Terry Colafrancesco: Medjugorje Cult Leader

In October of 2012, "JustinT" left the following comment on my post

Please do not link to Medjugorje com of "Friend of Medjugorje" / Caritas of Birmingham. The organisation is considered to be a cult, the priests of Medjugorje parish warned against them as well as Mother Angelica and EWTN.

Please read information about them at:

http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/caritas-of-birmingham/

http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/gravely-disturbing-testimonies-caritas-of-birmingham/

http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/caritas-of-birmingham-a-friend-of-medjugorje-terry-colafrancesco-fleecing-money-deceptions/

http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/a-friend-of-medjugorje-terry-colafrancesco-cult-leader-caritas-of-birmingham/

I responded that it's my blog and I'll post what links I want to post. But, curious, I followed the links JustinT left for me to explore. I've long known that there is a school of thought that believes Medjugorje is a cult, or of the devil, or that, any Marian apparitions/beliefs are "wrong" since Catholicism itself is "wrong" and not even Christian, according to some Christians. Since I'm not any of those -- Christian, Catholic (oy, the quibbling!) or of the devil -- I'm not concerned with the belief factor here. My approach to Marian apparitions, including Medjugorje, is purely Fortean. Which encompasses a lot of terrain.

However, if the information in the links JustinT provided is true, it is very disturbing information.  From the www.medjugorje.ws site: Caritas of Birmingham is not a Roman Catholic organization and the organization's leader Terry Colafranesco:

Terry Colafrancesco teaches to his group that black people are "niggers," which were created by God for servitude and were much better off when they were slaves.
Terry also teaches contempt for women as the carriers of the "spirit of Eve".

There's much more regarding interpretations and what amounts to downright mangling of Catholic doctrine.

The other links reveal more of the same, and worse.  Colafrancesco (who is based in Alabama)  does appear to be another psychotic religious cult leader. There are references to Colafrancesco being involved with the KKK.

The Medjurgorje website is full of unnerving information about Colafrancesco. Are the allegations true? Or is the site that JustinT recommended one with its own agenda regarding apparitions, Medjurgorje in particular?

"Andrew" has a Blogger blog: Exposing Terry Colafrancesco. 

Kresta in the Afternoon has a comprehensive site that deals with the history of the Medjurgorje sightings. Caritas of Birmingham is certainly mentioned but what is interesting, as is noted, is that one of the original women to see the apparition is involved in Colafrancesco's organization:

The Caritas group, however, is considered schismatic by the visionaries and priests at the pilgrimage center, in a part of what used to be Yugoslavia. On the “official” Medjugorje website we are warned that Caritas of Birmingham is a cult, something like a religious business, not approved.

But one of the visionaries, Marija, still comes regularly to Caritas in Birmingham, contributing to a local, in-house schism of an international cult that bespeaks a larger and ongoing schism with orthodox Catholicism.

This history of the Medjugorje apparitions is complicated and fascinating. Many reasons given by some Catholics to reject the Medjugorje events, including the seemingly non-Blessed Virgin tone of the apparitions:

Compared to approved apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, for example, at Lourdes and at Fatima, the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje contain numerous anomalous aspects:

In the initial appearances, the Gospa appears out of a cloud of light which gradually takes on the image of a young woman in her late teens. She has blue eyes and is wearing a gray dress. She looks like she is holding “something like a baby” in her arms, but none of the features of the baby can be seen. Her hands are shaking. She laughs. The visionaries are able to touch and kiss her, but her vestments are “steel to the touch.” When a lady doctor asked if she could touch her also, the Gospa agreed, but complained about “unbelieving Judases.”

