Talk:Our Lady of America

History

This is a quote from the letter by Archbishop Burke which gives the background of Sister Mary Ephrem (baptized Mildred) Neuzil who received the apparition. If you have a suggestion for improving the section, please offer one. I wish to avoid WP:OR, so a better WP:RS than the one I have used would be such an improvement. patsw (talk) 02:55, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

While "The devotion to Our Lady of America has its source in private revelations to Sister Mary Ephrem (baptized Mildred) Neuzil," is clearly related to the topic and arguments could be made about "who was born in 1916 and was professed, in 1933, in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus," there is nothing in the remainder of the section "which has its generalate in Dayton, Ohio. She later became part of a contemplative branch of the same congregation. The contemplative branch was located at Our Lady of the Nativity Convent at New Riegel, Ohio.

After the suppression of the contemplative branch in 1979, the Sisters who were members took up residence in Seneca County, Ohio. This group of women were dismissed as a religious order in 1982 by the local bishop and to this day, they never became part of a recognized order of religious again. The last remaining woman who was part of the three woman contemplative branch, Patricia Ann Fuller, has been repeatedly admonished by the Toledo Diocese for continuing to go by the name of Sister Joseph Therese in her attempts to solicit donations and represent herself as a Catholic Nun. Patricia Fuller's current disregard for the local ordinary's authority and lack of communion with the Church has absolutely nothing to do with the Canonical Approval of the Our Lady of America messages and attending apparitions in Rome City, IN that were reported by Sister Mildred (Mary Ephrem) Neuzil.

From the time of the suppression, Sister Mary Ephrem used her baptismal name, Sister Mary Mildred Neuzil. Sister Mary Ephrem (Mary Mildred) died in 2000. One of the Sisters survives and continues to live in Seneca County, Ohio." which would seem even remotely applicable to the purported subject of this article (Our Lady of America), and therefore {off topic}. If Mary Ephram claims visions began in response to the suppression of the Order or something similar, you need to find reliable sources that make that claim. But currently nothing about the order ties it to OLoA and it needs to go.TheRedPenOfDoom (talk) 03:14, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

It's a stub. I know it is incomplete. Other people will see it and may want to contribute. If not, I will collect more material to make it complete. I don't have a problem with the tags you have added, they will be remedied. patsw (talk) 04:45, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

I noticed that this page was the scene of several reverts etc. and one user was blocked. In my view, this stub lacks serious references and either needs to be improved soon, or cut back in size. I may find time to do research on it, but whoever has a claim to authorship here should either improve it or resign themselves to the fact that it is on its way out to maintain quality within Wikipedia. History2007 (talk) 13:27, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

This is the current statement from the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio (Bishop Leonard Blair) that is recognized as having authority over this devotion. It can be found on the Diocese of Toledo official website at http://www.toledodiocese.org/images/stories/our%20lady%20of%20america.pdf

STATEMENT OF THE DIOCESE OF TOLEDO REGARDING THE CENTER DEVOTED TO “OUR LADY OF AMERICA” IN FOSTORIA (SENECA CO.), OHIO In response to a number of inquiries which have been received, the Diocese of Toledo wishes to provide the following clarifications:  References have been made in promotional materials to The Our Lady of America center in Fostoria (Seneca Co.), Ohio. However, it should be noted that the Diocese of Toledo has never been asked to give, nor has it given, any approbation or recognition to the center or its activities.  References have also been made in promotional materials to “The Contemplative Sisters” of Our Lady of the Nativity Convent in Fostoria. It should be pointed out that there is no canonically recognized religious community connected with the center. There is one individual, Patricia Ann Fuller, who identifies herself as Sister Joseph Therese. She is not a member of a canonical institute of consecrated life, having been dismissed from the Society of the Precious Blood community in 1982 after she and two other sisters, now deceased, left the order to live their own contemplative way of life.  Patricia Ann Fuller maintains that she has continued to live as a Religious, and that it is her intention eventually to found a new community of women devoted to the promotion of “Our Lady of America.” At this point, no canonical steps have been requested or taken in this regard. Patricia Ann Fuller has met with Bishop Blair of Toledo and has assured him of her desire to act in full harmony with the Church.  In a letter to the Bishops of the United States dated May 31, 2007, Archbishop Raymond Burke offered his positive assessment of the history and content of devotion to Our Lady of America. The following words of Archbishop Burke have the full endorsement of Bishop Blair of Toledo: “Some have raised with me the canonical question regarding the status of Our Lady of the Nativity Convent in Seneca County, Ohio, which has been the residence of any remaining member of the suppressed contemplative branch of the Congregation of Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. In response, I observe that the canonical question has no bearing on the devotion or its approbation.” September 10, 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.163.49.237 (talk) 20:40, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

references

I managed to find 3 notable refs, EWTN, Univ of Dayton, etc. and added them. I removed teh flag. History2007 (talk) 13:55, 25 February 2009 (UTC)