Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2 — The Georgia Bulletin, November 5, 1987
Bishop's Ban Fails To Halt Medjugorje Pilgrim Masses
BY JOHN THAVIS
ROME (NC) — Yugoslavian Bishop Pavao Zanic said
many priests are disobeying his ban on pilgrimage Masses
at the alleged Marian apparition site of Medjugorje, but he
plans no action against them.
Priests at Medjugorje confirmed that Masses were con
tinuing, but said they don’t believe the ban applies to the
priests who come there.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Frane Franic of Split-Makarska,
a defender of the alleged apparitions, issued his own direc
tive that said priests could accompany but not organize
pilgrimages to Medjugorje.
Bishop Zanic, head of the Mostar-Duvno Diocese that in
cludes Medjugorje, said Oct. 28 that foreign priests have
continued to bring groups of pilgrims to the site. A local
pastor put up a sign noting the ban on Masses, but it "hasn't
done much good,’’ Bishop Zanic said in an interview in
Rome.
The bishop said he didn’t like the situation, but was being
realistic and accepting it for the time being.
in July, Bishop Zanic banned Masses in his diocese by
priests who either lead pilgrimages to Medjugorje or at
tribute a "supernatural character” to the events there.
Masses involving as many as 70 concelebrating priests are
frequently said at Medjugorje.
Cardinal Franjo Kuharic of Zagreb, president of the
Yugoslavian bishops’ conference, said in a telephone inter
view Nov. 2 that Bishop Zanic had every right to ban such
Masses because ' no one has respected previous directives
against church-organized pilgrimages.
A Vatican official who asked not to be named said in
September that Bishop Zanic’s banning of Masses fell
within his rights and responsibilities as bishop. But ac
cording to priests at Medjugorje, interviewed by telephone
in October, the decree is being taken “lightly” by many.
Some see it as unenforceable.
The church has not passed judgment on the vision claims,
which first surfaced in 1981 when six local youths said the
Virgin appeared to them. A commission established by
Bishop Zanic concluded its work last year. The Vatican's
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith requested that a
broader study be undertaken by a new commission named
by the Yugoslavian bishops’ conference.
In a statement announcing the new commission last
January, Bishop Zanic and Cardinal Kuharic said “it is not
permitted to organize pilgrimages and other demonstra
tions which are motivated by the attribution of a super
natural character to the facts of Medjugorje.” Previously
the Yugoslavian bishops’ conference had asked an end to
“official organized pilgrimages” to the site.
The doctrinal congregation, in a letter to Italian bishops
in 1985, also urged that organized pilgrimages to Medjugor
je be discouraged. Bishop Zanic said he took the step in July
of prohibiting Masses because the pilgrimages have con
tinued.
Those who defended the Masses said the word
"pilgrimage” is an inaccurate description of the visits that
bring several thousand people to Medjugorje daily. Father
Pavich said people come in "private, personal visits" or in
"group travel.” Added Father Slavko Barbaric, spiritual
director of the young visionaries at Medjugorje: "All the
pilgrimages are private."
In late September, Archbishop Franic issued his own
guidelines for visitors to Medjugorje.
He said:
— Priests may go to Medjugorje but not as organizers of
pilgrimages.
— If anyone asks a priest whether he believes in the
supernatural character of Medjugorje events, he can say.
"I cannot believe” until the church makes an official
declaration on the events.
— The faithful may travel individually or in privately
organized pilgrimages to Medjugorje, but not in those
organized by the church or church institutions, or by in
dividual bishops and pastors.
— Visitors can form their own "opinion" about Medjugor
je but not hold a "belief" in those events, until a church
judgment.
Archbishop Franic said his directive represented the con
clusions of a three-hour discussion on Medjugorje among
Croatian-speaking Yugoslavian bishops. Copies of the
directive were being handed out at Medjugorje in October,
according to visitors.
Cardinal Kuharic said the directive represented Arch
bishop Franic's personal conclusions, not a statement of the
bishops.
Archbishop Franic said the fact of numerous pilgrimages
to Medjugorje requires the pastoral assistance of priests.
Sources at Medjugorje estimate that about 9.000 priests
have visited since the alleged visions were first reported.
Archbishop Franic also said every bishop should refrain
from issuing a personal judgment about the events.
In 1984, Bishop Zanic characterized the visions as a "col
lective hallucination."
Shortly afterward. Archbishop Franic said he believed
the alleged apparitions were real.
New Ulm Reorganization increases Non-Ordained Parish Administrators
NEW ULM, Minn. (NC) — Bishop Raymond A. Lucker of
New Ulm has unveiled a diocesewide parish reorganization
plan that calls for clustering and consolidating parishes,
reassigning priests and increasing the number of non-
ordained parish administrators.
The plan, described as tentative, will affect all 93
parishes in the 15-county rural diocese and was the result of
months of work by a special task force.
In some cases, parishes now served by one priest will be
clustered with a neighboring parish or two to save person
nel.
Bishop Lucker said the diocese has 85 active priests, in
cluding those working as missionaries or on other
assignments outside the diocese. Because many of those
priests are nearing retirement, that number is expected to
decline by 27 by the year 1995, he said.
The plan calls for non-ordained administrators of
parishes to increase from seven to 20 by 1995. The diocese
has been a leader nationally in developing lay parish ad
ministrators, mostly nuns.
According to the plan, the number of priests serving in
parishes is to drop from 69 to 58 by 1995.
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The bishop said the leadership of every parish was con
sulted in developing the first-phase tentative plan, and now
each parish will be asked to conduct consultations to revise
or refine the plan.
He described consolidation of parishes as a long-term
process in which the parishioners themselves will decide
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dispose of church properties, and how to utilize their
resources. “That way it isn't an edict coming from me. It's
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