There is definitely a Trickster aspect to the apparitions at Medjugorje. I wrote about some of these in 2008 here at UFO Mary in my post Trickster-Mary-Devil in the Mysterious Valley?. The event described does seem bizarre and not what we usually hear of in Marian apparitions:

The following is from the Angelus site, from Medjugorje Exposed: Today, we waited for the Virgin at Marija's; with me were Marija, Ivanka, and Jakov. We began praying at 6:20 p.m. The Virgin appeared right away. We asked her about the Franciscan Friars and sisters of our parish...We asked her about the man who saw Jesus in the street as he was driving people in his car. He met a man covered in blood—this man was Jesus—he gave him a blood-stained handkerchief telling him to throw it in the river. Going on his way, he met a lady—it was the Blessed Virgin Mary; she asked the driver for the bloodstained handkerchief. The man offered her a handkerchief belonging to him, but the Virgin asked for the bloodstained one: 'If he had not given it to me it would have been the last judgment for all!' The Virgin said this was true.) (from Vicka's diary dated September 4, 1981) The Trickster does seem to be strong in the Medjugore sightings in a crazy, conflicting, and bizarre yet very Fortean way.

There is a 2002 Associated Press item by Jay Reeves at the pathological skeptoid site Skeptic Tank.com (after all, the site calls the faithful "Virgin Mary Kooks") about a lawsuit brought against Colafrancesco. In 2006, Phillip Kronzer, a "cult fighter" was jailed for making "derogatory statements" about Colafrancesco:

Circuit Judge J. Michael Joiner sentenced Phillip J. Krozner to spend 15 hours in jail for contempt of court. Joiner found that statements Kronzer made about Caritas of Birmingham in a widely distributed letter violated terms of a confidnential settlement in a lawsuit involving Kronzer and Caritas. Kronzer is a San Jose, Calif., businessman who declared war on cults when his wife left him to join what he claimed was a cult. He repeatedly has claimed that Caritas is a cult.

As I searched for articles and information on Colafrancesco, I quickly realized there is a huge amount of material out there on him. It's clear that if you are interested in discovering more, there is more to be discovered. And, it will take you as deep as you want to go. Is Terry Colafrancesco a cult leader, and are the allegations against him true? I don't know. I do know that the Medjugorje phenomena is truly a Trickster phenomena, including the debate and actions surrounding Colafranesco.

 My related posts:

• Speculation on Mary as a Trickster, UFO Digest
• Trickster-Mary-Devil in the Mysterious Valley?

Debunker Faces Arrest for Debunking Watery Jesus

(This story dates back to March of this year.) Debunker and member of the Indian Rationalist Association Sanal Edamaruku faces arrest for his participation in doing what skeptibunkies do. He says he explained/exposed the watery seeping Jesus in Our Lady of Velankanni Church, in Mumbai.

India has laws against insulting religions and  "...deliberately hurting religious feelings and attempting malicious acts intended to outrage the religious sentiments of any class or community,” according to the Slate article.  On the surface Edamaruku is doing what's expected of debunkers, but I suspect there is a cultural and historical context at the root of his actions. (Italics mine):

What do you fear might happen to you?
If it comes to a trial, I have nothing to fear. I would welcome the opportunity to throw some light on the role that the Catholic Church played and is still playing today here in India. The possibility of arrest is threatening, however.

The religious zealotry, dogmatism and fanaticism Edamaruku fights is ironically mirrored by his own version of same:

Do you have any regrets about intervening? Why would one not intervene when somebody gives gullible people sewage to drink? But my reason is broader. The promotion of superstition and belief in paranormal phenomena dulls people's minds and establishes dangerous misconceptions about reality in our society. Such efforts have to be countered.

Edamaruku refused to back off and in fact, got quite contentious with critics. While India has the anti-insult to religions law, it also has this, according to Stephen Law.

Clause (h) of Article 51-A of Constitution of India states that : ‘It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and spirit of inquiry and reform.’

Polish Catholics see miracle in communion wafer - Yahoo! News

Jesus in a wafer: Polish Catholics see miracle in communion wafer . This is actually from 2008 but is making the news stream now because the church is celebrating the occasion:

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Roman Catholics in Poland gathered Sunday for a special Mass celebrating what they see as a miracle: the appearance on a communion wafer of a dark spot that they are convinced is part of the heart of Jesus.

The communion wafer in question developed a brown spot in 2008 after falling on the floor during a Mass in the eastern Polish town of Sokolka. Two medical doctors determined that the spot was heart muscle tissue, church officials have said.

I had to laugh at this; skeptics were of course alarmed over this event and wondered if a "murder" hadn't taken place:

A group of rationalists complained about the matter in 2008, and called on authorities to investigate if a murder or other crime was involved if human flesh was indeed found on the wafer. Police say they have no evidence of any crime.

Randall Sullivan: The Miricle Detective

 "I don't think we're here to serve science, science is here to serve us." ~ Randall Sullivan

A couple of years ago, I read Randall Sullivan's The Miricle Detective. I wanted to read it because it concerned a BVM apparition in a small Oregon town. I liked the book; Randall's honesty in describing his journey from non-believer to believer was enjoyable to read.

I just discovered his television program: The Miricle Detective on the OWN network. Randall, described as "a believer" and Indre Viskontas described as "a scientist" (and not as a skeptic, which she is) in the show's opening, explore cases of a supernatural/religious nature.

Randall discussing his experiences at Medjurgorje on the Oprah show.

On Brane Space: Pastor Mike Makes the Atheist Blogs!

Pastor Mike wants you! (if you're an atheist) on the National Atheist Registry.

Brane Space: Pastor Mike Makes the Atheist Blogs!

The pastor puts non-believers in the same thought-bubble (don't think of pink elephants) as sex offenders and other loathsome dregs of humanity:

Brothers and Sisters , I have been seriously considering forming a ( Christian ) grassroots type of organization to be named “The Christian National Registry of Atheists” or something similar . I mean , think about it . There are already National Registrys for convicted sex offenders , ex-convicts , terrorist cells , hate groups like the KKK , skinheads , radical Islamists , etc..

He doesn't go so far as suggesting addresses and other "known personal information" should be on the list, but photos "could be." Pastor Mike is truly befuddled as to why anyone would object:

Frankly , I don’t see why anyone would oppose this idea – including the atheists themselves ( unless of course , they’re actually ashamed of their atheist religion , and would prefer to stay in the ‘closet.’ )

So I wonder where I'd fit in? I'm not a Christan, religious Jew, or member of any traditional formal religion. I don't believe in a mono-theistic daddy god in the sky, the divinity of Christ, eternal damnation, purgatory, limbo, or a magical heaven. I am not an agnostic, as in, "Gee, don't know if there's a xian God or not.." but I'm not an atheist either. Richard Dawikns can stuff it. I guess Pastor Mike would consider me a pagan heathen New Age pawn of the Illuminati (sorry Mike, too old and hep for that) but he'd put me on the list anyway no doubt. Because, like all religious nuts, if you don't believe in their system, you're not only out, you're damned. And they'll do all they can to help you get there.

Marian Apparition/Moon Goddess Thread on the JREF

I abhor skeptibunkies, but I do acknowledge my twisted fascination with their convoluted, surreal mind-sets on things, particularly paranormal and esoteric subjects. On the JREF (James Randi Educational Forum) message board, is a thread in the "paranormal/general skepticism" category: "Endorsing Our Lady of Fatima is endorsing the Moon Goddess." 

I haven't been following the thread closely, but did find the above message interesting for its mention of a "grey alien" and UFOs in connection with Marian apparitions; Medjugorje. Whether or not the person is a troll  or for real, who can say, but it's an interesting thread for its inclusion of aliens, greys, Mary as UFO/alien, and seemingly "rogue" messages and manifestations at Medjugorje.

