Crisis Magazine’s hack piece on Medjugorje is an embarrassment – Reporter fails to mention the Vatican’s conclusions of their five-year investigation into the events.
By Stephen Ryan
I don’t really want to spend a lot of time responding to yet another shallow hit piece against Medjugorje by an uninformed reporter freelancing for established Catholic Media but I will make a short comment on Crisis Magazine’s latest article about Medjugorje.
On August 30, 2019 Crisis Magazine published an article by Ms. Jane Stannus titled: “Will Rome Fall for the Medjugorje Hoax.” read it here:
I will not take on Ms. Stannus’ criticisms point by point. Her entire article is cobbled together from old nuggets of anti-Medjugorje information that have been floating around the internet for decades. She has nothing new to report.
But what has motivated me to comment on her article is that I was dumbfounded to discover the author completely ignores the Vatican’s five-year investigation into Medjugorje. The author does write: “a commission was appointed by Benedict XVI to study the apparitions, but the Vatican has yet to issue a formal judgment.” But this is a totally misleading statement. The Vatican has, in fact, taken unprecedented and historic actions based on the conclusions reached by the investigation into Medjugorje. Ms. Stannus ignores this important fact. The Vatican’s own Papal Envoy to Medjugorje, Archbishop Hoser, had this to say about Medjugorje after the investigation was concluded: “You can say to the whole world that there is a light with Medjugorje and We need these spots of light in the world that is going down to darkness.”
The findings of the investigation are precisely why the Vatican has dramatically changed course on Medjugorje.
The Vatican’s investigative committee was made up of seventeen world-class experts, including bishops, Cardinals, and theologians who were all tasked, first and foremost, with determining if “fraud” was at the root of the Medjugorje phenomena.
Back in August of 2017, The Catholic Herald wrote a detailed article about the conclusions the team of experts had reached regarding Medjugorje’s “authenticity”. They write: The first Medjugorje apparitions ‘were real’, Vatican commission reportedly found. ..The commission established by Pope Benedict XVI to study the alleged apparitions of Mary at Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, reportedly voted overwhelmingly to recognise as supernatural the first seven appearances of Mary in 1981.
read the article here: https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/will-rome-fall-for-the-medjugorje-hoax?fbclid=IwAR0mS21mAKQpNG9y3jpQ-6mzbuVBT-QHbRuFvmHnna-wvfweARYrI_NoGvM
Of course, Ms. Stannus knows all this. In her bio, she says she has written for the Catholic Herald. She is most certainly aware of the Vatican’s investigation, yet she not only ignores their work but goes on to ridicule Rome by sharing her worry that the Vatican may have fallen for an elaborate “Hoax”.
The Crisis Magazine author has, for some reason, decided that her investigation into Medjugorje (using the powerful tools of the internet) is superior to the seventeen experts who, for five years, took their work seriously and who actually interviewed the “visionaries”. Pope Francis had this to say about the investigation: “I received the results; the commission was composed of good theologians, bishops and cardinals. The committee report is very, very good.”
What is really depressing about the shallow hit piece is, just days ago, 80,000 young Catholics gathered in Medjugorje to pray the rosary and sing Ave Maria as Vatican officials joyfully participated, side-by-side, in the youth festival for the first time in history.
As America’s youth leave the Church in record numbers, Crisis Magazine has decided to look down on these wonderful Catholics, who see Our Lady as the hope of the world, and they mock them as dupes and suckers. If these 80,000 young people, on fire with the Catholic faith, are not worthy of respect from Catholic media who indeed do they think will be showing up on Sunday to fill the pews.
Hopefully, Crisis Magazine can publish a more balanced article about Medjugorje soon. Perhaps they can start with an interview with Father Leon, Medjugorje’s Chaplain to English speaking pilgrims.
In the meantime, I hope Ms. Stannus or some folks at Crisis Magazine can find some time to look at this short video of the Medjugorje Youth Festival to better understand what they are attacking.
By Stephen Ryan is Publisher of this website, Mystic Post, and author of The Madonna Files
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Disappointed in Crisis magazine.. But People who have open minds and hearts can see clearly through reports such as these. Try as they may Our Lady will always be victorious!
No only this is embarasing, but shameful that you betray OUR LORD for idols…you brood of vipers, hell is eagerly waiting for you, so you pay for your transgresations
You are a not right with your endless name calling.. Please stop with the “vipers” stuff it just makes you look creepy
No Catholic has to believe or follow any Marian apparition because it is not part of the deposit of faith. THAT is Church teaching.
Oh my where is the love of Our Lord and savior.? Love one another as I have loved youThank you Jesus for allowing me to go to Medjugorge!
