57: The Truth About Medjugorje—Donal Foley Part I

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On June 24, 1981, a clear Wednesday afternoon, some young people went up Podbrdo Hill near the small hamlet of Medjugorje in then Yugoslavia. When they came down, they told people they saw “the Gospa,” (Croatian for “Our Lady”). A few more joined them, and it happened again.

And again. And again.

Today, three decades later, the six teen-aged seers are middle-aged adults and are still getting these visitations with their alleged secrets and signs. A global movement supporting these visions has been selling the phenomenon as real, in the face of the official stance of the Catholic Church.

What is the official stance? What is the truth about Medjugorje? I spoke with British historian and researcher Donal Foley about the whole story behind the visions, about the assessment by the local bishops (and every official commission that ever investigated the seers’ claims), and about the criteria the Church uses to approve or condemn private apparitions.

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[TheBadTrad]

Thank you for this, Patrick. I didn’t know too much about this alleged apparition before this episode, so this was very informative.

It just strikes me though how people can spend their money and time to go to Medjugorje when there hasn’t been any decision made by the Church on it (and in fact the Church seems to be leaning away from it). Wouldn’t their time be better spent on an approved situation?

Looking forward to part II.

[brattyyoung]

I believed in Medjugojie, but i started hearing weird things coming out of there, about the seers, and the Franciscans...So i just dropped it out of my life...So I just stay with the approved apparitions...

[sharongill]

When she appeared in Ireland in knock with Saint Michael the archangel and Saint Joseph, she never that to me was a true apparition...

[kirkstruhart]

I was there in'84 when the message about all religions are equal in the eyes of God.. WHAT Then the vision was not ".. the giver of all graces...." WHAT???? And people I've known has gone and came back with serious mental problems...A Franciscan Priest I knew was a confessor to the seers and deduced THEY ARE CHANNELING EVIL Even the Bishops have condemned this from the beginning.... THAT IS ENOUGH....If the Bishops have condemned a vision, THEY HAVE THE FINAL SAY....

[joevigneri]

If people choose not to believe then that is up to them. For me I saw it for myself. For years I suffered a severe stammer since being in the first grade. I went with my brother to Medjugorje in 1993. I was 18 years old at that time. I really never took my Catholic faith seriously. I was far from God at that time. I was a broken person. Suffering depression, anger, resentment, no confidence, felt like a failure and many other emotional problems from my stammer. On the second day of our trip. I was walking in the field's with a guy from New York. He was teaching me the Lord's prayer. I looked up and saw the sun spinning all over in the sky! It was huge! Then I felt as if I was being hugged by something that I could not see. I felt love that was not of this world. I felt I was loved just as I was. I asked the guy from New York what was going on? He could tell something was happening to me. He just said that it is our Lord. My stammer left me immediately! Later that day my brother was stunned. He asked what had happened to me. I told him, and he was just stunned. He said that I had changed. This was the start of my faith walk. I have been to Medjugorje 5 times since. Now I am 45 years old, happy, married, taking my faith seriously, no stammer, and trying to live my faith the best I can. Medjugorje changed my life ! It is in scripture that by their fruits you will know them. Honestly if it is from the devil that vile thing would want people to stay away from Medjugorje and not want conversions. But from what I saw there... People all over the PLACE! conversions and the confessional lines are massive! where else is this taking place in our troubled times?

[ShoJ]

I have been to Medugorje a few times, I couldn't agree more with Donal Foley, because I feel its diabolical, people who were once friends now won't speak to me, even in Mass. It says more about them, than me and I look forward to them finally seeing the truth !

[chrisobrien]

Well done Patrick and thank you! You and your guest make perfect sense and I am in complete agreement. I’ve tried to be open to Medjugorje, but there’s just too many holes I feel like. My dad is in his late 60s and a huge fanatic of it. Part of his reversion to Catholicism was from going there. When I’ve calmly brought up skepticism toward it he gets extremely angry and upset. He claims he felt and saw spiritual things there and insists that I’m wrong and even arrogant and foolish to remain skeptical. It’s very frustrating.

[carolinenorman]

I know a priest who said if it’s not of God it’s the biggest mistake the devils made because there’s about 30 million conversions, so I asked another priest who doesn’t believe in medjugori. He said of course there will be conversions because the sacraments are being received there .

[vickersonp]

I don’t care what you say Patrick, the FACT is that Medjurgorje is the conversion center of the world....period! Hundreds of thousands of conversions there...I had my own small miracle there. You need to be careful....you may find yourself fighting against Jesus and Mary.

[jenniferific]

Wait, Jesus tells you to throw the hankie into the river, but the Blessed Virgin says to give it to her instead, and thereby disobey Jesus in order to listen to her? Forget the rest of the details, this alone means this is totally illegitimate apparition. Enough said.

[sleepinglioness]

The first person I introduced myself to when I returned to the Church, immediately gave me a book on a woman who was/is a 'mystic'. She didn't give me a Catechism, or know how to answer my questions about the Catechism, but she sure knew/knows about the mystics. Women at my Church read those regular readings (?) like their/they're horoscopes.

