Posted on 07/31/2009 9:37:10 AM PDT by kronos77
Priest, investigated by Vatican, chose to leave order and priesthood By JOHN P. CONNOLLY, The Bulletin Monday, July 27, 2009 Pope Benedict XVI has defrocked a priest at the center of alleged apparitions at the Bosnian town of Medjugorje, according to a report by the Catholic News Agency.
Fr. Tomislav Vladic reportedly decided to leave the priesthood and his religious order during an ongoing investigation of his role in the claims of apparitions, including an accusation of sexual misconduct for getting a nun pregnant.
Fr. Vladic was at odds with the Vatican and the local bishop of Medjugorje when he predicted that the Virgin Mary would appear in Bosnia. In 1981, the apparitions allegedly began, and the local bishop accused him of fabricating the phenomenon. Fr. Vladic claimed to be the spiritual advisor of six local children who claimed to be receiving the visions. They now allege that the Virgin Mary has visited them 40,000 times in the past 28 years.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith suspended Fr. Vladic last year, after three separate investigations of the visionaries’ claims failed to turn up any evidence supporting an apparition.
Despite condemnation from the local bishop, Medjugorje has attracted an estimated 30 million pilgrims. Some Catholics had hoped that the Vatican would override the local bishop to legitimize the apparitions.
Don’t say anything. Nun’s the word.
Propter Hoc fallacy for your FReeping pleasure.
They also suspended Vlasic after Britain beat Germany 5-0 at football, but the two events are not related.
IIRC Vlasic was reduced because of his 'spiritual marriage' with Angela Haupnel. The truth or falsity of the apparitions has nothing to do with Vlasic's reduction in status.
It was a major scam from the get-go.
But indirectly, it renewed the faith of many pilgrims, who benefited by banding together with others seeking spiritual gifts.
Despite the phony priests and seers, the faithful themselves renewed one another.
The cold logs that had fallen to the edges of the fireplace were pushed together on the warmer ones, and the flame reignited. This was the work of the Holy Spirit, not a bunch of charlatan priests and collaborators.
God works in mysterious ways.
I neither believe nor disbelieve in Medjugorje. As a Catholic I will wait until there are miracles ascribed to it which cannot be explained by the most extreme tests.
But, I do know that as far as this article is concerned, there is a lot of misinformation. For example, WHAT three independent tests were done to prove the children actually saw visions of the Virgin Mary? And by whom?
There’s a lot of hatred for Catholic and other Christians out there. Don’t be taken in.
Try the following link for another side of the story
Already posted two days ago - see here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2302627/posts
This is a thirty year old scandal...
and the priest wasn’t at Medjugore when the so called “visions” started, so he couldn’t have been the one who devised the visions as a scam...
actually, if it was a “Scam” then it was a good one. The “message” preached peace and reconciliation with one’s neighbors, and that the madonna considered Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians as all her children...the madonna even pointed out a Muslim neighbor as an example of real piety to one of the visionaries...
Just think: if the bishop hadn’t been so angry at the Franciscans for other reasons, maybe he and the Orthodox Bishops and the local immans could have prayed togeter for peace between religions...
And 100 thousand Bosnians might still be alive...
You’re too kind. :)
When these visions first were reported as happening I saw a film of the children, if they were acting then they were exceptional actors because the looks on their faces all changed at once and you could tell they were looking at something wonderful.
Exactly.
Satan works overtime, his time is short.
For those who know, no explanation is needed... for others, none will do.
Site of Medjugorje was a site of mass slaughter of Serbs during WWII.
Arround that area hundreds of man, woman, and children including Orthodox priests were killed by Croates and their bodies throwen in the pits:
“Are the alleged apparitions of Mary in Medjugorje a visitation from heaven, or the sinister projection of a collective guilty conscience?”
http://www.culturewars.com/CultureWars/Archives/cw_feb98/surmanci.html
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