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By Stephen K. Ryan March 23, 2010
With
the twin towers of Vatican news the past few days concerning the mysterious town called Medjugorje where alleged apparitions are said to be occuring, it is time for American Catholic press to understand they have been consistently wrong on the reporting of the events taking place there and have also held a negative bias. Two recent colossal announcements from Rome hopefiully shocks the cozy Catholic news rooms, filled with journalists who have shied away from reporting fairly about the intriquing happenings in Medjugorje, into action. Now that the Vatican has decided to investigate Medjugorje we think it is also time for the Catholic press to open thier minds to the phenomenon.
The News
Last week the Vatican, rather dramatically, announced that an inquiry into the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje will be led by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. According to experts The Holy See has never investigated nor pronounced a judgement on a case of apparitions that are still in progress. This is not insignificant news.
Then as reported by highly respected Italian journalist AndreaTorielli, Rome has decided that the diocese that oversees Medjugorje will soon be moved and the Bisop who holds negative views on Medjugorje will be stripped of his authority to control the activities of the Pilgrims and Visionaries. This may have a profound effect on Catholics around the world many who have kept a distance from Medjugorje due to the Bishop's negative views.
Tornielli wrote that the decision to create the new diocese,, was nearly made last September, but was put off in part by the opposition of Bishop Peric. Last year American Catholic press almost universally reported the activities in Medjugorje at that time as a precursor to a soon to be announced negative judgement against Medjugorje. Without question those opposed to the authenticity of the Medjugorje apparitions of "Our Lady" known as the Queen of Peace have hung their hat on Bishop Peric's negative views of the mysterious events. We see it everyday on our website, in posted comments, e-mails, and social networking activity, posts to Twitter and Facebook.
Medjugorje has been split down the middle by Bishops Peric's views. This will of course no longer be the case. Based on yesterday's news of Bishops Peric's lost authority over Medjugorje, a major reset button has now been pushed by the Vatican.
If ministryValues.com seems a little sulky we think we have earned that right. After all, we and others have simply been making the case that Medjugorje is a very fascinating phenomenon, and an interesting news story that sooner or later will become a big deal. It has now become a big deal.
Since Ministryvalues.com began to follow the events of Medjugorje we have at times felt pushed aside and viewed as a group lurking in the fringes of Catholic News. Attempting to have conversations about Medjugorje with Catholic Journalists and prominent bloggers we were made to feel like we were talking about Cousin "It" who lived in the Adams family attic. Despite our attempts to communicate to American Journalists that great intellects and spiritual leaders of our faith including Pope John Paul II and now Cardinal Schonborn have been fascinated by Medjugorje, and have spoken highly of its great"fruits" we would be met with a shug of the shoulder, subtle language insinuating that Pope John II had a "Mary" problem, and a quick dismissl of our inquiry. Many viewed us simply as "evangelists for Medjugorje" and not as serious reporters.
Notwithstanding what great men have had to say about Medjugorje, the U.S. Catholic press, not really grasping their own logic, would simply stand behind Bishop Peric's negative views of Medjugorje as if he were Pope and reject Medjugorje out of hand.
Ministryvalues.com's greatest frustration came from the push back we would get from journalists who would condescendingly say to us that the Church has already ruled on Medjugorje and that it is not supernatural and therefore there was no need for anymore conversation.
Particularly disappointing was how often reporters would not hesitate to write authoritatively on the subject despite an ankle deep understanding of the official Church position on Medjugorje . The Vatican has not ruled one way or the other on the supernatural aspects of Medjugorje and journalists have ignored the obvious fact that MILLIONS of "pilgrims" including Bishops and Cardinals have gone there with the Vatican being very aware of this fact. The Catholic press seemed at times to be the only folks oblivious to the phenomenon and when reporting on the matter they simply got it wrong most of the time. Hopefully now that will begin to change.
