Medjurgorje: priest's discipline was related to alleged apparitions, bishop insists

October 02, 2009

In instructions to the pastors at Medjugorje, ordering them not to lend credence to report of Marian apparitions there, Bishop Ratko Peric of the Mostar-Duvno diocese has said that the laicization of a Franciscan priest was closely related to the "Medjugorje phenomenon." Tomislav Vlasic was laicized and dismissed from the Franciscan order earlier this year, after he set up his own religious community. While Vlasic is no longer living in Medjugorge, Bishop Peric recalled that the former Franciscan had been "inseparably connected" with the reports of apparitions, especially when those reports first came to public attention. The bishop argued that media reports were misleading insofar as they suggested that the disciplinary action against Vlasic was unrelated to the alleged apparitions.

Richard Chonak of the Catholic Light blog has supplied a translation of Bishop Peric's letter, in which he discusses the "undeniable connection" between Vlasic and the growth of the "Medjugorje phenomenon."

 

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Further information:

• Context of Medjugorje Phenomenon (Te Deum)
• Medjugorje Context: Vlasic's involvement (Catholic Light)
• Medjugorje bishop emphasizes: don’t view alleged apparitions as 'worthy of faith' (CWN, Sep 29)
• Former Medjugorje pastor laicized, dismissed from Franciscans (CWN, Jul 27)