- Veronica Lueken
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Veronica Lueken (pronounced LEW-ken) (July 12, 1923 - August 3, 1995) was a Roman Catholic housewife who lived in Bayside, New York. From 1970 until her death, she reported to experience apparitions of the Virgin Mary and numerous Catholic saints. She gave messages from them at both Saint Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in Bayside, and at the Vatican Pavilion in Flushing Meadows Park (site of the 1964 New York World's Fair).
Bishop Francis 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] for example, propounding sedevacantism.
Contents
Marian apparitions
In June 1968, Lueken reported experiencing her first manifestation when she smelled a perfume of roses in her car while praying for the dying Robert Kennedy. She claimed that Saint Thérèse of Lisieux appeared to her and dictated sacred poem-messages.
Lueken reported her first Marian vision in her home on April 7, 1970. The Virgin Mary was reportedly informing her that she would appear on the grounds of the old St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Bayside on June 18, 1970, and subsequently, on all great feast days of the Catholic Church. From that day, Lueken reported a series of Marian apparitions on the property of St Robert Bellarmine's Roman Catholic Church at Bayside. According to her report, Mary asked her to establish a Marian shrine at the site on April 7, 1970, and to hold Rosary Vigils of reparation and also Sunday holy hours of reparation for the Pope and priests. Mrs. Lueken began to type up and circulate her prophecies, many of which had apocalyptic content.
Overwhelmed by the influx of an estimated five hundred to two thousand Marian devotees, the parish ministers fenced off the church precincts in December 1974. In 1975, Monsignor James King, Chancellor of the Brooklyn Diocese, announced that the diocese did not believe in Veronica's apparitions.
Meanwhile, 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 Saint Joseph, Saint Paul, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Theresa of Avila, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Bernadette Soubrious and Saint Robert Bellarmine, amongst others. The Archangel Michael and the Archangel Gabriel were also said to have appeared to her.
One characteristic in support of Lueken's testimony was that of ecstasy, a high state of prayer and contemplation experienced by many saints in the Church. Most of the public apparitions occurred during the Rosary Vigils. During these Vigils, Lueken would fall into ecstasy where she would then see the Virgin Mary and other heavenly personages. Her exterior modesty and expression would take on characteristics reflecting ecstasy (which was witnessed many times by devotees in her presence). Her eyes would never blink during the time of ecstasy. She would describe the vision given her and repeat what she heard. Almost all of the ecstasies were recorded live on audio tape in the presence of hundreds of pilgrims.
Following the official church rejection, Lueken and her followers then assembled on a traffic island near the site of the alleged visitation (1974/75), until they negotiated a permanent site of worship at Flushing Meadows. The Rosary Vigils and Holy Hours continue here till this day.
She and her followers established Our Lady of the Roses Shrine, which survived her death in 1995. At the apex of this organization were Lueken (President) and her husband, Arthur (Vice President), Mrs. Ann Ferguson (Secretary), and Miss Maurine Ferguson and Mr. Michael Mangan (board members). Accompanying them, a Lay Order of Saint Michael existed to organize prayer vigils and assist the increasingly infirm and aging Lueken in administrative responsibilities associated with corresponding with her followers. Since Lueken described her experiences, other unrecognized Marian apparitions have occurred in Lubbock, Texas (1988–1989) and Conyers, Georgia (1989), and have incorporated similar apocalyptic motifs in their messages.
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 Bayside, as well as the appearance of a healing spring, and the area would become the venue of a national Marian shrine in the United States.
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 Francis 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.At the Eternal Word Television Network, Father Mark Gantley, JCL, has clarified 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. For further information, consult the entry on Marian apparitions.
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. [2]
Organizations spreading the message
These Last Days Ministries
Among the first websites to appear in support and to promote Lueken's messages was These Last Days Ministries [3], which had a weekly radio show promoting the messages. The TLDM website contains most of the messages given to Veronica Lueken in audio as well as text. It is updated daily with articles that tie world events to prophecies given to her. These Last Days Ministries in located in Lowell, Michigan and run by Gary Wohlscheid.
St. Michael's World Apostolate
St Michael's World Apostolate (SMWA) is the official organization in charge of the Bayside Mission. It is staffed full-time by the lay Order of St. Michael, a Roman Catholic community of seven celibate lay men who have dedicated their lives to promoting Lueken's messages. The 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. 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.
Michael Mangan is president of SMWA and head of the lay Order of St. Michael. He joined Lueken's mission in 1978 and from 1989 to 1995 was in daily telephone contact with her. Some in the Bayside movement dispute Mangan and SMWA's authority.[4]
The SWMA claims prophecies may be valid but do not come to pass; Lueken was told over twenty times in the messages that all prophecy is conditional and does not have to happen [5]
Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers Shrine
The very first web site created and dedicated to the dissemination of the messages received by Veronica Lueken from the Blessed Virgin Mary at Bayside, NY.
See also
- Father Malachi Martin
- Sedevacantism
References
- ^ "Declaration Concerning the "Bayside Movement"." Letter of Bishop John Mugavero of Brooklyn. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
- ^ "Complaints by SMWA on Diocecean investigation". http://www.smwa.org/documents/Bayside_The_Facts_Revealed/Bayside_Facts_Revealed.html.
- ^ "These Last Days Ministries website". http://www.tldm.org. Retrieved 09-09-2011.
- ^ "Open Letter to the Promoters of Our Lady of the Roses". Roses From Heaven. http://www.rosesfromheaven.com/SMWA.html. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
- ^ "Alleged messages illustrating prophecy is conditional". St. Michaels World Apostolate. http://www.smwa.org/Message/Text/Prophecy_is_conditional.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
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: Oakland: Our Lady's Worker of Northern California: 1997.
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/ John hopkins, 1999) has a chapter on Bayside which includes interviews with supporters and opponents.
External links
Categories:- 1923 births
- 1995 deaths
- American Roman Catholics
- Angelic visionaries
- Marian visionaries
- People from Queens
- Roman Catholic activists
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