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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
supernatural authenticity	Omar	Sunday, November 4, 2012
Question: Hello Brother, Out of all the reported supernatural events that people experience: i.e. Marian Apparitions, people bestowed with the gift of healing or other gifts of the Holy Spirit, Stigmata, visions of Our Lord, etc, how many would you say are eventually deemed authentic by the Church? If I remember correctly, most reported supernatural phenomenon, (roughly 80-90 percent,) is eventually considered either a hoax, or self-delusion. Please help me out and correct me if I'm wrong. This is actually data I need for an editorial I plan on putting together for a local community paper. If there isn't an official number provided by the church, would you be willing to give me a guess that either you or others in the field may have as to whether it's a majority or minority of cases that are authentic in nature? Thanks, and God bless you and your ministry.
Question Answered by Dear Omar: On Apparitions: The University of Dayton conducted a study on this. They found that of the 386 apparitions from 1900-1999, only 2% were determined by the local bishop to be supernatural in nature, that is, legitimate. Of the 386 reported apparitions, 20% were ruled to not be of supernatural origin, that is, false. The rest, 77%, no decision has been made. On average the church approves about 1 out of 50 apparitions. On stigmata: One source (Dr. Imbert Gourbeyre, as of the late 19th century) reports that overall there have been 321 accepted cases of stigmata, which 62 of these people later beatified. One thing I discovered that was a surprise is that out of the 321 accepted cases of stigmata only 41 were men. That means around 87% of stigmata occur in women. See the article, The Stigmata and Modern Science, by Fr.. Charles M. Carty. I am not sure how many stigmatics have been officially recognize other than the 62 who were beatified. On Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Every baptized person has the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, without which it is not possible to live the Christian life. These gifts are listed in Isaiah 11:2, 1) wisdom 2) understanding 3) counsel 4) fortitude 5) knowledge 6) piety 7) fear of the Lord (reverence). In addition, each baptized Christian has been given at least one Charism as explained by St. Paul. While the Seven Gift of the Spirit assist us in our Christian life, the Charism Gifts our not for our personal benefit, but are given to us to build up the Church. I have identified 30 such gifts in Scripture. See the article, Charism Gifts Building Up the Church (pdf file), for details on these gifts and an evaluation of the Charismatic Renewal, Pro and Con. The Church does not make an evaluation of Charism gifts, as such. The local pastor or spiritual director may assist a person discerning a Charism gift. Anyone who believes they have the gift of speaking or interpreting tongues, or healing, miracles, exorcism, or other gifts of a more miraculous nature, must have a spiritual director, though everyone should have a spiritual director. If someone is using a Charism Gift, such as Healing, Miracles, and such, in a very public way, the Bishop may then investigate, but most people express their gifts quietly in the course of the doing the apostolate and/or volunteering for various tasks in their parishes. It is critically important that the gifts be properly defined, and for us to not use the definitions that come from the Pentecostals. For example, the Gift of Prophecy, is a gift of preaching, not fore-telling the future, or revealing divine insight as if one has a phone call from God (this goes also for the gifts of Word of knowledge and Word of Wisdom. These are not phone calls from God as Pentecostal tend to imply). Charismatic expressions should not be a Catholic versions of the Pentecostals. This is the major mistake made by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. The article linked above gives all the particulars. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

supernatural authenticity

Omar

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Question:

Hello Brother,

Out of all the reported supernatural events that people experience: i.e. Marian Apparitions, people bestowed with the gift of healing or other gifts of the Holy Spirit, Stigmata, visions of Our Lord, etc, how many would you say are eventually deemed authentic by the Church? If I remember correctly, most reported supernatural phenomenon, (roughly 80-90 percent,) is eventually considered either a hoax, or self-delusion. Please help me out and correct me if I'm wrong. This is actually data I need for an editorial I plan on putting together for a local community paper. If there isn't an official number provided by the church, would you be willing to give me a guess that either you or others in the field may have as to whether it's a majority or minority of cases that are authentic in nature? Thanks, and God bless you and your ministry.

Question Answered by

Dear Omar:

On Apparitions: The University of Dayton conducted a study on this. They found that of the 386 apparitions from 1900-1999, only 2% were determined by the local bishop to be supernatural in nature, that is, legitimate. Of the 386 reported apparitions, 20% were ruled to not be of supernatural origin, that is, false. The rest, 77%, no decision has been made.

On average the church approves about 1 out of 50 apparitions.

On stigmata: One source (Dr. Imbert Gourbeyre, as of the late 19th century) reports that overall there have been 321 accepted cases of stigmata, which 62 of these people later beatified. One thing I discovered that was a surprise is that out of the 321 accepted cases of stigmata only 41 were men. That means around 87% of stigmata occur in women.

See the article, The Stigmata and Modern Science, by Fr.. Charles M. Carty. I am not sure how many stigmatics have been officially recognize other than the 62 who were beatified.

On Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Every baptized person has the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, without which it is not possible to live the Christian life. These gifts are listed in Isaiah 11:2,

1) wisdom
2) understanding
3) counsel
4) fortitude
5) knowledge
6) piety
7) fear of the Lord (reverence).

In addition, each baptized Christian has been given at least one Charism as explained by St. Paul. While the Seven Gift of the Spirit assist us in our Christian life, the Charism Gifts our not for our personal benefit, but are given to us to build up the Church. I have identified 30 such gifts in Scripture.

See the article, Charism Gifts Building Up the Church (pdf file), for details on these gifts and an evaluation of the Charismatic Renewal, Pro and Con.

The Church does not make an evaluation of Charism gifts, as such. The local pastor or spiritual director may assist a person discerning a Charism gift. Anyone who believes they have the gift of speaking or interpreting tongues, or healing, miracles, exorcism, or other gifts of a more miraculous nature, must have a spiritual director, though everyone should have a spiritual director. If someone is using a Charism Gift, such as Healing, Miracles, and such, in a very public way, the Bishop may then investigate, but most people express their gifts quietly in the course of the doing the apostolate and/or volunteering for various tasks in their parishes.

It is critically important that the gifts be properly defined, and for us to not use the definitions that come from the Pentecostals. For example, the Gift of Prophecy, is a gift of preaching, not fore-telling the future, or revealing divine insight as if one has a phone call from God (this goes also for the gifts of Word of knowledge and Word of Wisdom. These are not phone calls from God as Pentecostal tend to imply). Charismatic expressions should not be a Catholic versions of the Pentecostals. This is the major mistake made by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. The article linked above gives all the particulars.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum