It’s not often you get to say that a bit of news reflects a history-making event, but this is one: Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay has been studying the case of a Marian apparition reported in 1859, witnessed by a young immigrant from Belgium by the name of Adele Brise.
Today, the bishop announced his verdict: the event is confirmed to be of supernatural origin, and the faithful are free to believe in the apparition.
This makes the appearance of the Virgin Mary in Wisconsin, under the title of “Our Lady of Good Hope”, the first and only Marian apparition in the United States to be validated by Church authority. I can only wonder what lies ahead as the grace of this event is to be explored and shared for the good of God’s people.
Today’s announcement from the diocese is on-line, along with the relevant decrees by the bishop presening his judgment on the apparition and designating the long-standing chapel at the site to be a diocesan shrine. The web site of the newly-designated Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help (Notre Dame de Bon Secours) at Champion, WI also has information.
Author: Richard Chonak
Verbum Domini
The Holy Father’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini is an important document, perhaps the most comprehensive official synthesis ever from the Church on the subjects of Scripture and Divine Revelation. It addresses the inspiration of Scripture, the various “senses” in its interpretation, the need for biblical preaching, the place of “private revelation”, the relation of biblical studies and the interpretation of Scripture, the need for thorough training in Scripture for seminarians, and numerous other topics.
You can download the text from the Vatican website as a 208-page PDF, formatted as a pocket-sized book. For convenience in printing, I’ve reformatted it in a more compact 90-page document. (PDF)
Name change for Magdalen
Interesting: Magdalen College up in New Hampshire has changed its name to The College of Saint Mary Magdalen. The school is also expanding its curriculum, and (between you and me) it looks like the puritanical atmosphere there in the ’80s and ’90s (quip: “they put the ‘loco‘ in ‘loco parentis‘”) seems to have faded — though it’s still a serious school. Good for them!
Norms for discernment of apparitions and revelations
In 1978, CDF wrote a document of norms to guide bishops in judging alleged apparitions and other private revelations. While the document has never been published, copies were sent to bishops after Pope Paul VI approved it, and they have used it in cases of alleged private revelation since then.
While it is not permitted to publish the Latin text, some authors have published translations of the text in books and on the Internet, and have contributed to understanding the Church’s thinking on the issue of private revelations.
Those translations, due to their writing style, or due to inconsistencies, have made me wonder about what the original text says. In some cases, there are translations based upon other translations, adding an additional layer of possible imprecision.
For this reason, I was happy to join the efforts of writer Kevin Symonds and a priest colleague a few weeks ago to produce a new translation of the Norms from the Latin text. I’ve posted a copy on Scribd, and I hope it will be of use to pastors and interested readers.
Is Consumers Union supporting the gay agenda?
The magazine Consumer Reports has done good service for a long time, and I’ve been willing to support them by subscribing to their print edition and also their on-line service. Like most organizations in the field of consumer activism, they have a somewhat left-wing image, and occasionally, they endorse or lobby for legislation I don’t agree with, but I haven’t been bothered much. Until now.
This year, they bought the blog consumerist.com, formerly owned by Gawker; it has a flock of writers spewing out several short pieces a day, some of them on legitimate consumer issues, and some on irrelevancies. Since the writers at Consumerist tend to be a snarky opinionated bunch, I figured their style might eventually become a problem, in comparison with the restrained, generally fair and factual approach of the magazine.
In recent weeks, they’ve given a lot of coverage to some gay group’s protest against Target stores after Target gave a donation to a political cause in Minnesota. The donation was ostensibly given because the cause agreed with Target’s business interests, but it benefited a conservative politician who’s against same-sex marriage. Since then, Consumerist has published several pieces about protests:
- July 28: “Target Angering Gay Customers…”
- August 5: “Target CEO Explains Support of Anti-Gay Politician…”
- August 8: “Target and Best Buy’s Support of Bigots Is Going To Change The Way You Shop”
(Yeah, actually it will change the way I shop: I like Target more now. Their foundation used to support Planned Parenthood, but they stopped. God bless ’em.)
I figure the first story was reasonable; the second understandable; but the third insulting.
Does Consumers Union, the parent organization of Consumerist.com, endorse that sentiment: that opposition to same-sex marriage makes you a “bigot”? I don’t want my subscription money going to pay for a blog that’s going to spread incivility like that.
So I called Consumers Union, spoke with the customer relations department, and explained my concern a week ago. I haven’t heard any response yet, so I cancelled the magazine subscription. I’ll give ’em another chance this week; I’ll call again and ask if they have taken a stand to disassociate themselves from the offensive message from the blog. And if not, I’ll cancel the on-line subscription.
Anybody else feel the same?