The status of major apparitions
At Spirit Daily we are open to miracles, healings, and other spiritual gifts, and tend to give many seers the benefit of the doubt at the same time we test and try to discern them. We are friends with many who have had such experiences, and we have had our own. We believe the greatest problem in the Church today is how, through an overemphasis in seminaries on science and philosophy, it has broken its link with mysticism -- which forms Christianity's very roots! This is true among Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, and many other mainstream denominations (although the mystical gifts are kept alive by evangelicals, charismatics, and pentacostals).
Currently the greatest claims of an outpouring are among Catholics, many of whom believe they have seen or otherwise communicated with Jesus or the Virgin Mary. We believe it is a time of much grace, and that many have indeed been inspired. We think the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us something as the world plunges into darkness. At the same time, we recognize the authority of the Church in making the final determination and realize that obedience is crucial.
The Church usually does this three ways: with approval, rejection, or condemnation. Anapproval means the Vatiucan accepts an authentic private revelation; a rejection is when the Church decides there is no spiritual proof or validity to the claim; a condemnation is when it declares the apparitions not only invalid but contrary to Catholic teachings. (In such cases it may even declare a ban on material associated with such claims.)
How has the Catholic Church ruled on major claims of recent apparitions?
We present the list below with no opinion of our own, but rather as a straight reporting of decisions:
-- Fatima, Portugal: approved in 1930 by Bishop of Leiria.
-- Garabandal, Spain: rejected by Bishop Jose Manuel Fernandez of Santander after suggested to do so by the Vatican on November 28, 1992.
-- Akita, Japan: partially approved by Bishop Ito in 1984 (the miraculous statue but not all phenomena)
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