Driving back from Mass in Clinton, I literally came to screeching halt on the side of the Oak Ridge Turnpike in front of a billboard displaying this image. Now, billboards on prominent roadways in East Tennessee displaying overtly Catholic content are probably rarer than reported alien abductions. One carrying a reference to Medjugorje, & we’re in Elvis-sighting territory!

Skeptical, I checked the website. Now, I’m more skeptical. It’s certainly not that I don’t believe God could impart a message to the Faithful through Mary in any time or place. I read a really interesting book some time ago called The Miracle Detective that was primarily centered on the Medjugorje apparitions, & have had a mild case of interest ever since. The bits & pieces of the messages that I've read all seem quite edifying & orthodox, but my interest is more on how the alleged apparitions affect the Church & the people involved.

The website is run by a group called Caritas of Birmingham who, apparently, are hosting one of the 4 visionaries – Marija, I believe – at the site that she received a vision while in the U.S. many years ago. The itinerary of this 4-day festival reads like a Marian Woodstock. The central event is the supposed appearance of Our Lady who will bless you, your family, & our country (the image of Mary with the Stars & Stripes as a backdrop on the site nearly made me laugh out loud – I thought of Lee Greenwood becoming a Catholic convert), & provide some message regarding the end of times. However, nowhere in the events schedule (which ends on a Saturday) was there a single mention of Mass being said, of Confessions being heard, or anything related to the Catholic liturgy or sacraments being celebrated by Catholic clergy. This happening is squarely outside of the approval of the Church.

I plan to check with the Diocese of Birmingham to get their take on this. I know that the local bishop in Medjugorje has publicly disowned the apparitions, even just recently (I’ll try to dig up the article). I remember that there was some disobedience toward the bishop by the friars who operated the parish church which is at the center of the apparitions. That alone is certainly cause enough for the Faithful to stay clear. No authentic apparition will ever refuse to submit to the legitimate Church authorities. The visionaries of the approved apparitions were all obediently docile & content to live in obscurity while their claims were investigated by the Church authorities. In the Q&A section on the site, the question of whether the Medjugorje apparitions are approved (it says no) & whether the faithful may attend them (it says yes) are nos. 46 & 47, respectively. The provided link to “For more detailed information, see Church Approval” did not work. The Catechism says:

66 "The Christian economy… the new & definitive Covenant, will never pass away; & no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern & welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions & also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such "revelations."

Caritas’ website is creepy because it is always about “the next revelation” & “the next secret.” It seems to be oriented toward building up a group of devotees by hosting these “pilgrimages.” It seems to be a new cult in Catholic dress-up of which Mary is the focal-point, because it is clearly not Christ-centered at all. A Marian festival without Mass? Impossible. Mary leads all to her Son, & she would rather her children to go to Confession & receive her Son prayerfully & worthily in the Eucharist in reparation for the transgressions against Jesus’ Sacred Heart, for the salvation of souls, & for the conversion of our nation & the world.

And that’s a vision that’s Church-approved!