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Reverted to revision 626519668 by Mannanan51: Previous editor removes section that proves TLDM also has a right to promote the Bayside Messages. The deletion of this section makes this artticle biased. (TW)
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===These Last Days Ministries===
===These Last Days Ministries===
Among the many websites to appear to promote Lueken's messages was These Last Days Ministries,Inc. a non profit filed in 1986, <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tldm.org|title=These Last Days Ministries website|accessdate=2011-09-09}}</ref> which had a weekly radio show promoting the messages. The TLDM website contains unofficial messages given to Veronica Lueken in text and some in audio. It is updated daily with articles of world events of the end days. These Last Days Ministries in located in [[Lowell, Michigan]] and run by Gary Wohlscheid, President, Gail Wohlscheid, Secretary and sons John Paul and Michael Wohlscheid and is a separate organization.
Among the many websites to appear to promote Lueken's messages was These Last Days Ministries,Inc. a non profit filed in 1986, <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tldm.org|title=These Last Days Ministries website|accessdate=2011-09-09}}</ref> which had a weekly radio show promoting the messages. The TLDM website contains unofficial messages given to Veronica Lueken in text and some in audio. It is updated daily with articles of world events of the end days. These Last Days Ministries in located in [[Lowell, Michigan]] and run by Gary Wohlscheid, President, Gail Wohlscheid, Secretary and sons John Paul and Michael Wohlscheid and is a separate organization. Gary left his job at IRS at the request of Heaven to spread the messages full time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tldm.org/photos/482a-jpeg.jp.htm|title=Miraculous picture from Heaven|accessdate=2014-09-11}}</ref> In 1992, Veronica sent Gary a letter thanking him for this work for the mission.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tldm.org/News12/LetterFromVeronica.htm|title=Letter from Veronica|accessdate=2014-09-11}}</ref>


===St. Michael's World Apostolate===
===St. Michael's World Apostolate===
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Mangan is the president of SMWA and head of the lay Order of Saint Michael. He joined Lueken's mission in 1978, and from 1989 to 1995 was in daily telephone contact with her. He was dismissed from Our Lady of the Roses on Oct 1, 1997 by Arthur Lueken, Vice President. The SWMA claims prophecies are valid but do not have to come to pass; Lueken was told over twenty times in the messages that all prophecy is conditional and does not have to happen <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smwa.org/Message/Text/Prophecy_is_conditional.htm|title=Alleged messages illustrating prophecy is conditional|publisher=St. Michaels World Apostolate|accessdate=2011-09-09}}</ref>
Mangan is the president of SMWA and head of the lay Order of Saint Michael. He joined Lueken's mission in 1978, and from 1989 to 1995 was in daily telephone contact with her. He was dismissed from Our Lady of the Roses on Oct 1, 1997 by Arthur Lueken, Vice President. The SWMA claims prophecies are valid but do not have to come to pass; Lueken was told over twenty times in the messages that all prophecy is conditional and does not have to happen <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smwa.org/Message/Text/Prophecy_is_conditional.htm|title=Alleged messages illustrating prophecy is conditional|publisher=St. Michaels World Apostolate|accessdate=2011-09-09}}</ref>


Fr. Nicholas Gruner was scheduled to appear at a June 22, 2014 event to mark the 44th anniversary of the apparitions at Bayside for an event to benefit St. Michael's World Apostolate. In response, the Brooklyn Diocese's Chancellor, Msgr. Anthony Hernandez, sent a communiqué to all pastors warning about the suspended priest who was planning an appearance in Queens.<ref name=Wilkinson>{{Cite web | url=http://thetablet.org/parish-alert-on-bayside-apparition-event/ | last=Wilkinson | first=Ed | title=Parish Alert on Bayside 'Apparition' Event | work=The Tablet | publisher=Diocese of Brooklyn | date={{Date|2014|06|11}} }}</ref>
Fr. Nicholas Gruner was scheduled to appear at a June 22, 2014 event to mark the 44th anniversary of the apparitions at Bayside for an event to benefit St. Michael’s World Apostolate. In response, the Brooklyn Diocese’s Chancellor, Msgr. Anthony Hernandez, sent a communiqué to all pastors warning about the suspended priest who was planning an appearance in Queens. It stated:
<blockquote>Recently, our Diocesan Bishop, the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, received confirmation from the Holy See that the Reverend Nicholas Gruner, who is currently incardinated in the Archdiocese of Hyderabad, in India, continues to labor under the canonical sanction of suspension, cf. Can. 1333, which has been confirmed by the Apostolic Signatura in Rome. ... Please be advised that the Diocese of Brooklyn has consistently rejected the veracity of the claims concerning the alleged Marian apparitions in Bayside, Queens. Recently, Bishop DiMarzio released a statement reaffirming the positions of his two predecessors, Most Reverend [[Francis J. Mugavero]] and the Most Reverend Thomas V. Daily. This statement was printed in ''The Tablet'' (June 7) and is posted on the diocesan website in order that the faithful of the Diocese of Brooklyn be fully informed of the Church’s decision on this matter. Given that Father Gruner remains suspended, and, given that the alleged Bayside apparitions have been rejected by the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities, the faithful are strongly discouraged from participating in any events connected to Father Gruner or St. Michael’s World Apostolate.<ref name=Wilkinson>[http://thetablet.org/parish-alert-on-bayside-apparition-event/ Wilkinson, Ed. "Parish Alert on Bayside ‘Apparition’ Event", ''The Tablet", Diocese of Brooklyn, June 11, 2014]</ref></blockquote>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 17:47, 3 October 2014

