Our Lady of Benoni?

by Editor · June 20, 2007

The secular media’s fascination with off-beat Catholic stories found renewed expression in the coverage of a teenager’s claims of having had apparitions of the Blessed Virgin in Benoni, as we reported last week.

Typically, the coverage lacked discretion. Some media outlets took the tabloid approach of sensationalism, others treated the story with incredulity, sometimes accompanied by derision.

It is unfortunate that the Catholic Church should make secular headlines only with off-beat stories, papal deaths and elections, or when it is involved in scandal but rarely when it speaks sense or does good.

Until a time comes when the secular media take the Catholic Church more seriously, they will peddle Catholic stories in a way that can lead to inaccurate perceptions of our faith.

It is lazy journalism to treat the reported apparition in Benoni as an off-centre story comparable to those of eccentric Catholics who venerate potatoes in the shape of Jesus’ head.

We must presume that Francesca Zackey, the young Benoni woman who reported the apparitions, is not perpetrating a hoax. Even if one discounts the possibility of such visions, one must presume that what Ms Zackey saw was real to her. It is disrespectful and arrogant to cast aspersions on her experiences simply because one cannot empathise with them.

Reports of people having supernatural experiences are too numerous to summarily reject the notion of their plausibility, even in the absence of scientific proof. It is therefore inappropriate to treat Ms Zackey’s experiences with haughtiness.

At the same time, nobody is required to believe Ms Zackey either.

While the Catholic Church has approved a number of Marian apparitions, and the visions of Jesus reported by St Faustina Kowalska, no Catholic is required to believe that these were indeed authentic. Devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, Lourdes or Knock, or to the Divine Mercy revelations, are a matter of personal piety and devotion. Catholics are free to benefit from them, or to disbelief in these reported apparitions.

Indeed, the Church authorities are exceedingly cautious before giving approval to reported apparitions. Even the purported visitations at Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, have not been approved by the Church, notwithstanding the enormous popularity of the devotion they generate.

The Church is right to be scrupulous when dealing with apparitions and miracles. The damage to the Church’s reputation would be tremendous should an approved apparition or miracle be exposed as a sham.

All care must be taken, therefore, to ensure that unapproved apparitions are not presented to have the Church’s blessings. This is why the Church does not permit priests to travel as spiritual directors on pilgrimages to Medjugorje (they may, however, accompany a pilgrim group and minister to them), while it is perfectly licit for them to do so on a pilgrimage to, say, Lourdes.

The case of Ms Zackey’s reported visions merits investigation by the Church authorities, especially if she and her family wish to advocate its authenticity. Such an investigation is a long and complex process.

In the meantime, Catholics in the archdiocese and beyond will surely continue to debate the merits of Ms Zackey’s claims. Little will be gained if such a dialogue is conducted with undue vigor. This might polarise Catholics, as we sometimes observe in the heated discussions over Medjugorje.

The creation of such division most certainly would not be in the interest of Our Lady, whether or not she appeared in Benoni.