More updates on Medjugorje

For those who missed ABC Primetime Nightline's "Beyond Belief" series episode titled, "Miracle Mysteries," here are two short video clips that include some of their best reporting.

Click here for video clip #1.

Click here for video clip #2.

Those two segments weren't bad. In my post below, however, you can read about my many disappointments regarding the rest of Bill Weir's investigation. I have received a lot of feedback from viewers of the show who agreed with me that the report, at times, was  insulting.

Another Medjugorje Miracle?

You've heard the slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Well, I have another one: "What happens in Medjugorje, is for the whole world to know."

Author Christine Watkins recently interviewed one of our fellow-pilgrims - a woman with stage 4 cancer - and was told some amazing medical updates. The story is posted at MinistryValues.com and you can read this great witness if you CLICK HERE.

Read about how visionary Vicka prayed over her, how she rested in the Spirit, and what her doctors are now finding.

Hopefully, ABC will follow up on the story, this time, with a lot less skepticism.

The fruits of Medjugorje simply defy scientific explanation.


UPDATE: Sadly, I must report the news that Flerida Gutierrez has passed away. As a stage 4 cancer patient, she was featured prominently in the ABC Nightline special "The Miracle Mysteries." Another fellow traveler, Richard Landers, also has passed since our June pilgrimage. My sadness is limited to their surviving loved ones. For my departed friends, however, I have nothing but happiness, and the confidence that they now are being richly blessed by Our Lord.

ABC Got Lost on the Way to Medjugorje

God bless the ABC News Nightline team for trying. Their recent broadcast of “The Miracle Mysteries,” regarding Marian apparitions in Medjugorje and elsewhere risked what Blessed Pope John Paul II called “the mocking and ridicule of the Pharisees of these apocalyptic times.” They tried, and the special could have been far worse. However, it could have been far better.

I travelled with the ABC news crew on my recent pilgrimage to Medjugorje. My stay there was unforgettable and life-changing. So, perhaps foolishly, I hoped that Nightline would capture the Spirit of that trip. They didn’t.


At least I can say that the show did not end as badly as it began. It had to start, of course, with the mainstream media’s favorite Marian stories of people who see the Virgin in stumps, grilled cheese sandwiches, salsa stains, and on the bellies of turtles. That waste of air time seemed like trying to discredit Picasso’s paintings, for example, by citing the very mediocre quality of forgeries.

Salvation is from the Jews

I highly recommend this short video for people of every faith. Author Roy Schoeman discusses his book "Salvation is from the Jews" with Messianic Jewish Rabbi Jonathan Bemis. (A Messianic Jew is one who believes that the promised Messiah is Jesus Christ.) In simple terms, Schoeman explains God's master plan regarding Jews and Gentiles from Abraham to the Second Coming. He exposes the seeds of division that the evil one has planted through the centuries to keep Christians and Jews separated. While I cannot yet comment on the book's theological clarity, I do believe that the author's main message resonates with the Christian belief that God loves us all and that "In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek."  After a long search, Roy found the fullness of his faith in the Catholic Church. Watch the video or, better yet, buy the book. May God bless you and your message, Roy! [Thanks to author Brian Gail for bringing this video to my attention.]

The Church's position on Medjugorje

Some have asked me about the Catholic Church's official position on the Medjugorje phenomenon. The answer can only be, "It is still under investigation." However, on August 15, 1993, His Eminence Cardinal Dr. Franjo Kuharic', Archbishop of Zagreb, was quoted in the Croatian, Roman Catholic newspaper, Glas Koncila, saying, "We bishops, after a three-year-long commission study accept Medjugorje as a holy place, as a shrine. This means that we have nothing against it if someone venerates the Mother of God in a manner and in agreement with the teaching and belief of the Church. Therefore, we are leaving that to further study. The Church does not hurry."

Though there has been criticism from two succeeding bishops of that diocese, reportedly, the Vatican has taken control of the investigation. "Interrogations" of the visionaries are believed to be underway, but it is almost impossible to draw official conclusions until the final chapter is revealed. However, Pope John Paul II once famously commented, "Medjugorje, Medjugorje, it is the Spiritual heart of the world."

A Eucharistic Flash Mob?

Who can compile all the ways in which modern technologies have overwhelmed our senses and have been utilized to promote evil? The list seems endless. So, it is refreshing to find a YouTube video that cuts through our fog of worldly distraction. If you have just eight minutes to quietly contemplate Our Lord, check out this video. [Thanks to SpiritDaily.com and Bozena for bringing this video to my attention.]