Cardinal Schorborn's Visit
Cardinal Schonborn Radio Interview, Vienna (Jan. 4)
Vienna (KAP) Cardinal Christoph Schonborn in conversation with the “Press Office of the Archdiocese of Vienna” advocates an integration of the “Medjugorje phenomenon” into the normal pastoral work of the Church. The Archbishop of Vienna made a private visit to the Marian pilgrimage site over Christmas. He wanted to see the place from which so “many positive fruit” had come. (It was not Christmas, rather New Year)
It was necessary to defuse the “Medjugorje phenomenon” the Archbishop of Vienna said. He found that Medjugorje is something like a “school of normal Christian life”: People there come to faith in Christ, to prayer, to the Eucharist, to love of neighbour, to the essence of Christianity, and to the strengthening of everyday Christian life.”
Schönborn spoke in favour of studying the “Medjugorje phenomenon” in the light of Vatican II; the “sensus fidelium”, the sense of faith of the baptized, play an important role in the events at Medjugorje.
He would also not anticipate the decision of the universal Church, however, but rather follows the 1991 Guidelines for Medjugorje of the former Yugoslav Bishops’ Conference. These have twice been confirmed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as wise and appropriate.
The Guidelines emphasized that is not confirmed that the events in Medjugorje are supernatural. The question of the supernatural would be left open. It follows that no official pilgrimages to Medjugorje are permitted. At the same time the Guidelines highlighted the need for the pastoral care of pilgrims.
The bishops had been concerned, on the one hand, not to hinder the fruits and, on the other, to guard against aberrations. He personally had felt sympathetic, finding the visionaries to be “normal and humorous young people”.
As to what moves the pilgrims to come to Medjugorje, the Cardinal said: “The pilgrims do one thing above all, they pray. Every day thousands of people pray the Office, there is a Eucharistic adoration, the people climb Cross Mountain with its cross erected in 1933, they pray the Stations of the Cross, or they go to the Apparition Hill, and pray the Rosary.”
The fruits of Medjugorje
The fruits of Medjugorje can be found in the wider Church, the Archbishop of Vienna repeatedly emphasised. A key aspect was the prayer groups: “The first prayer meeting in Vienna was formed in the mid-80’s in the Dominican church. The church was always full, even during the summer months. The large number of young people was impressive.” Also among the younger priests, there are many whose vocation was influenced by the experience of Medjugorje.
People come to Medjugorje not only to petition but to convert. During his visit, Cardinal Schonborn met an Italian TV presenter who experienced a profound conversion at the shrine. Medjugorje is also a “place of rediscovery of the sacrament of confession”.
The universal Church aspect was also impressive. During his brief stay the Cardinal encountered, among others, pilgrims from Italy, Germany, the United States, Lebanon and Korea, and the annual Youth Festival in July draws 60,000 young people from around the world.
In particular, the Vienna archbishop stressed the great number of charitable works that have emerged from Medjugorje: The community founded by Sister Elvira Petrozzi Cenacolo for drug addicted youth received the impulse for its global expansion in Medjugorje; the “Mother’s Village” has been providing a refuge for children orphaned and women victims of rape through the Balkan War; a meeting with a pilgrim from Malawi by a Scottish group of pilgrims led by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow was the source of Mary’s Meals, which provides daily meals to starving children around the world.
Therefore, one must ask what the tree looks like that bears such fruit, said Cardinal Schönborn. In Medjugorje, many aspects correspond to the “grammar of Apparitions”: it is a poor country, whose people are very religious. The visions are – as in Lourdes and Fatima – a very simple message given to children, but in it is to be found the kernel of the Gospel.
Is also worth noting that Mary was venerated in Medjugorje from the beginning as the “Queen of Peace” – ten years before the outbreak of the Balkan war. In Medjugorje it was clear that reconciliation with God is the precondition for reconciliation among people”, said Cardinal Schönborn.
In the messages, few moral appeals are included; they rather emphasise the conversion of hearts, because this will then settle a lot of things with “internal evidence.” Schönborn: “Maybe in the Church we should let ourselves be inspired more by Mary’s pastoral approach.”
On Monday 4 January, in the series’ “The ChurchToday” Radio Stephansdom broadcasts an interview with Cardinal Schoenborn on his impressions of Medjugorje.