The Malicious Mangling of the Virgin Mary

By Brent Bozell

(Townhall.com) A Christian can be crushed gazing at the picture of Mary standing at the foot of the cross, watching her beloved son suffocate and die. But in that vision, she stands there for hours, patiently enduring her suffering.

For two millennia, she has been a role model for Christians, a woman who practiced obedience in the most difficult of human circumstances, with fervent hope for what this sacrifice will offer all mankind as it struggles with sin.

This is why it seems so hard to reflect that vision of patience when black-hearted "artists" practice character assassination on the Blessed Virgin Mary to strip her of every virtue: her patience, her obedience, her courageous love and her prayerful faith in God. On Nov. 13, Simon and Schuster launched a vicious little 96-page novella titled "The Testament of Mary."

The author, an Irish ex-Catholic named Colm Toibin,  presents us instead with a Bible-burning "reimagination" of an alienated Mary who fled the scene of her son's death in fear for her own life. Two decades after the Resurrection -- or was there one? -- this anti-Mary is filled with bitterness and rage. She describes herself as "unhinged" and bubbling with contempt for her son's demented followers, to the extreme that she threatens the Gospel writers with a knife. She lives as a bandit, stealing to survive.

Her son's followers must be stopped from making Jesus a god, "or else everything that happened will become a sweet story that will grow poisonous as bright berries that hang low on trees." Toibin describes the scene of the crucifixion in mercenary terms: "It was like a marketplace, but more intense somehow, the act that was about to take place was going to make a profit for both seller and buyer."

Christ's disciples are "fools, twitchers, malcontents, stammerers," while her son's preaching sounded to her "false, and his tone all stilted, and I could not bear to hear him, it was like something grinding and it set my teeth on edge."

There is no God in her father or her son. She proclaims of the death of Jesus only: "when you say that he redeemed the world, I will say that it was not worth it. It was not worth it."

Toibin's last book of literary criticism was titled "New Ways to Kill Your Mother." In this book, he murders the mother of God.

In a positive critique in The New York Times, reviewer Mary Gordon explained "The making of the Gospels is portrayed not as an act of sacred remembrance but as an invasion and a theft. The Evangelists -- which are they? Luke, perhaps, or John? -- are portrayed as menacing intruders, with the lurking shadowy presence of Stalin's secret police."

In our nation's most prestigious newspaper, an author and his feminist reviewer can conjure up the apostles of Christ as Stalinist torturers. But when a Danish newspaper published cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad as a freedom-of-speech test in 2005, the Times would not show them as "a reasonable choice for news organizations that usually refrain from gratuitous assaults on religious symbols."

This is what Toibin's book is: a gratuitous assault on Christianity and its central drama of salvation. The Times reviewer recognized that and enjoyed it.

"Mary, the mother of Jesus, has given Christianity a good name. None of the negatives that have made Christianity a byword for tyranny, cruelty and licensed hatred have attached to her," Gordon began. "The problem with all this is that it has led to centuries of sentimentality -- blue and white Madonnas with folded hands and upturned eyes, a stick with which to beat independent women."

Washington Post book reviewer Ron Charles was less laudatory: "If you'd enjoy a tale predicated on the idea that Christian faith is a toxic collection of 'foolish anecdotes' based on a 'fierce catastrophe,' Merry Christmas!"

Charles found it refreshing this garbage bag of words "hasn't sparked outrage or boycotts -- a reassuring testament to the West's tolerance for such artistic license and Toibin's prominence. Some of us are a lot calmer nowadays about creative re-imaginings of sacred figures."

He somehow left Catholics out of the picture as he expressed relief that "Evangelicals in this country may finally have caught on to the fact that fiery condemnation plays right into the marketing plans of books that would otherwise ascend into oblivion." He notes Toibin's tome has been "widely praised in England, but Toibin is a larger presence there, and churchgoing isn't."

Somehow, he's not making the obvious connection: Toibin and other God-hating authors are consciously conspiring to empty out the churches, and Christian believers cannot always refuse to condemn them. Speaking up for Christ and his mother (and ours) is a solemn duty, not an option.

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• The Malicious Mangling of the Virgin Mary

Green Bay Catholic Diocese Investigating Alleged Marian Apparition

Tradition holds she appeared in Brown Co. in 1859

Updated: Friday, 03 Sep 2010, 2:25 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 02 Sep 2010, 1:22 PM CDT

Reporter: Kristin Crowley

KLUK-TV Fox 11 - ROBINSONVILLE - Wisconsin could find itself in a unique part of history because of a reported holy sighting.

Hope and faith have drawn tens of thousands of people a shrine in Brown County throughout the past 150 years. People who say it's a holy experience.

“It's a good feeling, I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it's just a good feeling,” said Val Dubois of Brown County.

