Apparition-itis
November 22, 2007

Williamson "Don't catch the bug !"

In a column last year I raised the issue of Garabandal. A few posts later I discussed the messages of Our Lady at Akita, Japan. In his latest blog installment, Bishop Richard Williamson publicly mentions (and to my mind this is a first) the messages of Garabandal.

It is no secret to seminarians who trained under Bishop Williamson as the rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary that he is a great aficionado of these messages. Akita was approved by the local bishop and confirmed by the then Cardinal Ratzinger who, prior to the release of the Third Secret of Fatima claimed that they were essentially the same as the message of Fatima. Garabandal in Spain, has three times received the episcopal thumbs down as having been declared that "nothing supernatural" occurred there. Just like the "apparitions" of Medjugorje which has been examined 4 times to date and a 5th commission is again re-examining the case, Garabandal has been rejected as inauthentic by Church authorities. The current bishop of Santander has expressed his personal support, but no official decision has been given.

My problem with "apparitionitis" has been a long-standing one. Too many Traddies will fall for the first words that allegedly come from Our Lord or Our Lady that seem to back up our opposition and resistance to the abuses that crept into the Church since the Second Vatican Council.

There is even a book in circulation, (and I have it wouldn't you know!) that purports to be conversations with devils during a lengthy series of exorcisms in Europe in the 1970s and several of the devils speak highly of Archbishop Lefebvre and the Society of St. Pius X. Well here I have a problem; not that the devils praise Econe or the Archbishop, but that Our Lord calls satan the "Prince of lies". Indeed there are several theological errors in these conversations viz. most people who commit suicide go straight to Heaven (yikes !!!)

Many Trads would love these words here:

"Oh my son, the Church is being darkened more and more, being more and more eclipsed! Rome is becoming prostituted. Rome is embracing the enemies of the Church. Rome is in a pact with Satan himself. Rome has fallen."

Selected messages of Our Lord and Our Lady to Clemente Dominguez Gomez,
 S.D. Montgomery Ltd., Omagh, N. Ireland (undated publication) p 40

The problem is that they come from the whacko Clemente Dominguez Gomez who founded his own Church at El Palmar de Troya (just outside Seville, Spain) and later claimed to have mystically succeeded Pope Paul VI as Gregory XVII. "Pope" Gregory died just before John Paul II and was succeeded by Peter II gloriously reigning. Peter II was not elected, however, since Gregory had exercised his "papal" prerogative and named his successor while he was still alive. This is, in point of fact, the prerogative of Benedict XVI who could, if he wanted, name his own successor as well.

Well Bishop Williamson loves to stir the pot, and now an unnamed seer priest (sic!) is predicting world war III. This reminded me of another pamphlet in my possession entitled: Grave and Urgent Warnings for the World. Given that it suggests world war III would break out in 1973 (!) I'm not surprised that the author of the work would only go on record with the pseudonym: "A Religious Priest. Now Bishop Williamson wants us to accept the credibility of an unnamed mystic priest in Europe predicting the same thing - gag !

The danger I see in apparition-itis is that for an "apparitionist" their Faith is built upon sand not the rock of Peter and the true doctrine of the Catholic Church. Our Lord told us that there would be "wars and rumors of wars" and that it was not given to the Son of Man to know the date or time of the end of the world. When I was a boy I was told the same story we all heard as children - the boy who cried wolf. I would rather answer: "I'll believe it when I see it !"

Curiously the Bishop's timing was interesting since his dire warnings came on the heels of the Holy Father's angelus address which last Sunday had a completely different message for the Church and for the world than that being peddled from La Reja:

"Compared to the “many who claim that the end of the world is near”, the Church “waits in the living word for the return of the Lord” and looks upon the reality of history: “In it the pattern of Our Lord’s salvation is developed, a salvation that has already come to pass in His incarnation death and resurrection. The Church continues to announce this mystery through preaching, the celebration of the sacrament and charity”.

Translation: Rocco Palmo (Whispers in the Loggia Blog)

Everyone always like the warm and fuzzies !

+TF

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