Posted on 08/20/2004 12:57:37 PM PDT by Lumen Christie
*The Indian Express* reports an upsurge in Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists visiting Catholic shrines dedicated to the Blessed Mother. As it says in its report, [which we could not directly link due to technical problems]:
"In an unexpected twist of globalization, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and other pilgrims regularly worship at famous Roman Catholic shrines to the Virgin Mary such as Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal. They drink the holy water, light votive candles and pray fervently to the Madonna for help with life's hardships. Many venerate her like one of their own goddesses, a view that would be a heresy if a Catholic theologian tried to defend it.
"Rather than turned away, the newcomers are free to join the crowds from Ireland, Italy, Spain, and other traditionally Catholic countries who flock to Europe's most popular shrines."
As we have previously reported, at Fatima, such warm welcome has caused an uproar among traditionalist Catholics. No one can say how many non-Catholics worship at shrines where Mary has appeared, notes the report, but they have become a "familiar minority" over the past five or so years. "There are lots of them," Bishop Jacques Perrier of Lourdes told Reuters during Pope John Paul's visit to the southwestern French shrine last week. "Their numbers may be small as a percentage of the 6 million pilgrims here each year, but they're big in absolute terms," he noted.
The sight of some Asian women in saris mingling with the European pilgrims is the first hint that reverence for Mary has crossed religious borders. "Standing near the grotto where she was said to have appeared in 1858, two women wearing the Hindu red dot or 'bindi' on their foreheads said they prayed daily to the Madonna," said the Indian news agency. "'I come here for peace of mind and heart,' said Buvaneswary Palani, a Hindu from southeastern India who now lives in southern France."
Although Islam teaches there is no god but Allah, adds the news coverage, folk traditions in some Muslim societies have "smuggled in a devotion for saints much like that seen in other religions."
The Koran contains an entire chapter on Mary, more than the Gospels. In it, Maryam (her Arabic name) is a virgin and Jesus a great prophet but neither is divine.
"With its mass pilgrimages, devotion to a mother figure and belief in water with miracle healing powers, Lourdes combines elements familiar to followers of several other faiths. In a globalized age, it's normal that Lourdes attracts them," said Patrick Theillier, a physician who heads the Medical Bureau which examines every claim of miracle healing at Lourdes. The bureau has certified 66 healings as genuine miracles with thousands of others asserted.
FATIMA UNDER FIRE
The report continues: "Perrier saw no theological problem with pilgrims of other faiths worshipping at a shrine central to Roman Catholicism. 'There are no religious services at the grotto,' the bishop explained. 'They have great respect for Mary. They come to drink the water and touch the rocks. But they don't attend Mass here. That would have no meaning for them.' But the line between hospitality to outsiders and blurring of religious borders is close, as Portugal's Fatima shrine to the Virgin has learned."
Traditionalist Catholics are up in arms against the shrine's directors for allegedly allowing Hindu pilgrims to perform religious rites there.
Fatima's director, Father Luciano Guerro, has issued a statement denying that a Hindu pilgrim group led by its own priest had somehow defiled the shrine during a visit last May.
"The priest sang a prayer which lasted a few minutes," he said. "No gesture was made, no rite was performed, on or off the altar." Guerro also denied charges that a new church now being built there would be open to rites from all faiths.
VATICAN CONCERN
"The blurring of religious borders that globalization has brought to Marian shrines has also touched the higher levels of Catholic theology, causing deep concern at the Vatican," notes The Indian Express. "Father Jacques Dupuis, an 80-year-old Belgian Jesuit who spent 20 years in India, has broken new ground in recent years by arguing that God works through many faiths to save all believers. This contradicts the Catholic position that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation and even other Christian churches are imperfect paths to that goal. Challenging that view earned the respected theologian a secretive three-year investigation by the Vatican's stern doctrinal chief, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The issue calmed in 2001 when Dupuis, under heavy Vatican pressure, issued a statement saying his writings had contained some doctrinal ambiguities. But he has not changed his view. 'The Holy Spirit is present in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions,' he said in a lecture in February. 'The diverse paths are conducive to salvation because they have been placed by God Himself.'"
Also, in the middle of this article it says that at Fatima the "Hindu priest" *was* indeed allowed to "Sing a prayer" at the altar, but "no other activities took place." Sorry. They were clearly doing "Puja." There is no way around that.
This issue remains: Just what do the clergy responsible for these places know and understand about non-Christian religions and their practices in real terms --- and what kind of permission are they actually giving to people to use the shrines for non-Christian religious activities?
Virgen?
Isn't that someone who doesn't eat meat?
I'm confused
God works in Mysterious Ways..
Or so I've heard..
Say a Rosary to have the Holy Spirit open the eyes, hearts and minds of the participants to Jesus
Ok. Sorry. It got past me when I reviewed it -- I was in a hurry.
It should be pretty obvious that it is supposed to be "Virgin"
Is that degree of sarcasm really necessary, or are you usually confused?
When Iwas young and poor I drove a Vega. It ran on prayer and rutabe-gas.
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