Apostolic Overseer Say's It Is Time To Expand Medjugorje

Apostolic Overseer Say's It Is Time To Expand Good Works In Medjugorje
Article/information by news media sources and Michael K. Jones, founder of Medjugorje USA

Polish archbishop tasked with overseeing Medjugorje at the request of Pope Francis, has outlined plans for expansion, including more Masses in different languages and facilities for young pilgrims who flock to the site of the alleged Marian apparitions.

"Medjugorje represents Europe's spiritual lungs, a place where millions discover God and the beauties of the church," said Archbishop Henryk Hoser, retired archbishop of Warsaw-Praga.

"We now have to re-create its infrastructure, firstly by securing its liturgical space. We also need to expand its areas for retreats and provide new places for celebrating the Eucharist, especially for pilgrims," he said.

In May, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Hoser apostolic visitor to Medjugorje, where six young people claimed in 1981 that Mary had appeared to them.

Many people see "only the sociological side of the church, which is also the face of sinners," and fail to comprehend its religious mission, the archbishop said Sept. 16 at a new Catholic youth center in Warsaw.

"We all bear responsibility for the church – we're all called to be apostles, evangelizers and teachers, according to the gifts we've obtained from God," he said.

"Apart from the youthful saints who are sprinters, there are also long-distance runners who move slowly, maturing over long years but also reaching the goal of great sanctity," he said.

In July, Archbishop Hoser said he hopes more priests will come to provide sacraments and catechesis training at Medjugorje, according to Poland's Catholic Information Agency, KAI.

With rising numbers of mostly young pilgrims and visitors, people wait in very long lines and, in summer, temperatures of over 100 degrees at the shrine's 50 confessionals, he said. Roofing is also needed for Medjugorje's main esplanade, as well as better facilities for conferences and charitable work.

Many groups come from countries in Western Europe, "where the church has atrophied" and is "suddenly experiencing God's grace," Archbishop Hoser said.

"What's also remarkable is there are now networks in many countries of pilgrims who've been to Medjugorje, who are organizing, meeting, praying together and engaging in concrete activity for their local community and church," he said.

Diocesan commissions studied the alleged apparitions in 1982-1984 and again in 1984-1986, and the then-Yugoslavian bishops' conference studied them from 1987 to 1990. All three commission are considered failures. The forth Medjugorje Commission 2010- 2014, determined the first several apparitions are worth of belief. The rest of the over 40,000 apparitions claimed since 1981 remain undecided. The report of the forth commission has not been made public.

Medjugorje is part of the Mostar Diocese. The First Commission was under the direction of the Bishop of Mostar, Pavao Zanic, (now deceased.) U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia David Anderson, (now deceased) was asked to conduct an investigation of the Medjugorje apparition. This request came from the U.S. State Department, by way of former president Ronald Reagan.

Anderson discovered the first Medjugorje Commission was tainted with unbelievers, to bring forth a negative result. The findings of the Commission were negative. Anderson sent classified document to the U.S. State Department called “AirGrams.” Anderson also sent the same documents to Vatican, Rome. The results of Anderson’s finding lead the Church to reject the findings of the First Commission in favor of forming a Second Commission.

This Commission was taking out of the hands of the Bishop of Mostar and given to the Yugoslavian Conference of Bishop. The Commission was preceding well. Medjugorje USA was in touch with one member of the Commission who told me most were in favor of the events taking place there. However, civil unrest in Yugoslavia was on the rise, leading the U.S. State Department to issue warning about traveling to Yugoslavia in 1990. The unrest would escalate into ethic cleansing and genocide by the social republic of Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia was a member of an agreement signed by many nations called, “The Helsinki Agreement.” This agreement gave freedom of religious right in all countries who signed the documents. Yugoslavia would break these agreements seeking annihilation of ethnic groups within the socialistic country. This horror would ultimately lead to tribunal war crimes and the collapse of the Yugoslavia government. During this time, the region of the former Yugoslavia called, Bosnia and Herzegovina would be among the first provinces to declare independence from Yugoslavia.

The short version is, the Catholic Church had no official written and signed agreement for religious rights in these newly formed independent countries. This lead (in part) to the collapse of the Second Medjugorje Commission. It is also true that some members of the Yugoslavian Conference of Bishop sitting on the Commission had openly publicly spoken out against the Medjugorje apparition, even before being appointed to the Commission. The conclusion was these members of the Commission were bias prior to any proper investigation.

It was announced after the Second Commission that the Church would not again investigate the apparition till after they had ended. Three weeks after my book “Medjugorje Investigated” was released in Medjugorje, just in time for the 25^th anniversary of the Medjugorje apparitions, the Church announced it would establish the Third Commission. There is no proof my book was responsible for the Church changing its mind about forming another Commission.

Sadly the Third Commission was once again placed in the hands of the Yugoslavia Conference of Bishops. Members of the Second and Third Commission were also members of the First Commission which was documented as tainted by U.S. Ambassador David Anderson. I did myself write the Vatican stating many members of the Third Commission were in fact part of the Second and also the First which was tainted with unbelievers, before the First Commission was even established. I can’t say for sure what forces were at work but the Third Commission was dismissed without finding.

Known as, “The Independent Commission,” for the first time, this investigation was made up of experts in their fields from countries outside of the Bosnia Herzegovina region, not part of the Yugoslavian Conference of Bishops. There were 2 which I could confirm were part of the previous Commissions. The Commission completed their findings. The findings were presented to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Pope Francis received the findings on January 17^th, 2014.

On February 11, 2014 it was announced Pope Francis would send an envoy to Medjugorje to review the needs of millions of pilgrims who travel to Medjugorje every year. The envoy is Polish bishop Henryk Hoser.

On April 5, 2017 Hoser conducted a media conference in Medjugorje. During the interview the bishop had many good things to say about the events taking place in Medjugorje as result of the Virgin Mary.

Current bishop of Mostar, Ratko Peric was long a time friend of previous bishop of Mostar, Pavao Zanic who hated the Medjugorje apparitions. Bishop Peric has followed in the same footsteps as did Zanic in his hate for the Medugorje apparitions. Peric has been outspoken against Medjugorje for years, even from the altar of the Medjugorje parish itself and also in a book he has written.

Finding out the Pope would send a personal envoy to Medjugorje which would oversee the needs of the Medjugorje Pilgrims, Peric released a statement to the media on February 16, 2017, just 5 days after the announcement Pope Francis would send an envoy to Medjugorje. Ratko Peric bishop of Mostar who is responsible for the care of the Medjugorje Parish and parishioners stating, the Medjugorje apparition are not real.

Regardless of the local bishop's personal opinions of the apparitions the study of the forth Commission shows reasonable proof that the first apparitions are supernatural in nature. This finding guided Pope Francis to send Polish Bishop Henryk Hoser to Medjugorje to oversee continued events.