{"id":2891,"date":"2008-09-02T23:46:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-02T23:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/more-trouble-for-medjugorje-updated.html"},"modified":"2008-09-02T23:46:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-02T23:46:00","slug":"more-trouble-for-medjugorje-updated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/more-trouble-for-medjugorje-updated.html","title":{"rendered":"More trouble for Medjugorje — UPDATED"},"content":{"rendered":"

For over two decades, the Virgin Mary has allegedly been appearing in Medjugorje<\/a> — and visitors there have numbered in the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. (My wife is one of them; she made a trip there herself several years ago and was deeply impressed by the experience.) <\/p>\n

The Vatican has ruled that it has found nothing supernatural going on there. But still, the pilgrims have flocked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, Rome has gone one step further<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The item below is from the blog Unam Sanctam Catholicam: <\/p>\n

The Vatican has not condemned Medjugorje as such, but it came awfully close by imposing harsh restrictions on Fr. Tomislav Vlasic, OFM, the prime spiritual leader of the alleged seers and chief promoter of the Medjugorje movement. The announcement of the sanctions was made through the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno, but it must be stressed that this condemnation come from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith itself, so no one ought to be going around after this saying that it is only the local bishop who is opposed to Medjugorje. Let’s look at the statement (from Te Deum) [my emphases<\/strong>]:<\/p>\n

The <\/span>CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH<\/strong> with its letter prot. 144\/1985-27164 of 30 May 2008, has authorized me as the local Bishop of the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno to inform the diocesan community of the canonical status of Fr. Tomislav Vla\u0161i\u0107, the founder of the association \u201cKraljice mira potpuno Tvoji \u2013 po Mariji k Isusu\u201d \u2013 (Queen of Peace, totally Yours \u2013 Through Mary to Jesus).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The letter signed by the Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Angelo Amato, states the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cWithin the context of the phenomenon Medjugorje, this Dicastery is studying the case of Father Tomislav VLASIC OFM, originally from that region and the founder of the association \u2018Kraljice mira potpuno Tvoji \u2013 po Mariji k Isusu\u2019 (Queen of Peace, Totally Yours-Through Mary to Jesus).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

On 25 January 2008, through a properly issued Decree, this Dicastery imposed severe cautionary and disciplinary measures on Fr. Vlasic.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The non-groundless news that reached this Congregation reveals that the religious priest in question <\/span>did not respond, even partially, to the demands of ecclesiastical obedience<\/strong> required by the very delicate situation he finds himself in, justifying himself by citing his zealous activity in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno and surrounding territories, in initiating religious activities, buildings, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Since Fr. Vlasic has fallen into a censure of interdict latae sententiae <\/span>reserved to this Dicastery, I kindly ask Your Excellency, for the good of the faithful, to inform the community of the canonical status of Fr. Vlasic and at the same time to report on the situation in question\u2026<\/span>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

This regards the fact that the same Congregation of the Holy See applied ecclesiastical sanctions against Rev. Father Tomislav Vla\u0161i\u0107, through a Decree of the Congregation (prot. 144\/1985) of 25 January 2008, signed by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect, and by Archbishop Angelo Amato, Secretary of the Congregation along with the \u201cConcordat cum originali\u201d of 30 January 2008, verified by Msgr. John Kennedy, Official of the Congregation.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The Decree was handed over to Rev. Fr. Tomislav Vla\u0161i\u0107 in the General Curia of the OFM in Rome on 16 February 2008 and the notification was co-signed by the Minister General of the Franciscan Minor Order, Father Jos\u00e9 R. Carballo, the Ordinary of Fr. Vla\u0161i\u0107.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The Decree of the Congregation mentions that Rev. Fr. Tomislav Vla\u0161i\u0107, a cleric of the Franciscan Minor Order \u2013 the founder of the association \u2018Kraljice mira potpuno Tvoji \u2013 po Mariji k Isusu\u2019 and who is involved in the \u201cphenomenon Medjugorje\u201d \u2013 has been reported to the Congregation \u201cfor the <\/span>diffusion of dubious doctrine<\/strong>, <\/span>manipulation<\/strong> of consciences, suspected <\/span>mysticism<\/strong>, <\/span>disobedience<\/strong> towards legitimately issued orders and charges contra sextum.\u201d<\/span>
<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more at the link<\/a>. This is serious. And should give pause to anyone who has a strong devotion to this still-unapproved apparition.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/b> A few people have wondered what the phrase “contra sextum” means. It is a Canon Law term that refers to a violation of the sixth commandment.<\/p>\n

UPDATE II: <\/b> Catholic News Service has now posted its own report on the controversy surrounding Fr. Vlasic<\/a>, reminding us, as well, that he is the second<\/i> “spiritual advisor” to the “visionaries” who has been disciplined by the Vatican.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For over two decades, the Virgin Mary has allegedly been appearing in Medjugorje — and visitors there have numbered in the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. (My wife is one of them; she made a trip there herself several years ago and was deeply impressed by the experience.) 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}