's authenticity, I felt we needed a few radical gay fairies to come forward and express their support as well,  just to shake up those ultra-certain-dox persons of the right.

Barrie Schwortz was the Official Documenting Photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research Project, the team that conducted the first in-depth scientific examination of the Shroud in 1978.  Today, he plays an influential role in Shroud research as the editor and publisher of the internationally recognized Shroud of Turin Website (www.shroud.com), the largest and most extensive Shroud resource on the Internet, with visitors from more than 160 countries.  Mr. Schwortz has conducted Shroud lectures around the world and is frequently called upon as a leading imaging expert.

I don't know who this Bishop is warmly greeting Barrie Schwortz, but I like his hat! They even look like they might be related. (In fact, this is Archbishop Gewargis Sliwa, of the Assyrian Church of the East (Apostolic Church) of Baghdad, Iraq)

And on another front, Pope Benedict and his 'new' inquisitor, Archbishop soon to be Cardinal Levada, have finally cracked down on the spectacular but unruly Marian shrine of Medjugorje. Before I get into the complications of this issue (and it's so complicated that I dare not get in too deep), let me just say that I feel the restrictions applied to the shrine and village as of September 5, are probably healthy for all concerned. A little distance, silence and solitude will no doubt benefit the last remaining 'visionary' to be receiving 'visitations and messages,' all those tours from Ireland promising a personal interview with a visionary will have to think up a new selling point, and the Franciscans will have to get back in touch with their original charism and practice some measure of detachment regarding the vast sums of money generated by the shrine in the past. Of course, the distance and solitude will only be relative, since ways will be found to make the 'monthly' visitations accessible to the public off of church property. However, there will be a general cooling of the atmosphere and this seems like a spiritually sane turn of events. Things were becoming just a little too weird. This doesn't imply a negative judgment on my part (not that my opinion matters a whit). The whole phenomenon strikes me as an apt metaphor for the whole Roman Catholic Church - at it's core a mystery of inherent sacredness that defies explanation, but surrounding it are whorls and whorls of strangeness, weirdness, fanaticism and deceit. So I think it's time to take the visionary out of the storm and tell everyone to go home (they won't). One look at any of the videos of this woman available on You Tube and I defy anyone to claim that this women is 'faking it.'

 

And in fact - surprise! - that was the judgment of a commission of scientific experts convened by the diocese of Mostar a year ago to examine Mirjana.  The commission expressed their opinion that Mirjana was not faking her visions, but was in fact seeing something of 'supernatural beauty,' at least from her own subjective point of view (repeating the judgments of earlier investigations of all of the visionaries). The commission concluded - very wisely to be sure - that they could not make a judgment about the objective nature or authenticity of Mirjana's visions.

So why the present judgment from Pope Benedict and Levada, stating, not implying, that it's all fakery and hokus pokus? Here are a few clues.

Medjugorje and its vast sums of money are not controlled by Opus Dei, which does control the tourist trade at Lourdes and buses tourists from Lourdes to its own shrine of Santuario de Torreciudad in Spain.  As a possible motive, does this surprise anyone?

The Gospa of Medjugorje (The Lady of the Visions), whoever she may be, has proven to be tolerantly ecumenical from day one. Search through all of the statements over the years, remarkable for their blandness, and you will not see any statements that assert the superiority of Christianity or the Roman Catholic tradition. Quite the contrary, when the visionaries asked the Lady for an example of a truly prayerful person, the Lady referred to the one Muslim woman in the village. And there have been repeated statements from the theologically unsophisticated visionaries that the Lady of the Visions asserts that 'all religions are the same' in so far as they lead their adherents to a prayerful connection to the sacred. Well, I'm sorry, that is a position that is anathema to the present Pope, so for this reason more than any other, the crackdown is not a surprise.

We seem to have forgotten over the years the simple fact that these six young children saw a mysterious woman on the hillside, weeping and crying out for 'Peace', six months before the outbreak of the horrendous Yugoslavian war that pitted Christians against Muslims in the most savage example of ethnic cleansing in Europe since the Nazi death camps. This was a barbaric outbreak that took everyone by surprise, because you will search in vain through the commentary of the time to find any political analyst who saw it coming. No matter how 'obvious' the breakup of Yugoslavia after Tito might have seemed in hindsight, no one anticipated the sheer murderous savagery of the war, even in light of Yugoslavia's tragic past.  Except six children on a hillside and a weeping Lady in White. Anyone confused by the phenomenon of Medjugorje should rest in contemplation of this simple fact. And let Pope Benedict and Archbishop Levada be the first.

And to offer a more inspirational thought (maybe, maybe not), the roads from the main road up to the mountain top village of Garabandal in Spain are now being repaved and widened in anticipation of a massive influx of pilgrims who will be coming 'soon' to witness the anticipated 'miracle.' "Ahem....excuse me...," you say, "what the hell are you talking about?" To which I reply - You don't remember Garabandal in the 1960's, the site of the Marian apparitions to four young peasant girls that started the craze and which was so quickly overshadowed by its younger sister, Medjugorje?

How quickly we forget. Yes, Garabandal, which has not been condemned by Pope Benedict, is showing signs that it's anticipated consummation may be at hand (whatever that may mean). I visited Garabandal in the 90's also and was immediately impressed by the palpable spirituality of the place.  A hilltop of genuine holiness and radiance with a peace that rivals that of Assisi. Is there something providential, then, about the Vatican restrictions on Medjugorje or is it by (sinister) design? Probably a little bit of both. After all, Bishop Jose Vilaplana Vasco, the Bishop of the diocese of Santander until 2007, where Garabandal is located, and its strong supporter,  is a known member of Opus Dei, and Garabandal itself is a hundred miles or so away from the Opus Dei Marian shrine of Torreciudad. Let us see what the future may bring.

The Pines of Garabandal

However, to offer a counterbalance, Pope Benedict and Archbishop Levada also cracked down on a visionary of dubious merit (me opinionating here),  Father Geno Burresi of the Fatima shrine of San Vittorino outside of Rome. This is old news from 2005, but in fairness to the Vatican watchdogs, it bears mentioning. Father Burresi was (is?) a renowned stigmatist who founded his own religious order and seminary together with a shrine devoted to the Virgin of Fatima at San Vittorino outside of Rome. The story is rather unsavory, so I refer any readers to John Allen's report in the NCR. But the gist of it is that Father Burresi was accused by several of his young seminarians of having lured them to his room at night where he then sexually molested them ("to the point of consummation", says the report!).  Here we go again, you say, and you would be right (echoes of Marcial Maciel). This is not the accusation that is at the top of the list, but it probably should be. How wearisome it all gets, especially when you learn of the efforts of Pope John Paul II to protect this man, even to the point of dismissing his accusing superiors from their positions of authority.

I visited San Torrino sometime in the 90's and was sitting alone in the large circular gathering area outside the shrine, when  Father Burresi emerged from one of the seminary buildings supported by two very young seminarians and proceeded to take an afternoon stroll around the circle.  His wrists were clearly visible bound with black stips of cloth. He cast one brief glance in my direction, but the two young boys (15-16?) watched me carefully like young hawks. At five o'clock, I attended his 'sold-out' Mass in the church and I have to say it was impressive. The Father possessed a demeanor of great dignity and gravitas and the moment of consecration was the most powerfully reverent I have ever witnessed. At this point, I don't quite know what to make of it all.  Surely he was not faking his devotion, no one could be that good of an actor, because it was a reverence that seemed seared into his very bones. And yet, call it instinct, but I trust the reports of the dazed and damaged seminarians who charge him with sexual abuse. And so it reminds me of some of the renowned Indian gurus of evident spiritual gifts, but not fully enlightened, who took their spiritual advancement for granted, whose sexuality was not yet fully integrated and who then used their spiritual fame as an excuse for indulging their not yet purified passions. The shock and scandal caused by such behavior is far greater than the abuse committed by a quite ordinary priest or minister. And Father Burresi was no ordinary priest. Every Good Friday, or so the story goes, he underwent the agonies of the Passion, his heart came to a stop and he remained clinically dead for up to 3 minutes, with two doctors on hand to revive him, just in case, which has never been necessary because his heart always resumed beating on its own.  Is this story a hoax, just a piece of propaganda, spread by his deluded followers? Who knows? But it does serve as a stern warning where extraordinary phenomenon in the mystical life are concerned. And so I tip my hat to Pope Benedict and Levada for removing this man from the public eye and confining him to a life of penance and contemplation (It's my understanding his victims were of legal age at the time of the incidents, but who can be sure.).

Why does life have to be so complicated with so many signs of contradiction?

But to end on an inspirational note which takes us back to the mystery of the Cross, the Shroud and the witness of Redemptive Suffering in the Church:

THE REAL THING

PADRE PIO AT PEACE

Read More