Related posts: my articles at UFO Digest: Speculation on Mary as a Trickster
and BVM Apparitions, UFOs and Deceptions

American Academy of Religion and the Paranormal

Oh, this is good; I was delighted to come across this item.  The following article addresses the question of why academics who seriously study metaphysics, philosophies, and religions just won't go there when it comes to UFOs, telepathy, or the paranormal? Even disciplines like folklore won't go too near those subjects, and when they do, it's a bit gingerly. Whether it's folklore, cultural anthropology, or another field of study that enthusiastically delves into sacred mythic studies,  the paranormal-UFO-Fortean-world- of -the- plain-weird is, if considered at all, all too frequently bubble wrapped in layers of academic justifications. Meaning, an appropriate judgement and stance must be made about these things: alien abductions and aliens and UFOs aren't really seen or experienced as is; they are figurative, metaphorical, psychological illustrations of angst, shared cultural anxieties, disassociation between the masses and the infrastructure.

Often these disciplines have nothing to with psychology or psychiatry, yet  when exploring UFOs, for example, one must behave as if they have a legitimate reason for dissecting a supernatural experience within the framework of analysis. To be fair, religious experience is also treated this way much of the time; customs, beliefs, rites, of "the folk" are treated as quaint or interesting -- anything but "real."

In the following article by Mark Oppenheimer for the

New York Times The Burning Bush They'll Buy, but Not ESP or Alien Abduction these issues are brought to light. The yearly meeting of minds at the American Academy of Religion conference in Atlanta is the focus of the article, and what Dr. Kirpal at Rice University has to say about this exclusion of the paranormal and UFOs from academia:

According to Dr. Kripal, their omission is evidence of a persistent bias among religion scholars, happy to consider the inexplicable, like miracles, as long as they fit a familiar narrative, like Judaism or Christianity.
“There is resistance in the way our universities are set up, in the elite culture of higher education,” says Dr. Kripal, 48, who grew up in Nebraska and once planned to be a Benedictine monk. “Paranormal events completely violate the epistemologies around which we have formed our own knowledge.
“The sciences study objects and use mechanistic cause models to track them. The humanities specialize in subjectivity, meaning, consciousness, art, religion. Paranormal events violate that division. They clearly involve human subjectivity, and they clearly involve objects out there.”

 In other words, it is one thing to study a miracle a thousand years old — that seems a safe question for the historian or the theologian. But what to do with people who say they were abducted by a U.F.O. last week?

“The easiest way to deal with them is to dismiss them, or humiliate them, or claim they are fraudulent, or mistaken,” Dr. Kripal says.

Indeed, as we well know. While others may agree with Dr. Kirpal to a point, and, some disciplines do look into these areas, the difference is this:

Dr. Kirpal . . . is sympathetic to the possibility that the paranormal may be real — not just the product of people’s false perceptions.

Vatican Says More Exorcists Needed

Today's Vatican news is interesting, by itself, but also in context of previous news items, like the Vatican's recent approval of Opus Sanctorum Angelorum ( see my blog post The Vatican and Opus Sanctorum Angelorum)

and the Vatican's announcement in September of this year that ET/aliens almost certainly exist.

Reading today's news alerts, we find this item about the church training would be exorcists here in the U.S.:

Overwhelmed with requests for exorcists, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are holding a special training workshop in Baltimore this weekend to teach clerics the esoteric rite, the Catholic News Service reported.

The church has signed up 56 bishops and 66 priests for the two-day workshop that began on Friday, seeking to boost the small group of just five or six American exorcists that the church currently has on its books. Exorcists wanted: apply to Catholic Church (Reuters)

"Overwhelmed with requests for exorcists." It's interesting there has been an upswing in events that lead some to interpret them as demonic possessions, and in need of exorcists. Bishop Thomas Paprocki,(Illinois) was quoted saying that ". . . each diocese should have its own exorcist," and adding that he doesn't know why "there was increased demand for exorcisms, which he noted were rarely performed."  And yet, the Vatican has given approval to train more exorcists, which implies, heavily, that more exorcisms are needed, which also implies, Satan is ever more visible these days.

The New York Times suggests one reason for the increased need of exorcising priests in the U.S.: Catholic Church Needs Exorcists

But with numerous Catholic immigrants coming to the United States from nations where exorcisms are taken seriously, the church's handful of exorcists have become overwhelmed.

