What does the church say about Marian apparitions?

The gospels warn us not to be misled by claims that Christ has appeared on Earth. Yet often when there are claims that his mother has done so, thousands respond.

Catholics flock to Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe, Medjugorje, and other sites around the globe. They also gather at less familiar locations all over the United States, from Queens, New York to Scottsdale, Arizona. Images of Mary have been reported on the glass facade of a finance building in Florida, on a Camaro bumper in Texas, in the silt of a Chicago underpass, and on a grilled cheese sandwich.

Many other Catholics ignore reports of Marian appearances and likenesses. They are uncomfortable with the fanfare, the sometimes disturbing messages, and the focus on miracles and healings. Catholics in both groups may well question what their shared Catholic faith has to say about Marian apparitions.

Contrary to popular assumptions, the Catholic Church is not especially receptive to apparitions and has approved as authentic only a handful of the thousands of alleged appearances of Mary over the centuries. If judged unobjectionable, a message from an apparition is considered "private revelation," absolutely subordinate to the essential public revelation preserved in scripture and tradition.

Five years ago, in response to a query about a Fatima message, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith replied that because "private revelation ... can be a genuine help in understanding the gospel ... it should not be disregarded." But it immediately added that this is a resource "that one is not obliged to use."

Apparitions are not even mentioned in the discussion of Mary in the Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church)--a useful reminder that traditional devotion to Mary is not based on apparitions. Rather, as the council leaders stress, Catholic devotion to Mary is rooted in scripture, especially in her role in the Incarnation. Traditional prayers like the Hail Mary, the Angelus, and the rosary reflect that emphasis.

Nine years after Vatican II, Pope Paul VI issued a long pastoral letter encouraging devotion to Mary that did not distort what has been received in the gospel. He reminded Catholics that Vatican II denounced "vain credulity" as well as "sterile and ephemeral sentimentality" in Marian devotion, and advised that devotion to Mary be marked by attention to scripture and church teaching rather than "the exaggerated search for novelties or extraordinary phenomena."

Vatican II also cautioned theologians and preachers to neither exaggerate nor understate Mary's significance lest they mislead not only Roman Catholics but other Christians as well. In the same balanced spirit, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ, a recent joint statement on Mary by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, notes: "There is need for careful discernment in assessing the spiritual value of any alleged apparition."

By JIM DINN, a freelance writer retired in Pennsylvania.