Dear M.M.:

Well, my annoyance of some priests is not excessive even in the slightest. When priests lead the people astray that is the most serious business of all since a priest's heresy or heterodoxy can lead people into perdition. We should all be annoyed and we should say so. To be silent is to be an accomplice.

That is not to say there are not good priest. Most priests are good and holy men. But, there are a few who are a few chips short of a bag of orthodoxy.

To your "questions", please include only one topic in a question. I will answer the issue of Private Revelations.

I can understand how people can misinterpret my words to think I am against Private Revelations. I am not anti-private revelation. I wear a Miraculous Medal ring, my habit includes a scapular, a real scapular that goes over the shoulders and down to the ankle that is silver-gray on one side as the Scapular of St. Michael, and Brown on the other side as the Brown Scapular. When praying the rosary I include the Fatima prayer.

There are some great devotions that have come from private revelations, but there has not be even one dotted "i" of information about the faith or how to live the faith that I did not already know from the Bible, Sacred Tradition, and the Saints. Not one. The Church herself says that private revelations are not needed and that no one must even believe in them — not even Fatima. That says it all in putting this into perspective.

The Fatima groupies, by the way, illustrate the severe imbalance I am talking about. Some of these people will say a person is going to hell if they do not believe in Fatima. What nonsense and sad superstition these people have.

But, if it takes a Private Revelation to get a person's hind-end in gear, to do what they should have been doing all along, then praise God. That is why Mary in her love comes to us; she wants us to get into gear. But, the people need to move beyond chasing apparitions and begin to eat meat like an adult. I am reminded of St. Paul who had to deal with this exact same thing:

(1 Corinthians 3:1-2)  But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready,

(1 Corinthians 13:11) When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

When her children cannot eat the meat of Public Revelation, Mary comes and gives them milk in hopes that they will grow up and eat the meat that God intended for them.

We see this in that Mary always points to her Son, and pointing to her Son means pointing also to her Son's love letter to us called the Bible and Sacred Tradition. Her Son is Logos, the very Word. To point to Him is to point to the Word. To ignore or relegate to secondary place God's Word, His love letter to us, in favor of private revelations is utterly out of line and I believe, insulting to God. I mean, this is like reading a newspaper reporter's account of the war, instead of reading the love letters sent from the war by loved-ones to you personally.

The issue here is balance with the scales strongly tilted in favor of Public Revelation, first, foremost, and always.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

P.S. Folks, please use a real name when asking a question. Not a handle, nor initials, or some non-human name. It doesn't have to be your real first name, but it does need to be a human name. I like to speak to people, not to handles. Thanks.