ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on June 21, 2004

Dear Charles: I really do not pay any attention to alleged apparitions, seers, locutionists, visionaries and the like. The vast majority of them are not valid. I am with you in a cautious skepticism until the Church makes a decision. The Church says that a good Catholic does not have to believe even the approved apparitions; this includes Fatima. All private revelation is superfluous to our faith and our salvation. Such things might aid our faith, unless we become obsessed groupies, but private revelations are never needed. All that we need to know to live excellent spirit-filled victorious Christ-lives is contained in Public Revelation of the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition, and in the Church and her Saints. In terms of Maureen Sweeney the only thing I know is that her experience has not be approved as yet. It is best to take any unapproved alleged apparition with a BIG grain of salt until the Church makes her decision. If the report about Maureen Sweeney considering herself not under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of her diocese concern the alleged apparition there, then we KNOW almost for certain that this apparition is fake. The VERY FIRST test of a genuine apparition is that our Blessed Mother will NEVER go against the bishops, never encourage rebellion, and never lead anyone astray of Catholic Teaching OR discipline. Our Lady of Fatima never encourage or suggested rebellion against the bishops or try to say that the visionaries were not under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Thus, assuming the report is true about this visionary, comparing the Maureen Sweeney situation and Fatima is like comparing apples with rubber tires. When issues of rebellion and division crop up with an apparition, this is a BIG, VERY BIG red flag. Such a red flag was never present at Fatima, thus it is not a correct excuse to say that Fatima was not approved at the beginning and therefore it is okay to go to this one. That is childish logic that can lead to outright and open rebellion like what happened at Bayside. That Bayside Movement is still going despite the fact that the Church condemned it years ago. We need to look to the Church, not an apparition. Whenever we take our eyes off of Jesus and His Church, we are like St. Peter who was walking on water as long as his eyes were on Jesus. When he looked elsewhere at the storm around him, he began to sink. If we pay significant attention to apparitions rather than the Public Revelation of God through His Church then we are in danger of sinking. It is a fool's journey to go chasing after signs and wonders; especially ones that present red flags. Jesus said it was an "adulterous and evil generation that seeks after a sign". We will be in prayer for those foolish relatives of yours :) God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary