Priest Leonid, redemptorist from Ukraine province, participated in the 15th International seminar for priest in Medjugorje and gave the testimony, first to the other participants and then to Radio Station Mir Medjugorje. We publish the testimony as it was given:
Starting with Tuesday, June 15th when Novena to the Queen of Peace began, parishioners and pilgrims would meet every day at 4 p.m. at the Hill of Apparitions to pray the Rosary, as an act of special devotion to our God for all of the graces given through our Heavenly Mother. Evening prayer programme would start at 6 p.m. with prayer of the Rosary and with Holy Mass at 7 p.m. that was celebrated for first seven days by Medjugorje Franciscans. Professor and doctor, Fr. Tomislav Ivancic celebrated Holy Mass on last two days of Novena, as well as final Holy Mass on Anniversary day.
By Sharon Abercrombie
As a five-year-old, Christine Watkins was enchanted the night her family went to view an outdoor nativity scene in their Berkeley neighborhood. But when she asked her father who the man, the lady and the baby were, he said they were just part of a Christian fairy tale.
Chris Miller, Western Catholic Reporter, Wetaskiwin
As high school students sometimes do, Emma Fradd got involved in the party scene. She refused to attend Mass, and rejected anything to do with the Church.
"My mom raised me as a Catholic, but when I got to high school I stopped going to church. A lot of my friends were atheist, and they had a lot of influence on me. I didn't believe in God at all," said Fradd, 20, who hails from Port Pirie, a city in South Australia.
Damir Jug and Stjepan Bozic walked to Medjugorje from town called Velika Gorica at the north of Croatia. They started their pilgrimage on May 1st and arrived on the Ascension Thursday, May 13th. Damir came to Medjugorje for the first time, while Stjepan was coming to Medjugorje before in the past. “Every man has his own personal wishes and desires, we felt in our hearts that we need to come, and thanks to God and Our Lady, here we are. The journey was not easy, we were adjusting to every situation that we would encounter as we travelled.” They prayed before the Statue of Our Lady and climbed the hills despite the rain and difficult weather conditions. Apart from many pilgrims from Croatia, this Feast brought also pilgrims from Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, France, England, Ireland, United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and China.
"Before coming to Medjugorje, I had sunk very low. My parents are atheists. When I was 9, they divorced on grounds of adultery. From that day, I let myself be carried away by all the evils of society. At 13, I started on drugs. My broken family had gradually reduced me to a state of fear and being turned in on myself, I moved forward without seeing, without living, like a ghost. 'Emptiness', that is the word which best described my inner state. I threw myself into the 'pleasures of the flesh' and went completely adrift. Last summer, I attempted suicide, and when I woke up at the hospital, I felt that life was horrible, with no way out, no future.
I still remember the first time I found a copy of Echo of Mary in the underground chapel of a Greek Orthodox church in my town. It was in 1997, in a little town in north-central Romania and I still hadn’t turned 17. I hungered for the living word and I needed to meet people who experience my same thirst; and this little publication was an immense gift. I immediately felt that Our Lady’s messages were nourishing me, freeing me, and immersing me in a Light which filled everything in me. Also the articles based on the witness of others and news within the Church gave me great joy for it made me understand that I wasn’t the only one to experience this intense desire for God, for holiness, and to surrender my own life totally to Him.
The 15th International Priests Seminar will be held in Međugorje
from June 28 to July 3, 2010
on the theme of:
«Take courage, I have overcome the world" (John 16,33)
This period in which our Church celebrates the mystery of resurrection that lasts for fifty days was filled with many pilgrims in Medjugorje and press members from radio station “Mir” Medjugorje were able to find quite few interesting life experiences. Kim Yong Hwan, priest form Korea, said that he heard about Medjugorje in 2001 for the first time and in that year he was celebrating 25 years of his priesthood. At the same time, that was the year of great crisis for him, since he felt sort of spiritual emptiness in his vocation as a priest.
The Franciscan basilica at Tomislavgrad in Herzegovina, where the Croatian king, Tomislav, was crowned 900 years ago, saw a particularly solemn ceremony this year when a group of young men took their vows. Apart from the eight seminarians from Herzegovina, who were surrounded by the whole Franciscan family and a swarm of family members and friends, there were four brothers from abroad: three Americans and one Australian.
Apart from the many Catholics who visit Medjugorje to venerate the Queen of Peace, of late there have also been an increasing number of non-Catholic Christians who visit Medjugorje to pray to Our Lady with trust and to ask for Her motherly intercession before God. A recent visit was paid by Anglican minister, Robert Llewelyn. Despite his age, he is spritely, and deeply spiritual. Peace and joy irradiate from his every word.
Your Excellency,
For the purpose of having a clearer picture of Caritas, I feel that, you should know the following which Jacquie and I did not have an opportunity to relate.
First, I am not sure how long it was that you told Terry that Mass was not allowed to be said at Caritas, but Terry interpreted it to our needs. Since 1995 or 1996, a priest from Phoenix, Alabama, came on a fairly regular basis and said Mass either in the field or the Tabernacle building. Terry always explained that as long as the priest was from outside the Diocese, you give permission for Mass. What your instructions were regarding this we had no idea. We only knew what Terry told us.
As I said in our discussion on 10/13/00, after I left Caritas a lot of the FBI came out in me and I did some of my own investigation and came up with some interesting facts. I say facts because the two people I talked to have absolutely no "ax to grind" with Terry or Caritas.
By Nancy Wilstach, The Birmingham News, Birmingham, Alabama, 12/28/04
Former residents and parents of residents accuse the Shelby County, Alabama, Caritas of Birmingham community, led by Terry Colafrancesco, of fraud, misrepresentation, undue influence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment. They say Colafrancesco lures devout Catholics to Caritas and then takes all their money. A judge has ordered principals in the three-year-old suit to submit to mediation.
Colafrancesco created Caritas following the 1988 vision of a woman from Bossnia-Herzegovina who reported experiencing visitations from the Virgin Mary while standing in Colafrancesco’s pasture. She continues to have visions during her periodic returns to the US, and her most recent visit drew thousands of pilgrims. The community draws its membership from such people, who give up their property when they move into Caritas. The community also receives donations from the devout around the world. Caritas, which the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize, operates a school, sawmill, gift shop, and farm.
VATICAN CITY, 13 APR 2010 (VIS) - Press Office of the Holy See
The International Investigative Commission on Medjugorje met for its first session on 26 March 2010.
The Commission, presided over by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, His Holiness' vicar general emeritus for the diocese of Rome, is composed of the following members: