Private Revelation

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='thessalonian' date='Mar 15 2006, 11:47 AM']
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no offense. But he is.

[HisChild]

[quote name='Era Might' date='Mar 15 2006, 09:41 AM']In Mother Angelica's biography, Fr. Groeschel comments on Mother's "visions" (for example, she claims to have seen St. Michael many times). He says that he doesn't think they're real apparitions, but they're not delusions either. They're part of a "pious imagination" that is rooted in the spiritual life. This accounts for a lot of the visions of the Saints, which often contradict one another. They aren't necessarily actual visits from the Lord or others, but moreso spiritual imagery.
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That's goofy. Excuse me, because I love both Fr Groeschel and Mother Angelica, and have met both in the past. . .but, while he is a priest, I don't know how he can claim to have authority to know whether her visions are pious imagination or if they really happened. In the end, all 'Authority' aside, she's the only one who knows if she really saw something external or if they were figments.

[Norseman82]

I think what it boils down to in "average Joe" terms is that a private revelation may be authentic, but it is not [i]binding[/i] on the Church as a whole unless the Church says it is.