Veronica Lueken (July 12, 1923 – August 3, 1995) was a Roman Catholic housewife from Bayside, New York, who, between 1970 until her death in 1995, reported experiencing apparitions of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and numerous Catholic saints. She gave messages from them at both Saint Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in Bayside, and at the exedra monument at the Vatican Pavilion site in Flushing Meadows Park 1964 New York World's Fair. Lueken and her husband Arthur W. Lueken, Sr. (died August 28,2002) had five children. They met in Flushing Meadows Park skating rink in 1945 and married the same year.

Bishop Francis J. Mugavero, then Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, stated in 1986 that "a thorough investigation revealed that the alleged visions of Bayside completely lacked authenticity" and that "the messages and other related propaganda contain statements which, among other things, are contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church,". [1]

Marian apparitions

In June 1968, Lueken reported experiencing her first heavenly manifestation when she smelled a perfume of roses in her car while praying for the dying U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was shot in an assassination attempt, and would die the next day from his injuries June 6, 1968. Lueken attested that Saint Thérèse of Lisieux appeared to her and dictated sacred poem-messages called Occulations from Heaven.[2]

Lueken reported her first Marian vision in her home on April 7, 1970, when the Virgin Mary informed Lueken that She would appear on the grounds of St. Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic original Church in Bayside on June 18, 1970, and subsequently, on all great eve of the feast days of the Catholic Church. From that day, Lueken reported a series of Marian apparitions on the property of St. Robert Bellarmine in Bayside Hills. According to her report, on the date of her first vision, Mrs.Lueken was instructed by the Blessed Virgin Mary to establish a Marian shrine on the site of the church, and to hold Rosary Vigils on the eve of the feast days and Sunday holy hours of reparation for the Pope and priests. Lueken began to type up and circulate her messages from Heaven, of prayer, penance and atonement for the many sins becoming a way of life especially abortion which was brought forward in Albany in 1970 and legalized in 1971 and many of which had apocalyptic content. Overwhelmed by the influx of an estimated five hundred to two thousand Marian devotees from many states and Canada, the parish priests fenced off the church property in December 1974. In 1975, Monsignor James P. King, Chancellor of the Brooklyn Diocese, announced that the diocese did not believe in Veronica's apparitions.[2]

Lueken elaborated on her reported visions. Apart from the Virgin Mary and the aforementioned Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, she also said she received visitations from Jesus Christ, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter, Paul the Apostle, John the Evangelist, Theresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Bernadette Soubirous, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, Saint Rita, Saint Benedict, Pope Pius IX, Pope Pius X, Pope Pius XII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II, Catherine Laboure, Joan of Arc, St. Anne, Joachim, St. Benedict, Francis of Assisi, St. Louis de Montfort and St Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, who was a leading figure in the counter reformation, to whom the church in question was named and dedicated. The archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael as well as guardian angels were said to have appeared to her. Most of the public apparitions occurred during the Rosary Vigils, during which Lueken would fall into a state of ecstasy and see the heavenly personages and repeat the message as a 'voice-box'. Lueken would describe the vision given her and the personages would speak through her. Almost all of the ecstasies were recorded live on audio cassette tape in the presence of hundreds of pilgrims and printed and sent to the world. [citation needed]

Following Monsignor King's comments, Lueken and her followers assembled on a traffic island in front of the site of the alleged visitation (1974/75). After objections raised by the Bayside Hills Civic Association, the Queens County Court Judge negotiated a permanent site of worship without harrassment in agreement with the NYPD, NYC Dept of Parks and Recreation at the Vatican Pavilion site exedra monument in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.[3] The Rosary Vigils and Holy Hours have continued until the present day.[4]

Lueken established the Shrine of Our Lady of the Roses,[5] which survived her death in 1995. At the apex of this organization were Veronica Lueken (President) and her husband, Arthur W. Lueken, Sr. (Vice President), Ann V. Ferguson (Secretary), (Officers on the Board). Accompanying them, were full time volunteer men as workers to organize prayer vigils and assist the increasingly infirm and aging Lueken with mail corresponding with her followers. At some point, Lueken predicted, the authenticity of her visions would be recognized, and there would be a Basilica built on the site of her first visions at St Robert Bellarmine Church in Bayside, as well as the appearance of a healing spring of 'curative waters to erupt', and the area would become the venue of a national Marian shrine in the United States. Author Michael P. Carroll has suggested "the Bayside apparitions were modeled directly upon those in Necedah."[6]

Status of the apparitions

According to various Catholic sources, the Bayside visitations do not fulfill criteria that would qualify the alleged events as legitimate Marian apparitions and so are unrecognized. In addition to these concerns, the Diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn at the time of the alleged apparitions, Bishop Mugavero made the following declaration on November 4, 1986:[1]

I, the undersigned Diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn, in my role as the legitimate shepherd of this particular Church, wish to confirm the constant position of the Diocese of Brooklyn that a thorough investigation revealed that the alleged "visions of Bayside" completely lacked authenticity.
...Therefore, in consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I hereby declare that:
1. No credibility can be given to the so-called "apparitions" reported by Veronica Lueken and her followers.
2. The "messages" and other related propaganda contain statements which, among other things, are contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church, undermine the legitimate authority of bishops and councils and instill doubts in the minds of the faithful, for example, by claiming that, for years, an "imposter (sic) Pope" governed the Catholic Church in place of Paul VI.

Father Mark Gantley, JCL, clarified on EWTN that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document related to "Proceeding in Judging Alleged Apparitions and Revelations" in 1974. Initially, a Diocesan Bishop is enabled to investigate the phenomenon in question. After he has completed his scrutiny, he may or may not ask for assistance from national Catholic Bishops Conferences, or refer the matter to the Holy See. St Michael's World Apostolate claims that the Vatican's guidelines for judging apparitions were not followed by the Brooklyn Diocese, no example of doctrinal error has been produced by the diocese, and claims Lueken was not questioned by the diocese. Furthermore, the group goes on to say that the Brooklyn Diocese has not made public any minutes and findings of this investigative committee to substantiate their claim that a full and thorough investigation was ever conducted.[7] The Diocese continues to stand by its finding.

Organizations spreading the message

The Official Website of Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers Shrine

The Official authorized Shrine of Our Lady of the Roses Shrine at P.O. Box 52, Bayside NY 11361 and copyright owner of the messages to Veronica Lueken, Registration # TXu-1-698-972 and founded by Veronica Lueken, conducting Vigils in Flushing Meadows, NY.

These Last Days Ministries

Among the many websites to appear to promote Lueken's messages was These Last Days Ministries,Inc. a non profit filed in 1986, [8] which had a weekly radio show promoting the messages. The TLDM website contains unofficial messages given to Veronica Lueken in text and some in audio. It is updated daily with articles of world events of the end days. These Last Days Ministries in located in Lowell, Michigan and run by Gary Wohlscheid, President, Gail Wohlscheid, Secretary and sons John Paul and Michael Wohlscheid and is a separate organization. Gary left his job at IRS at the request of Heaven to spread the messages full time.[9] In 1992, Veronica sent Gary a letter thanking him for this work for the mission.[10]

St. Michael's World Apostolate

According to Michael Mangan former dismissed worker at Our Lady of the Roses, St Michael's World Apostolate,(SMWA) a non-profit corporation formed in 1998 and filed under the name 'Order of St Michael', in Flushing, NY is an organization unofficially "in charge" of the Bayside Mission. Some in the Bayside movement dispute Mangan and SMWA's authority and are in contempt of court of a 1997 Court order with Arthur Lueken who won the case vs Michael Mangan et al. [11] It is staffed full-time by the lay Order of St. Michael, a Roman Catholic community of five lay men who live and work together promoting Lueken's messages. The lay Order promotes its message through online radio programs, a website and on-site printing presses. The group claims to have a mailing list of more than 50,000 from Our Lady of the Roses. SMWA holds a Sunday Holy Hour for the Pope and clergy on the location where Lueken received the apparitions and messages and evening Rosary Vigils throughout the year separate from the Official Shrine of Our Lady of the Roses. SMWA was notified of their violations of Our Lady of the Roses Trademarks and Copyrights.

