Medjugorje Update,1 Feb 2012:
I have been contacted by Dr Hector Avalos, who wrote the critical article on Medjugorje entitled “Mary at Medjugorje: A Critical Inquiry,” which Daniel Klimek took exception to. In this Dr Avalos says that he received a letter from prominent Medjugorje supporter Prof Henri Joyeux in 1995.
In this letter, Prof Joyeux said, "Thanks a lot for your excellent paper (Scientific one) "Mary at Medjugorje: A Critical Inquiry."
So, this paper, which Klimek was so critical of, is according to Prof Joyeux an "excellent paper." A pdf of the letter can be seen here ...
World Apostolate of Fatima (England And Wales), National Pilgrimage to Fatima July 7th to 14th 2012
There will be another National Pilgrimage to Fatima this July, organized by the World Apostolate of Fatima, England and Wales, with Fr Gerard Kelly as Spiritual Director, and Mike Daley as Leader.
The price is £588 per person sharing and will include:
- Return Flight London Heathrow to Lisbon
- Half-Board in Domus Pacis
- Taxes & Coach Tours in Fatima, and to Coimbra, Tomar and Nazare Shrines & Beach.
Fatima is one of the most important Marian pilgrimage centres in the world, and its message has assumed even more prominence since the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta by Blessed Pope John Paul II in May 2000. The week consists of a full programme of events centred in Fatima.
Please email Mike Daley, the Pilgrimage leader, for full details and booking forms for the 2012 pilgrimage, via: 
At the Mass in St. Peter's on 13th May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI expressed the hope that the message of Fatima will be "increasingly accepted, understood and lived in every community".
Donations to the World Apostolate of Fatima (England and Wales), can be made via:
Information about books and quotes from the Saints:
http://www.saintsquotes.net/
http://www.saintsbooks.net/ - A Treasure Trove of Free Catholic Books
http://catholic-books.blogspot.com/
Sr Lucia did not confirm Medjugorje as authentic
There have been recent claims that Sr Lucia of Fatima "Saw & Confirmed Apparitions of Our Lady of Medjugorje" as reported on the Ministry Values website in July 2011, which were repeated later on the Medjugorje Miracles site.
However, when Mrs Hildegard Alles wrote to the Fatima shrine authorities in 1998, she was told by Fr Cristino, the director of SESDI, that 'the affirmation [that] Our Lady of Fatima speaks with Sr. Lucia about what she does in Medjugorje" is completely false.'
A PDF of this letter is available here ...
(the only change made to this letter is that the details of Mrs Alles's address has been blocked out)
Mrs Alles also wrote to Sr Maria de Carmo at the Coimbra Carmel where Sr Lucia was living, in December 1998, to enquire about the claim that "Sr. Lucia's Spiritual Director," Father Messias Coelho, had stated that Sr. Lucia had said that it was "not the Virgin Mary appearing in Medjugorje".
Sr Maria de Carmo responded in a handwritten letter dated 21 December, stating that in fact Fr Coelho wasn't Sr Lucia's spiritual director, and that Sr Lucia had said nothing either for or against Medjugorje.
Cardinal Ratzinger and Medjugorje - "Freely invented" Citations
Mrs Alles also wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger's office in Rome, in January 2002, regarding claims about statements reportedly made by the Cardinal supportive of Medjugorje, that appeared in a German language newsletter, Der Schwarze Brief in 1998. In this there were a series of citations which gave the impression that the Holy Father and Cardinal Ratzinger had judged Medjugorje positively, but Cardinal Ratzinger called the citations "freely invented," when responding to an enquiry about these citations in July 1998.
Mrs Alles had wanted to know if this statement was genuine, and she received a response from the Cardinal's secretary, Dr Joseph Clemens, confirming that the reported contents of the 1998 letter from the Cardinal were genuine, and thus that Cardinal Ratzinger had described the allegedly positive citations about Medjugorje attributed to him as "freely invented."
The original German language letters can be seen here ...
(the only change made to these letters is that the details of Mrs Alles's address have been blocked out)
A translation of these letters by Mrs Alles can be seen here ...
New! Theotokos Books e-books!
Theotokos Books titles are now available as e-books in the Kindle and ePub formats. These can be downloaded here ...