In October 1859, Sister Adele Brise claimed the Virgin Mary spoke to her and told her to teach God's word to children. The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help was built on the site, and has kept a steady following of people like Hal and Val Dubois.

“It's been there since I was a kid. When I was five or six years old, I remember going there,” said Hal Dubois.

Shrine volunteer Karen Tipps says visitors find spirituality at the site. Now church officials are investigating the apparent visions.

“It became a great devotional spot over the years,” said Tipps.

“Bishop (David) Ricken initiated the investigation in January of 2009. So he appointed some scholars in the theology of the blessed Virgin Mary to look into the documentation of the history of the shrine and the apparition and to make some recommendations reports to him,” said Rev. John Doerfler.

Doerfler says if Ricken declares there's enough moral grounds to claim the apparition really did happen, this site will make national history.

“If it were approved, this would be the only approved apparition site of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the United States,” said Doerfler.

Doefler says there could be a variety of outcomes from the investigation. The information could support the sightings happened, didn't happen or the results could be inconclusive. But some say whatever the ruling, it doesn't matter.

“It doesn't affect what people have felt here for the last 150 years. It's not going to affect what people feel here for the next 150 years,” said Tipps.

• Church seeks recognition for Virgin Mary vision

h/t to Catholic Culture

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The Apparitions at Robinsonville, Wisconsin

Three important decisions were reached by the Church during the early 1850’s:

• On November 21, 1851, the Bishops of the United States admonished the faithful through the decrees of the First Plenary Council of Baltimore that no parish is complete until it has schools adequate to the needs of its children.

• On December 8, 1854, the Pope declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception

• Seven years earlier, at a conference in Baltimore, the Bishops of the United States, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, chose Our Blessed Mother as the patron of the United States

Shortly after these important events in the Church, two manifestations of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurred, one in Europe and the other in North America:

• In February of 1858, the Immaculate Mother manifested herself and expressed her will to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France.

• A year and eight months later, on October 9, 1859, it is reported that Mary manifested herself to Adele Brise in Robinsonville, Wisconsin, USA.

According to Sister Pauline LaPlant, to whom Adele often told her story:

“ She [Adele] was going to the grist mill about four miles from (Robinsonville) with a sack of wheat on her head […]. As Adele came near the place, she saw a lady all in white standing between two trees, one a maple, the other a hemlock. Adele was frightened and stood still. The vision slowly disappeared, leaving a white cloud after it. Adele continued on her errand and returned home without seeing anything more. She told her parents what had happened, and they wondered what it could be — maybe a poor soul who needed prayers?

“On the following Sunday, she had to pass here again on her way to Mass at Bay Settlement, about eleven miles from her home [...]. This time, she was not alone, but was accompanied by her sister Isabel and a neighbor woman [Mrs. Vander Niessen]. When they came near the trees, the same lady in white was at the place where Adele had seen her before. Adele was again frightened and said, almost in a tone of reproach, 'Oh, there is that lady again.'

“Adele had not the courage to go on. The other two did not see anything, but they could tell by Adele’s look that she was afraid. They thought, too, that it might be a poor soul that needed prayers. They waited a few minutes, and Adele told them it was gone. It had disappeared as the first time, and all she could see was a little mist or white cloud. After Mass, Adele went to confession and told her confessor how she had been frightened at the sight of a lady in white. He [Father William Verhoef] bade her not to fear, and to speak to him of this outside of the confessional. Father Verhoef told her that if it were a heavenly messenger, she would see it again, and it would not harm her, but to ask in God’s name who it was and what it desired of her. After that, Adele had more courage. She started home with her two companions, and a man who was clearing land for the Holy Cross Fathers at Bay Settlement accompanied them.

"As they approached the hallowed spot, Adele could see the beautiful lady, clothed in dazzling white, with a yellow sash around her waist. Her dress fell to her feet in graceful folds. She had a crown of stars around her head, and her long, golden, wavy hair fell loosely around her shoulders. Such a heavenly light shone around her that Adele could hardly look back at her sweet face. Overcome by this heavenly light and the beauty of her amiable visitor, Adele fell on her knees.

" 'In God’s name, who are you and what do you want of me?’ asked Adele, as she had been directed.

“ ‘I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning, and that is well. But you must do more. Make a general confession, and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them’

“ 'Adele, who is it?'' said one of the women. 

'O why can't we see her as you do?' said another weeping.

“ ‘Kneel,’ said Adele, ‘the Lady says she is the Queen of Heaven.’ Our Blessed Lady turned, looked kindly at them, and said, 

‘Blessed are they that believe without seeing. What are you doing here in idleness…while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son?’

“ ‘What more can I do, dear Lady?’ said Adele, weeping.

“ ‘Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation’

“ ‘But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?’ replied Adele.

