Post Revelation
Recently Medjugorje has been in the news. It appears the denunciations there are becoming more formal and more explicit. On the other hand, you have apparitions like Our Lady of Guadalupe with churches being named in her honor. What brings this up for me is a worksheet my oldest brought home asking what our Lady of Fatima had revealed to the seers. Unlike Medjugorje, there is no real controversy over Fatima, but it struck me as something quite odd. After all, I don’t reside on Portugal, and needless to say we don’t have a Portuguese diaspora here. I’m not aware of a parish in the area that does a special celebration on May 13th either.
But then again, this was (I’m confident) a nationalized curriculum. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Fatima. If it gives you strength, more power to you. I don’t have a real interest in Fatima, and I really don’t need to have an interest in it. (As far as devotions go, I like the Sacred Heart of Jesus.) Again, I don’t want to play the my devotion is better than your devotion game. I’m curious what other people think about the extent extra revelation should be officially sanctioned and promulgated by parishes.
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Should or could be officially promulgated by parishes? Should, not likely. Could, likely. Still, I would always err on the side of caution.
Personally Fatima makes me nervous, but I realize that it has support in the highest places, which can give it a sort of de facto imprimatur that no private revelation should have.
Yes, the Sacred Heart is my favorite as well. Divine Mercy is a private revelation that also receives sanction too…from parish chaplets to the Sunday after Easter. Someone once explained it as simply a revisitation by the Sacred Heart. This seems most plausible to me.
By their fruits you will know them…
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a piety with lots of mileage for our Mexican brothers and sisters. I’m inclined to love the impact of the “Moranita” — the “little/dear brown one,” who successfully communicated God’s tender love to a conquered and brutalized people by coming as one like them — very incarnational on a different plane. Propped up in this and other ways, they managed to survive (where the US indigenous peoples haven’t done nearly so well).
I am suspicious of Marian apparitions (and supposed “signs” and “wonders”) in general. Although I can’t say I doubt the ones (Lourdes, Fatima) approved by the Church.
The question on your brother’s paper seems to presume belief in the authenticity of Fatima … but it could actually be posing the question from a more neutral point of view: eg., “what is the Catholic tradition about what Our Lady said at Fatima?”
There is no question about what the (small t) tradition is.
The words attributed to Mary in the Gospels are very few, but of course among them are Luke 1:46-55 (“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . . .).
In contrast, the sayings attributed to Mary from her alleged apparitions at Medjugorje go on at great length. By my calculations, combined into one document, they are easily three times the length of the Gospel of Mark. I have read only a fraction, but I have not come across anything quotable. The only thing that actually comes to mind, is, “Pray, pray, pray!”
If someone discovered a lost document that was verifiably a forty-thousand-word list of sayings of Jesus and/or the Virgin Mary, it would be a more sensational discovery than the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi library combined. I wonder how many people (including those who think Medjugorje is authentic) could slog their way through the entire list of sayings attributed to Mary?
Its “MorEnita.” Or, Virgen Morena (brown virgin).
That’s quite an open-ended question. There are differences in the extent to which certain visions are approved, obviously. There’s the matter of basic Catholic literacy. There are also regional or cultural traditions.
I think that Fatima is uniquely international among the accepted apparitions. Lourdes and Guadalupe are more regional. The Miraculous Medal focuses on a particular sacramental. Fatima has prophecy and Russia and end-times, and a message about a widespread sacramental. If there’s one vision that everyone should be familiar with, it’s this one.
I would also hope that instruction about Marian visions would teach children about prudence, cautiousness, teaching authority, et cetera. Those are some pretty interesting tangents.
It’s my understanding that belief in even the “approved” apparitions is optional, that formal revelation ended with the death of the last apostle. For this reason I would be uneasy about Fatima or any other apparition being taught in a child’s religion class. Kids, especially young ones, aren’t going to distinguish between formal, doctrinal revelation and private revelation.
I have never been much of a follower of Fatima for several reasons. One of them is the impression it gives of Mary. She is the mother of Christ and the spiritual mother of us all. She is supposed to exemplify motherhood. Yet I remember reading that the visions of hell which were shown to Jacinta scared her into nightmares for weeks. Even we (sometimes) clueless parents know that we shouldn’t expose children to experiences which they’re not ready for and will surely frighten them. That seems like a case of a child being sent to do an adult’s work; it doesn’t seem like the Blessed Mother would do that.
I personally find the Virgin of Guadalupe more Mary-like.
David Nickol raises a valid point about the tons of verbage attributed to Marian apparitions, versus the short and to-the-point quotes of her in the Gospels.
@David:
An old priest from Co. Mayo told me that Our Lady showed great wisdom when she appeared at Knock, by not saying a word.
Melody, I think there’s a merit in teaching kids about Marian apparitions. No, they’re not essential to the faith, but neither are rosaries, Franciscan spirituality, and a lot of other things that I’d hope children would be exposed to. On a practical note, we’d lose fewer kids to cults and evangelical churches if they understood the proper role of religious enthusiasm.