The domain registration for Abp. Milingo’s web site lists it at 7000 26th Ave. NW in Seattle, an address that appears on a list of Unification Church facilities.
Category: The Fringe
Kook watch: Christina Gallagher
Fr. Sibley asked me today if I knew anything about the phony mystic Christina Gallagher of Ireland, so I checked around the net to find out whether her bishop had made any statement about her claims of messages from our Lord and our Lady. Now that she’s opened a new branch operation in Texas, I suppose we may be hearing more of this.
As it happens, Mrs. Gallagher’s from the Archdiocese of Tuam, and the archbishop there has been fairly circumspect, aiming to keep her activities within the modest limits his predecessor permitted, while not banning them outright.
December 1997:
Archdiocesan committee finds no proof of supernatural phenomena.
Abp. sets conditions for establishing a Private Association to bring her activities under closer archdiocesan supervision, including financial.
January 1998:
Bishop orders that confessions and sermons at the House of Prayer cease.
May 1998:
Sunday Masses at her House of Prayer on Achill Island are stopped, though not all Masses.
July 1998:
Gallagher announces she’s closing the House; local tourism businesses complain.
Archbishop surprised by closure announcement.
August 1998:
Rick Salbato’s newsletter on the closure and Mrs. Gallagher’s lifestyle.
September 1998:
House to reopen, Gallagher promises compliance.
September 2002:
Interview, photos: 1, 2
(I tend to believe that real seers don’t give interviews, let alone whine like this one.)
July 2003:
10th anniversary gathering.
June 2006:
Austin, TX bishop warns of “House of Prayer” opening without permission, denies faculties to priest supporter.
September 2006:
Layman Ron Conte (FL) points out theological errors, bizarre statements.
Of course, it’s harder to do something more bizarre than making a supposedly Catholic religious medal that calls our Lady “The Matrix“.
Let’s Get Ready To Rapture
There was a lecture at my parish today, with a Q&A following. As often happens at public events, the first “questioner” was a nut who didn’t ask a question, but took the opportunity to inform the audience about something (very pressing, of course).
In this case, he let us all know that the “Bible Code” was predicting a nuclear attack on Jerusalem Thursday. The speaker let it all pass with a quick “no comment”, and moved on to the real questions.
Sometimes I wonder if bringing back stoning as the punishment for false prophecy wouldn’t provide some deterrence and keep people from wasting their time on junk like that. What’s he gonna say Friday morning?
In a similar vein, I wonder how the people who put up this poster felt on Oct. 29, 1992, when their prediction of our Lord’s return slipped away. In Korea, where the prediction originated (the article is halfway down the web page), the main group that spread it had the decency to disband.
Here in New England, the promoters sure bought a high-quality printing job for the posters: numerous examples of them are still stuck on light posts in New Hampshire, still colorful, clear, and readable.
Y’know, if I were expecting to be raised miraculously out of the world in a few weeks, I wouldn’t bother getting the high-gloss paper with the waterproof adhesive. In fact, you should make sure the posters are biodegradable; it would be downright inconsiderate to leave permanent posters behind to taunt the people “left behind”. They’d have enough trouble already.
Evaluating Richard Rohr
Fr. Richard Rohr, that guru of fuzzy thinking and cuddly spirituality, has visited the Gulf Coast several times lately, so Fr. Bryce Sibley of Parks, LA, decided to find out more about his views. The results of his study are in the March NOR.
Madonna warns how people “are going to go to hell, if they don’t turn from their wicked behavior.”
No, not the Madonna. This time, it’s just Madonna the singer.
I should have predicted this, it’s been so obvious; it’s time for her to reinvent herself as a defender of values other than the tolerance of weirdness.
Unfortunately, from the snippet Drudge quotes, she might be a little anti-material in the gnostic sense; but maybe that’s part of her quasi-kabbalah religion thing, if she’s still into that. At this rate of change, she may end up as a Christian again someday.
Watch for her to take up singing standards.