E-books can also be read on your desktop/laptop - to read Kindle type files (eg mobi) you can download Kindle for Desktop
To read ePub type files (which can also be read on iPod, iPad, NOOK, etc.) on your desktop/laptop, you can download Adobe Digital Editions
The following article was printed in the Wanderer on 10/27/2011, Page 1
If Church Judgment ... Goes Against Medjugorje, How Will Followers React? by Donal Anthony Foley
This year saw the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the alleged visions at Medjugorje. Great numbers of pilgrims have visited the “shrine” in Bosnia-Herzegovina during this period, and the alleged visions and visionaries have a worldwide following. But is Medjugorje a case of genuine Marian apparitions? What if this isn’t the case, and it turns out to be a huge religious deception?
Donal Anthony Foley reviews Michael O’Brien’s Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture
"The Canadian author and artist, Michael O’Brien, in his Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture, has written a forceful condemnation of the whole Harry Potter phenomenon, but without rancor or polemics, and in a reasoned and objective manner."
Daylight Origins Society
In 1977 John G. Campbell of Scotland founded a Counter Evolution Group, and began publishing the newsletter DAYLIGHT. Sadly, John passed away in 1986, and his periodical stopped.
In 1991 It was relaunched by Anthony Nevard of England with the new format magazine 'DAYLIGHT' and it was developed from a simple presentation format, into a quality mini magazine.
In late 2006, it was suspened from publication, as Anthony Nevard took stock, seeking new and more effective ways to promote his message.
In 2007 there was a focus on setting up a new website with all produced 'Daylight' magazines from 1977 onwards being made available for free online.
In 2011 an improved new subscribers magazine was relaunched in January under the continued direction of Anthony Nevard with additional support from an inspired and active group from Ireland.
For more information, please visit: www.daylightorigins.com
Updated, Revised and Expanded Medjugorje Book!
Theotokos Books has recently published a new book entitled:
Medjugorje Revisited: 30 Years of Visions or Religious Fraud?
by Donal Anthony Foley, ISBN 9780955074639
To go direct to Order page, click here ...
Medjugorje Revisited: 30 Years of Visions or Religious Fraud? investigates the alleged visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Medjugorje, looking at their origins, and their impact on the Catholic Church. It is an expanded, revised and updated version of Understanding Medjugorje, which was published in 2006. Since then there have been important new developments, including the formation of an International Commission to investigate the alleged visions. Millions of people have visited Medjugorje, even though it has received no official Church approval. If you want to know the truth about Medjugorje, then Medjugorje Revisited will give you the whole story, right from the beginning.
For more information, including extracts and how to order, please click here ...
The credit card price, including shipping, is only $24.95
Medjugorje Revisited focuses on the transcripts of the original tapes of the visionaries made in June 1981, and the credibility of the visions and the visionaries, demonstrating the serious problems involved in accepting Medjugorje as genuine. It also examines the role of theologians, and the Hercegovina Franciscans, in promoting Medjugorje, and its tangled historical and religious background, as well as its links with the Charismatic Renewal, In sum, it examines all the relevant evidence about Medjugorje, and concludes that, despite some "good fruits," it bears all the hallmarks of a vast religious fraud.
"Donal Foley has done lovers of accuracy a favor and provided believers in Christ and children of the Blessed Virgin Mary a signal service with this book." - Mark P. Shea, author, Mary, Mother of the Son
"Donal Foley is very well equipped for this task of informing readers about the events at Medjugorje in a balanced way, and from a Catholic point of view." - Prof Dr Manfred Hauke, Theological Faculty of Lugano, Switzerland
"Medjugorje Revisited is a sober, balanced, and unremittingly charitable examination of the most popular unapproved private revelation in Church history." - Patrick Coffin, Author & Radio Host, Catholic Answers Live
"Medjugorje Revisited is a thorough and careful examination of the alleged apparitions in the former Yugoslavia, placed in their historical context, which deserves to be widely studied." - Fr Thomas Crean, OP, author, A Catholic Replies to Professor Dawkins
Donal Anthony Foley has degrees in Humanities (BA) and Theology (BD), and his book on the subject of apparitions - Marian Apparitions, the Bible, and the Modern World - was published by Gracewing in 2002, and he has written articles for a number of Catholic magazines and newspapers.
For more information, including extracts and how to order, please click here ...
The credit card price, including shipping, is only $24.95!
The German translation of the book is available from Dominus Verlag via: www.dominus-verlag.de/
The Poor Clares at Arkley in Herts, UK, have a new website at:
http://arkleypoorclares.weebly.com/
Bringing all your needs, fears and hopes before God. The Poor Clares bring the light of Christ into the world by their Franciscan life of poverty, simplicity and joy according to the Gospel, living in a cloistered contemplative community with full choral Divine Office, private prayer and intercession.
The Catholic Medical Quarterly is the journal of the Catholic Medical Association (UK). It discusses key issues in medicine as they relate to health care professionals.