[anthonyp]

The Modernists needed their own 'apparition' to help consecrate their ape of the Church. All of the Marian Apparitions have a logic of progression, with each providing a more explicit warning than the last. Akita provides the answers to the mysteries of the 3rd Secret of Fatima. Medjugorje breaks from the mold and does so not only in the pattern but also in one incredibly offensive way: apparitions later and the messages contain not only insipid vapid statements but also heterodox teachings that violate the traditions of the Church, which Our Lady NEVER did before.

[fritula]

The Muslim Empire came sweeping down through Greece and Bulgaria, into Bosnia Hercegovina... at the juncture of Croatia... Our Lady appeared at the City of Sinj... where the Muslims we going to attack and move through Croatia into the gateway to western Europe .
Our Lady stopped the Muslims.
Today there is a black statue, that is called Our Lady of Sinj, in honour of her intervention.

[MDkid]

I have been there twice, and I don't feel that there is anything in it. My family doesn't feel the same, they are vehement Medjugorge advocates....no changing their minds. I want to make sure that my soul is being led in the right direction. I will follow the church.

[WriterMaven]

I AM stunned because the only person I have ACTUALLY HEARD PUBLICLY denouncing this specific apparition was/Is Father Malachi Martin.
He publicly STATED "WATCH" or "LOOK AT HER FEET"

He bluntly stated that the feet of the APPARITION of Medjugorji are NOT VISIBLE.

[michaelearendil]

I was in Medjugorje in 1998, and was in awe at the entire village gathered in St James Church on a Friday evening, on their knees, for an hour of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It was so quiet and reverent one could hear a pin drop. I would not dismiss this at all.

[beautifulspirit]

After being prepared for a month (meeting each day) with Fr. Slavko and his assistant at the time (who helped speak many languages) although his English was very good. I was received into the Catholic church on July 25th (Feast of St. James) 1987. I had my first confession was Baptized, Confirmed and received Holy Communion. It was witnessed by an estimated 30 priests who were concelebrating the Mass plus a packed church of locals and pilgrims at the evening mass. It was the parish feast day (named for St. James) which was wonderful.

I had been attending a Catholic prayer group for 2 years at that point so was well catechized before I went to Medjugorje. I was an atheist that had a conversion experience initially at the national shrine to Our Lady in England, Our Lady of Walsingham. I had no intention of being received into the church when I went there. I went to stay for a month and pray after the death of my father, I was 19.

Since then I married a wonderful cradle Catholic man, we have 3 teens in Catholic school. I am still a devout Catholic, I am currently recovering from bone cancer at 50. Two of our kids have had cancer and recovered. Our faith has brought us through everything. You have to be present in Medjugorje before you judge it. So much fruit has come from there, I am just one ( and now 3 more Catholic kids!). Fr. Slavko I believe to be a saint, he was an incredibly Holy man. It was Our Lady that brought him to a deeper conversion. Before she appeared he was quite arrogant and aloof according to himself and others. He had an incredible mind and I think he was tempted to be proud but she changed all that! She teaches us all how to pray.

Satan would love to lead you astray and think she was him! And of course he will always be where she is trying to prevent her mission. I wait on the church's final pronouncement but Medjugorje has and continues to produce incredible fruit. There is always confusion around her apparitions when they are happening, Fatima and Lourdes were also attacked and discredited and the seers persecuted. Two of the seers are my Godparents and they have stayed faithful to Our Lady all this time, they pray for hours and hours daily and have ever since she appeared to them in the 1980s. The church cannot make a definite decision on the apparitions until they are over. Although if they were believed to be evil/not of God the whole thing could be shut down by the Pope but that has not happened. So don't be quick to judge, when the church is being very slow to judge, in Her wisdom.

[wmnoffaith]

I'm glad that you made the comment about the visitation s being a " substitute Catholicism ". I have always had a great interest and respect for the Saints, the Marian apparitions, the sacramentals, and incorruptibles, etc. They are all things that add to the faith, but they are NOT the faith. I think the same thing can be said about devotion to Mary. It's fine to have a devotion to Mary, pray the rosary, etc. but it can't replace Christianity. Christ is the one who died for us; the only begotten son. It seems sometimes that people become so focused on these things, that their religion is really about Mary. Even Padre Pio, who had a great devotion to Mary, had the wounds if Christ, not the wounds of Mary. For him, celebrating Mass and the Lord's Supper was everything. People sometimes lose sight of the fact that we are Christian because of Christ, not because of the Marian apparitions.

[robertuk]

Please people stick to Church approved apparitions like Fatima, Lourdes and Akita that you may not be deceived. Beware the devil is able to produce lying signs and wonders to deceive the unwary. Both Garabandal and Medjugorje are satanic. If Garabandal were true Joey would be alive with 2020 colour vision but he died BLIND, proving this did NOT come from Our Lady, who is Truth. Medjugorje is likewise satanic. THe poison here was this message "All religions are dear to my Son and Myself, it is men who cause divisions" This message from Medjugorje is straight from Hell!Only hear Church approved apparitions I beg you.

[Mguitar]

Our Lady always begins with a request and clear message. This apparition is not consistent with other's like Fatima and Akita.