University of Santo Tomas reprimands Dominican priest for promoting novena booklets related to fake Marian apparition of 1948
The Marian apparitions at Lipa city in Batangas province of Philippines in 1948 are not recognized by the Church. (Archdiocese of Lipa)
A leading Catholic university in the Philippines has warned people about the alleged promotion of an apparition of the Virgin Mary that the Vatican had dismissed as “not of supernatural origin.”
Dominican-run University of Santo Thomas (UST), at the same time, reprimanded a Dominican priest for printing novena booklets that promotes “unauthentic” miracles attributed to the so-called Marian apparitions at Lipa city in Batangas province, south of Manila, in 1948.
The university issued the warnings to Catholics on July 10, shortly after the Dominican priest and teacher, Father Roland Mactal, was caught linking a novena to the unrecognized Lipa apparitions
The University’s Faculty of Theology said Father Mactal’s novena violated the “Pastoral Guidelines for Bishops on Private Devotions to Our Blessed Mother Mary, Mediatrix of Grace [All Graces]” issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
The bishops’ guidelines said no clergyman should make any attempt to connect or revive a Marian devotion such as the recitation of a novena or the rosary to a series of purported apparitions in Batangas for being inauthentic.
Father Mactal violated the directive when he printed the texts of the novena and used the image of the Our Lady of Lipa on the cover, the UST said.
“A deliberate attempt to connect the devotion to our Lady of Mediatrix Grace (All Graces) to the alleged Lipa apparitions is evidenced by the following: 1). The use of the image of ‘Our Lady of Lipa’ on the cover and inside pages of the booklet; 2). The mention of the publisher as the ‘Carmel of Our Lady, Mary Mediatrix of All Grace Monastery,’ Lipa City 4217, Batangas, Philippines, as well as by the back cover of the booklet with picture of the monastery,” the University said in its message.
In 1948, a Filipina named Teresita Castillo joined a Carmelite monastery in Lipa City. Soon afterward, she claimed she heard a voice instructing her to go back to the same location around 15 days thereafter.
Castillo obeyed and on Sept. 15, 1948, she once again heard the voice who she described as “mother” and later, believed was the voice of the Virgin Mary.
In 2015, the Vatican ruled that the series of apparitions including the visions of Castillo were inauthentic and were not of divine or supernatural origin.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, then president of the bishops’ conference, said the case was closed and must not be revisited by any clergyman or churchgoer.
“Rome has spoken. The case is closed. We all obey the Holy See,” Archbishop Villegas told reporters in 2015.
Archbishop Villegas also said that Filipino Catholics did not need the Lipa apparitions to honor Mary.
“We do not need apparitions to honor her,” Archbishop Villegas added.
The Dominican university also clarified that although Father Mactal mentioned some Church authorities in the printed novena, it did not mean that they had endorsed the devotion of the fake apparition.
“The faculty wishes to clarify that it has not endorsed the publication of the booklet. While Father Mactal appears to buttress his personal efforts by including personalities as well as messages of Church authorities in the booklet, the faculty considers it necessary to make the following clarifications…”
The Faculty of Sacred Theology said that it had reprimanded Father Mactal for using the letterhead of the Faculty in the publication of his message and sternly admonished him to cease using the letterhead unless with the explicit permission of the Dean of the Faculty of Sacred Theology.
Latest News
Credit: Source link