Being a devout apostle of Mary I find so many things wrong with these so called apparitions. First Mary will not allow disobedience to the church which was so prominent with the Francisams who acted as spiritual directord
The sheer volume of apparitions. The changing of her birthday to August 5 as opposed to September 8. The sheer wealth of the town and the seers. And the fact. That local bishops have condemned it even post communist Bishops. The pope has not ruled on the validity of the visions despite what the commission has found
He is only allowing previously prohibite diocesan pilgrimages. He has set up an office there to keep a closer eyes on events
Watch out for Satan can appear as a an Angel of Light.
do you see your own disobedience .. The Church has spoken on Medjugorje.. The investigated for 5 years (not to mention following the events for decades) No sign of fraud and they now encourage dioceses to take pilgrims.
I am totally in agreement with your opinion on Crisis magazine article , it was negative and completely misleading. Ihave been to Medjegore 2 times and being in the pesence of beautiful and faithful people has re-enforced my faith immeasurably. Our heavenly Mother Mary has shown us the way to everlasting life through her son, Jesus. We must, as catholics defend our faith and its teachings against those who are determined to attack it. Our Lady’s heart will triumph.
O obviously not posting arbitrary comments
Cannot believe that Crisis Magazine published this article on Medjugorje. I have gone to Medjugorje 3 times since 2004. With each pilgrimage I felt as if I had experienced a “little piece of heaven”. Your heart must be completely open to understand this call from Our Lady. As you begin to pray, read, reflect on and live her messages, everything in your life changes. Your relationship with Christ and Our Lady deepens and you fall deeper in love with the beautiful Church that Jesus Christ established 2000 years ago! In these very turbulent and confusing times, it is so vital that the media get their facts straight before publishing their articles. In this case, it seems that that Ms. Stannus left out some very important information regarding the reports that were issued by the Vatican. Ms. Stannus, I hope and pray that one day you will be able to make a pilgrimage there. I just know that the next article that you will write will be much different that this one.
What about all the disobedience to the bishop? Not only by the seers but the millions who disobeyed his forbidding of pilgramages? What about the bishop catching one of the girls lying under oath? Lying under oath mind you. What about their lying about Mary’s birthday? I guess 9 months from December 8th is no longer September 8th? What about the lie that Mary said all religions are equal before God? That’s not what it says in MYSTICAL CITY OF GOD. What about the lie that said Mary dropped baby Jesus? She’s become rather clumsy since she went to heaven, huh? Maybe Crisis had better objections than you care to admit. Why did the Madonna never show her feet as she did in all her approved apparitions? There is so much damming evidence against it. Maybe you need to dig a little deeper. After all, the bishop did issue a negative judgment there after 6 years of his own thorough investigative study. Does that mean anything to Medjugorje fans? No. The forbidden pilgrimages continued.
I don’t think people should condemn Medjugorje without ever having been there. Once you visit there you know that it is for real. Every person that goes there has been called there somehow. I was also called there 28 years ago and my life has never been the same. I experienced a great conversion. I actually went back 3 times. It is the closest place on earth to heaven.
We must always trust the churches decision on apparitions. The church cannot be deceived.
Once you go you get it.
Our Blessed Mother will give the world a sign that can only come from God for the unbelievers. , so that you may believe for your sake.
Servant of God, Fr. John Hardon, S.J. (RIP) spoke on visions and visionaries during a mission toward the end of his life. He preferred to discuss mystics and mysticism. He states clearly that anyone who publicizes or profits from their alleged visions is a fraud. I believe some of the visionaries host pilgrims in their home for money.
The Church has spoken! An August 6, 2019 Catholic News Service headline said it all:
“Vatican confirms Medjugorje approval by joining youth festival”
The church has officially opened its doors to the grace heaven is pouring out through the presence of Our Lady in Medjugorje!
More than 60,000 young people from 97 countries took part in the Medjugorje youth festival.
Cardinal Angelo De Donates, Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Vinko Pulic, Archbishop of Sarajevo, Archbishop Luigi Pezzuto, Apostolic Nuncio to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the Permanent Papal Visitor in Medjugorje, each took turns presiding at the daily Mass during the six day festival, with seven hundred priests and fourteen archbishops and bishops concelebrating! The youth festival can still be watched at MaryTV.tv.
The church has officially opened its doors to the grace heaven is pouring out through Medjugorje! Praise God!!!
God bless you!
Denis Nolan
MaryTV.tv
Thanks for the comment Denis!
In these times of confusion, of awful things and sins happening in the Church even in the highest places of Vatican, one have to be very prudent with everything.
We must have to wait for a clear and definitive statement from the Pope that in Medjugore truly the Mother of God appeared here.
It not a sin to go in Medjugorje, bot there ate other pleces of worship and veneration for Mary where everyone may receive huge graces with certainty, like in Lourdes or in Fatima
Everyone should go there before going there before going to Medjugorje
I really wonder what you were trying to accomplish with this, Jane? After countless vocations, conversions, healings of 38 years…do you want to bring us all down with your biased and false stories. Aren’t there enough scandals out there, so you want to create one? I wonder who you are serving? The world has been singularly blessed with Our Lady, Queen of Peace in Medjugorje. Have you actually been there? I didn’t notice any personal experiences quoted. So much for Crisis…not enough ‘bad news’ so you create some. Pitiful. I will offer a rosary for you.