Mangan is the president of SMWA and head of the lay Order of Saint Michael. He joined Lueken's mission in 1978, and from 1989 to 1995 was in daily telephone contact with her. He was dismissed from Our Lady of the Roses on Oct 1, 1997 by Arthur Lueken, Vice President. The SWMA claims prophecies are valid but do not have to come to pass; Lueken was told over twenty times in the messages that all prophecy is conditional and does not have to happen [12]

Fr. Nicholas Gruner was scheduled to appear at a June 22, 2014 event to mark the 44th anniversary of the apparitions at Bayside for an event to benefit St. Michael’s World Apostolate. In response, the Brooklyn Diocese’s Chancellor, Msgr. Anthony Hernandez, sent a communiqué to all pastors warning about the suspended priest who was planning an appearance in Queens. It stated:

Recently, our Diocesan Bishop, the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, received confirmation from the Holy See that the Reverend Nicholas Gruner, who is currently incardinated in the Archdiocese of Hyderabad, in India, continues to labor under the canonical sanction of suspension, cf. Can. 1333, which has been confirmed by the Apostolic Signatura in Rome. ... Please be advised that the Diocese of Brooklyn has consistently rejected the veracity of the claims concerning the alleged Marian apparitions in Bayside, Queens. Recently, Bishop DiMarzio released a statement reaffirming the positions of his two predecessors, Most Reverend Francis J. Mugavero and the Most Reverend Thomas V. Daily. This statement was printed in The Tablet (June 7) and is posted on the diocesan website in order that the faithful of the Diocese of Brooklyn be fully informed of the Church’s decision on this matter. Given that Father Gruner remains suspended, and, given that the alleged Bayside apparitions have been rejected by the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities, the faithful are strongly discouraged from participating in any events connected to Father Gruner or St. Michael’s World Apostolate.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Mugavero, Francis. "Declaration Concerning the 'Bayside Movement'"
  2. ^ a b Kilgannon, Corey. "For These Believers, the Visions Endure", New York Times, October 9, 2003
  3. ^ Lii, Jane H., "Neighborhood Report: Bayside Hills;A Cherished Memory: Banishing Veronica", New York Times, June 4, 1995
  4. ^ Wojcik, Daniel. "'Polaroids from Heaven', Photography, Folk Religion and the Miraculous Image Tradition at a Marian Apparition Site", Journal of American Folklore, 109 (432), pp. 129-148, American Folklore Society, 1996
  5. ^ LeDuff, Charlie, "They Heard, They Came, They Await the End", New York Times, March 23, 1997
  6. ^ Carroll, Michael P., "The Cult of the Virgin Mary: Psychological Origins", p. 139, Princeton University Press, 1992; ISBN 0691028672, 9780691028675
  7. ^ "Complaints by SMWA on Diocecean investigation". Retrieved 2011-09-09.
  8. ^ "These Last Days Ministries website". Retrieved 2011-09-09.
  9. ^ "Miraculous picture from Heaven". Retrieved 2014-09-11.
  10. ^ "Letter from Veronica". Retrieved 2014-09-11.
  11. ^ "Open Letter to the Promoters of Our Lady of the Roses". Roses From Heaven. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
  12. ^ "Alleged messages illustrating prophecy is conditional". St. Michaels World Apostolate. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
  13. ^ Wilkinson, Ed. "Parish Alert on Bayside ‘Apparition’ Event", The Tablet", Diocese of Brooklyn, June 11, 2014

Primary sources

  • Veronica Lueken: The Virgin Mary's Bayside Prophecies: Volume 1: 1970-1973: Bayside, New York: 2002; ISBN 1-891981-01-3
  • Our Lady of the Roses Shrine: Roses From Heaven: Orange, Texas: Children of Mary: 1990.
  • David Clyde Skovmand: Prophecies Received by Mrs. Veronica Lueken (1997): Oakland: Our Lady's Worker of Northern California.

Contemporary media reports

  • Roberta Grant: "War of the Roses" Rolling Stone (21.02.80):43-46.
  • Phillip Nobile: "Our Lady of Bayside" New York11 (11.12.78): 47-60.

Bibliography

  • Daniel Wojcik: The End of the World as We Know It: Faith, Fatalism and Apocalypse in America: New York: New York University Press: 1997; ISBN 0-8147-9283-9
  • Michael Carroll: The Cult of the Virgin Mary: Psychological Origins: Princeton: Princeton University Press: 1986; ISBN 0-691-09420-9
  • Bishop Francis Mugavero: "Declaration Concerning the 'Bayside Movement'" (p. 209-211) in James LeBar (ed)Cults, Sects and the New Age: Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division: 1989; ISBN 0-87973-431-0
  • Sandra Zimdars-Swartz: Encountering Mary: From LaSalette to Medjugorge: Princeton: Princeton University Press: 1991; ISBN 0-691-07371-6
  • Michael W. Cuneo: The Smoke of Satan: Conservative and Traditionalist Dissent in Contemporary American Catholicism (Oxford, 1999) has a chapter on Lueken which includes interviews with supporters and opponents. [citation needed]

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