Scandal Puts Apparition In The News Along With The Issue Of Objective Reporting

SpiritDaily ^ | 7/29/2009 | Michael H. Brown

[Servant of the Cross]

It's interesting how the Catholic media have handled recent word that the Vatican had accepted the laicization -- had "defrocked" -- a former Franciscan who served for several years (during the 1980s) at the reputed apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

First there are the blogs and websites in favor of the apparitions. They either avoided much discussion of the issue, mentioned it briefly, or ignored it altogether.

This is understandable -- from good, well-intentioned people -- and it can be looked upon as the charitable thing to do. Spiritually, we are not to hover over gossip -- and this case was fraught, for sure, with gossip. .. (snip) .. There is no reason to hide this (nor any other Church scandal).

Then there is the "mainstream" Catholic media, which reacted at the other extreme and made it sound like the Vatican had defrocked the main priest connected with the famous apparitions and had done so because the priest had made the entire apparition-thing up. Of course, that was hardly the case. But it created a little feeding frenzy (most of the Catholic press is not inclined to accept apparitions). With this too one could take issue, journalistically.

By and large the U.S. reports could be traced to a single British reporter, Simon Caldwell, who writes for the London Daily Mail ....(snip)

[Servant of the Cross]

For review/discernment. I believe that this is a very objective analysis of the exaggeration of the scandal of ex-Fr. Vlasic as somehow negatively impacting the ongoing discernment of the Church in regards to the miracles occurring at Medjugorje.

[Servant of the Cross]

ping.

[nkycincinnatikid]

mark

[markomalley]

Caldwell is also an editor of the weekly Catholic Herald.