I found this at In God's Company and was struck by what the Cardinal had to say:Cardinal Schonborn has frequently, forthrightly, and now almost famously said "if it were not for Medjugorje our Seminaries would be empty. Half our new priests come to us directly or indirectly because of Medjugorje".
He has also spoken of the "great fruits" of Medjugorje and in his answer to the earnest young lady's question this afternoon he mentioned, not once but twice, how he sees that Medjugorje brings young people back to the Church.
So now we ask is Cardinal Schonborn hinting that the solution to the dire state of Christianity in Europe is perhaps found in Medjugorje. Is His eminence subtly encouraging us to look to Our Blessed Mother for guidance in these uncertain times and to look to Her for direction as She points us to the Way.
Is Cardinal Schonborn suggesting, perhaps not in his words but maybe in his heart that Medjugorje is, as some have said, "The hope of the world?" Half our new priests come to us directly or indirectly because of Medjugorje".
He has also spoken of the "great fruits" of Medjugorje and in his answer to the earnest young lady's question this afternoon he mentioned, not once but twice, how he sees that Medjugorje brings young people back to the Church.
So now we ask is Cardinal Schonborn hinting that the solution to the dire state of Christianity in Europe is perhaps found in Medjugorje. Is His eminence subtly encouraging us to look to Our Blessed Mother for guidance in these uncertain times and to look to Her for direction as She points us to the Way.
Is Cardinal Schonborn suggesting, perhaps not in his words but maybe in his heart that Medjugorje is, as some have said, "The hope of the world?"
3 comments:
After 5 visits there I agree with him. I met the Cardinal also in Vienna..& was very impressed with him.
Congrats to you and the city of New Orleans on an amazing victory and season...
With Mardi Gras coming up this is going to be at least 9 days of partying, :)
Dear Father,
I have a fundamental concern with Cardinal Schonborn's statement: Does he attribute those vocations to an alleged apparition which has raised many legitimate issues? Or, does he attribute to the very legitimate, fundamental, and distincly Catholic expressions of faith one finds at Medjugorje.
Here in America, and elsewhere in the world, the last 40+ years reigned in an era in which things like Eucharistic Adoration, daily Rosary, frequent Confession, and daily Mass were discouraged. In fact, if a seminarian engaged in these things in some quarters, it earned him a trip to a psychiatrist office where he underwent deprogramming for his "rigidness".
We know that those distinctly Catholic things are authentic avenues of grace.
Is it any surprise that when someone goes to Medjugorje and is moved to go to Confession by grace, and spends time in Adoration, and praying the Rosary, that they would convert? Or, hearing a calling to the priesthood?
What would be interesting to know is whether Cardinal Schonborn has actively and enthusiastically promoted this things in his diocese. Do the other bishops and priests promote these things? I tell you that if they were, they would not need a questionable apparition to "fill their seminaries".
Cardinal Saraiva Martins said that these kinds of things - conversions and vocations can happen in a small country parish.
I am in a small urban parish (800 families). The pastor does not permit any thing which is not approved by the whole Church, so the focus is on approved Marian apparitions like Lourdes, Fatima and Guadalupe. It's a very Marian parish, and we have a culture which makes frequent use of Adoration and Confession.
I know people who were away for 30 years and came back for good when they experienced those distinctly Catholic expressions of the faith and made use of them.
We also have a good vocations rate at my parish, and at another parish which is handled similarly by that pastor. He had 8 men in the seminary at various stages, some of which were recently ordained. There are several ordained from my parish, and a few more still working their way through various seminaries.
How is it that my parish can have so many vocations, yet there is no Medjugorje there?
This is what priests need to reflect on.
I recommend to you the very detailed analysis of Medjugorje offered by a solid orthodox and Marian priest, Fr. Manfred Hauke.
He is the chairman of the German Theological Society and a professor of dogmatic theology and patristics. He just released an indepth intterview on Medjugorje with the German language Catholic paper, Die Tagespost. It was translated into English by Richard Chonak at Catholic Light.
I would like your thoughts after reading it.
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