“ ‘Teach them,’ replied her radiant visitor, ‘their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing. I will help you.’ "

The manifestation of Our Lady then lifted her hands, as though beseeching a blessing for those at her feet, and slowly vanished, leaving Adele overwhelmed and prostrate on the ground.

When the news spread about Adele Brise’s vision of the Blessed Virgin, most people believed the account and were astonished. Some considered the event a demented delusion. Adele Brise, however, considered it a commission to catechize the children and admonish the sinners of the Bay Settlement. To honor the alleged apparition, Adele’s father erected a makeshift chapel near the spot of Adele’s vision.

Reports of Favors and Graces:

Because we are continually hearing stories of people who visit The Chapel and have their prayers answered, we are interested in keeping records of all favors and graces granted to those who come to this Shrine. Please send us details of healings and miraculous favors that directly result from a visit to The Chapel, or to requests made of Our Lady Of Good Help or Sister Adele.

The Shrine of Our Lady Of Good Help
4047 Chapel Drive
New Franken, WI 54229

It is important to note:

The presentation of the private revelations and apparently supernatural events recounted in the story of Sister Adele Brise, insofar as they have not received approval by the Magisterium, is not intended to make a decision in regard to the validity of the apparitions. That is the work of the Church and the commission of investigation currently in process. As long as we pass along the messages reportedly given by heaven within the limitations presented by the Church, we cannot go wrong…especially when the things asked for are good, are nothing new, and have been formally approved in many cases.

The publication of this story has continually received through the years the permission of the local Ordinary, some of whose imprimaturs are presented below. Since the building of the first Chapel by Adele's father, the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help has always been accepted as a special place for prayer and worship in the Dioceses of Green Bay, as attested to by the annual visit of the local Bishop, and a visit made by the Apostolic Delegate to North America in 1977.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Robinsonville concluded a year-long celebration marking its 150th anniversary on Oct. 9 with a Mass celebrated by Bishop David Ricken. (Sam Lucero photos)

• The Apparitions at Robinsonville, Wisconsin

The Virgin Mary

Benedict XVI Recalls Chinese Catholics in Prayer

Calls for Peace at World War II Polish Cemetery

CASSINO, Italy, MAY 24, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is affirming his support for the Catholics in China and is calling them to renewed fidelity to Christ and communion with the Successor of Peter.

The Pope stated this today in an address before praying the midday Regina Caeli with the crowd gathered in the Miranda Plaza -- renamed the Benedict XVI Plaza -- in Cassino, the town east of the Monte Cassino Abbey.

The Pontiff spent the day visiting the monastery founded by his patron, St. Benedict, the cradle of the Benedictine order.

He spoke about the saint's example in living peace, "the paschal gift par excellence."

The Holy Father continued, "As you know, in my recent trip to the Holy Land, I went as a pilgrim of peace, and today -- in this land marked by the Benedictine charism -- I have the opportunity to emphasize, once again, that peace is in the first place a gift of God, and therefore its power is in prayer."

He affirmed that only by learning, "with the grace of Christ, to combat and defeat the evil within ourselves and in relationships with others, can we become authentic builders of peace and civil progress."

"May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, help all Christians, in their different vocations and situations in life, to be witnesses of that peace that Christ gave us and left us as a demanding mission to realize everywhere," said Benedict XVI.

Unity and peace

He recalled the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, celebrated in the liturgy on this date, March 24, and venerated "with great devotion at the shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai"

The Pope added: "We celebrate the Day of Prayer for the Church in China. My thoughts turn to all the people of China.

"In particular I greet the Catholics of China with great affection and I exhort them to renew on this day their communion of faith in Christ and of fidelity to the Successor of Peter.

"May our common prayer obtain an effusion of gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that unity of all Christians, the catholicity and the universality of the Church always will be deeper and more visible."

The Pontiff greeted the Polish people, and spoke about his plan to visit the Polish cemetery of Monte Cassino commemorating the World War II battle later that afternoon.

"In this place," he said, "where so many lost their lives in the battles that were fought during the Second World War, we pray especially for the souls of the fallen, commending them to God's infinite mercy, and we pray for an end to the wars that continue to afflict our world."

"Through the intercession of St. Benedict," the Holy Father affirmed, "we ask God that, in prayer and work, we will discover the new dimensions of freedom, and that peace endures in Europe and in the whole world."

After praying the Regina Caeli, the Pope departed for the abbey of Monte Cassino, stopping en route to visit the "House of Charity" for homeless immigrants.

At the abbey, he met with abbots and abbesses from the Benedictine order around the world, as well as a large number of monks and nuns. He celebrated Vespers with the community, and addressed those present.

The Pontiff then left the monastery, and made a private visit to the Polish military cemetery. He read a prayer for the fallen of all wars and all nations, after which he left by helicopter for Rome.

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On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: http://www.zenit.org/article-25985?l=english

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