The training stresses the importance of addressing the psychological health of the patient victim possessed individual:

...the possibly possessed person must be checked out by a psychologist to make sure they are not mentally ill before a bishop will allow an exorcism to proceed.

But don't misunderstand, while I am no Christian, not religious, and don't believe in any mainstream religious dogma in any way, what some label, or believe to be "Satan," and "demonic," I believe exists. Labels and interpretation, framing within specific religious structures aside, there are negative energies afoot. Maybe some are even the very same ETs the Church has recently extended benign welcoming arms towards.

The world has gone exceedingly mad these past couple of years, no one can argue it hasn't. The questions of our own fears, confusions and  anxieties projected outwards as cause for these signals in our world are expected, eliciting all kinds of metaphysical and esoteric discussions. Or are these fears, confusions, and anxieties responses to the evil we encounter every day? Or some of both, most likely. It's not as simplistic and neat a thing to say, as the rational-skeptical-secular-humanist would, that we're disassociating or labeling pathologies as religious manifestations of demons. It's also not so literal that, yes Virginia, there is a Devil. No there isn't. But really, it's a moot point. There is evil, and nastiness, and negative energies, and entities with malevolent intent, and our own projected fears, all congealing together in a seething mass that we don't know how to control.

The Vatican knows this, and some within the domed infrastructure of seeming altruistic global goodness believe, some don't, but all agree on basic tenets that are innate components of that infrastructure: control, power, and the manipulation of knowledge.

On JREF: "Endorsing Our Lady of Fatima is endorsing the Moon Goddess"

New thread on the uber-skeptic forum JREF (James Randi message boards) titled"Endorsing Our Lady of Fatima is endorsing the Moon Goddess" I'm not sure what the OP's intent or point is; and it's interesting he/she posted it on a skeptic forum -- a pathological skeptic forum, as the JREF is. The usual replies of snarky retorts, but an interesting idea from the OP. . .

From the JREF: The Latest Virgin News

From the James Randi site, The Amazing Randi comments on a letter he received from a fellow skeptic and anti-woo. (Randi comments on a letter: The Latest Virgin News.) The letter writer is astounded by the beliefs of "woos" in regards to a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (For those unfamiliar with James Randi, he is a so-called skeptic, really, a pathological debunker. He's also an author and was a stage magician, and has been around for decades. His site is full of skeptic links and news, including a very busy and popular forum.) The letter writer describes a news item he saw about Our Lady of Guadalupe, where the religious can hear the heartbeat by putting their ear up to the painted pregnant Virgin, or see her eye move.

I'm not sure why this letter writer, as well as Randi's, responses bother me. It's not that I believe that the faithful can hear the heartbeat in the pregnant painted stomach, or that Mary's eye moves. I'm not even a Christian. So what do I care?

Part of it is simply the rude attitude on the part of Randi, the letter writer, and the ones who left comments. Insults and rudeness are a given in that crowd, and they feel perfectly justified, for they will tell you they have the right. When it comes to combating base superstition, anything goes, they say. Another reason it bothers me is because clearly, as with all things like this, things simply aren't so black and white. Much more is afoot, and sometimes it is magic, (or magick) sometimes it's devious aliens with advanced technology, it's a symbiotic dance between ourselves, our inner selves, and out there . . . it's many things, manifesting in many ways, through many things, including icons, religious symbols, . . .

There is a line most of draw in this context. I have no patience, or politeness, for those who use religion to persecute or oppress. Homophobics and misogynists, child abusers, and those who want to impose a theocracy on the rest of us deserve our outrage.

But that's a different context.

Rational explanations are given by some on the Randi forum for this vulgar display of relgious faith. A common one is that in times of cultural or political anxiety, people start believing weird shit. Sigh.

If one believes in aliens, one could say it's the aliens having fun with us. If one believes that the mind and spirit work together in fantastic ways, one could suggest that the eye of Mary really does move -- for them. Who can say?