Excerpts From Benedict XVI's Interview on Polish Television
Vatican City, October 16, 2005

"I am near the Pope (John Paul II) and now he helps me to be near the Lord and I try to enter this atmosphere of prayer, of love for our Lord, for Our Lady and I entrust myself to his prayers. S o there is a permanent dialogue and we're close to each other in a new way, in a very deep way."

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Matter of Faith
[Source: Birmingham News (Alabama), August 5, 2005]

Jason Halverson, a 21-year-old Canadian, sits in a wheelchair on the grounds of Caritas, an organization in Shelby County that promotes the authenticity of reported visions of the Virgin Mary.

Halverson left Canada for the first time in his life this week and came to Alabama from British Columbia with a clear goal in mind: Miraculous healing of a spinal cord injury.

''I hope I get some use of my body back,'' he said.

Halverson was in a car wreck four years ago, eight days before his high school graduation. The accident left him paralyzed from the chest down.

He came to see Marija Lunetti, one of six people who began claiming in 1981 that the Virgin Mary appeared to them in their village of Medjugorje, in the former Yugoslavia.

Lunetti has been making public appearances since Monday on the grounds of Caritas, mingling with pilgrims. Her last public appearance is expected to be today. She has been kneeling and praying with pilgrims every evening at about 6.

After a civil war and the fall of communism, the Croatian Catholic village where she grew up now has a booming economy based on the tourism of pilgrims from around the globe.

Returning to Croatia

Lunetti plans to fly from Birmingham back to Medjugorje on Monday, with about 200 pilgrims on a private charter.

Since 1988, when she came to Birmingham to donate a kidney to her brother, Andrija Pavlovic, at UAB Hospital, Lunetti has had dozens of her visions in Shelby County, under a pine tree in a field across from the headquarters of Caritas.

More than 1,000 pilgrims converged on Shelby County this week, to be with Lunetti when she had visions.

''We wanted to go to Medjugorje, but it would be hard to get our son there,'' said Joe Halverson, Jason's father.

For them, it's a chance to be in the presence of a visionary, who they feel may one day, perhaps a century from now, be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as having been personally visited by Mary, the mother of Jesus.

They believe going before Mary will help them gain favor with her son, Jesus Christ, the son of God. ''We believe in the intercession of saints,'' Joe Halverson said.

The Catholic Church has recognized similar apparitions in the past as authentic. Three young children from the rural village of Fatima, Portugal, claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary over a six month period starting in May of 1917.

The Virgin Mary was said to have appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, in 1858. Pope Pius XI canonized Bernadette as a saint in 1933.

The church has declared at least eight healings at Lourdes as miraculous. Several hundred claimed miraculous healings at Medjugorje are under study by the Roman Catholic Church.

''These things happen out in the country to humble, poor people, usually children,'' said Fernando Valverde, a retired Army Ranger who lives in Orlando and has been at Caritas this week. ''I think God picks simple people.''

Lunetti says that she has experienced personal messages from the Virgin Mary daily since 1981.

''I truly believe that she does,'' said Jane Borofka, a pilgrim from Duluth, Minn. ''I have no doubt. Why would she lie?''

A matter of faith

Others acknowledge it is simply a matter of faith, not something that can be proved or disproved scientifically.

''Without faith, this is meaningless,'' said Joan Moynagh, a retired professor of music from Miami University of Ohio. ''You have to accept the fact of mystery.''

The visionaries have had no reason to continue the draining discipline of public scrutiny for more than 24 years, Moynagh said. ''The life they've lived is modest,'' she said. ''The discipline they've practiced since the visions started is amazing, with daily prayer, devotion, living lives of holiness. How could these children have thought this up?''

The Medjugorje visionaries have been subjected to rigorous psychological testing. In 1983, Yugoslavian psychiatrist Ludvik Stopar hypnotized Marija and found her descriptions of the visions under hypnosis matched her conscious descriptions. He tested all six youths and found them psychologically normal.

In 1984, a team of French doctors tested them, conducting electrocardiograms and measuring the movement of eyes, larynx and reflexes. They documented a simultaneous fixing of the gaze on an identical point, with eye movement ending at the same time. They concluded the bodily reactions were inexplicable.

Plenty of skeptics have offered explanations, calling it a case of collective hysteria and self-induced hallucinations.

Unlike other visionaries who became priests or nuns, the six youths from Medjugorje have grown up, gotten married and tried to live normal lives.

Lunetti lives near Milan, Italy, with her husband, businessman Paolo Lunetti, and their four sons, ages 2, 8, 9 and 12.

''A lot of people think the visionaries are out for money,'' said John Milan, of Fort St. John, British Columbia. ''She lives a simple life. When you're in the limelight like that, it's a tough job.''

Lunetti seems to have changed very little since 1988 when she first came to Birmingham as a shy peasant girl from a remote village in Eastern Europe. She wears plain clothing, and seems to be only slightly more comfortable in the middle of a crowd. She still seems to prefer being away from the attention, but also feels obligated to share what she believes is a special privilege from heaven.

''It's really difficult,'' she said in an interview this week. ''We have so many people coming to see us. It's busy, busy. This life is too busy, too crazy.''

Her efforts to avoid attention are thwarted when people come knocking at her door at their house in Italy. She tries to spend time each summer at a home she maintains in Medjugorje, where pilgrims come to pray with her and the other visionaries.

''From the beginning on the hill (where the first vision in Medjugorje took place), we try to live like heaven in our daily life,'' Lunetti said.

1,000 Pray with Visionary in Shelby County Field
[Source: Birmingham News (Alabama), August 4, 2005]

About 1,000 people gathered in a Shelby County field Wednesday night to pray with a visionary who reports visions of the Virgin Mary.

Marija Lunetti, who claims to have been visited by the mother of Jesus every day since 1981, said the Virgin Mary appeared to her wearing a gray dress and a long veil.

Lunetti said Mary prayed over the crowd, blessed the objects that they brought and said she would appear again tonight.

Wednesday's vision occurred at 6:42 p.m. and lasted for about two minutes.

Lunetti's last public appearance during her visit here will be Friday at a field across from the headquarters of Caritas of Birmingham, which promotes the visions that began in Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, in 1981.

Artists Fear Santuario Will Control Art in Its Building
[Source: The Santa Fe New Mexican (New Mexico), July 30, 2005]

With the control of the Santuario de Guadalupe set to shift back to its original parish after 30 years, local artists are voicing concerns about the church's plans to alter the lineup of art shows, concerts and related events.

The regime switch, scheduled to be announced in a news conference at the church at 4 p.m. today, comes after the Guadalupe Historic Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization, had remodeled the church over three decades and turned it into a venue for performing arts, art shows and other events.

In the last 10 years, the santuario attracted public outcry over its allegedly sacrilegious depictions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Hispanic Virgin Mary.

In 2000, the foundation removed Velarde artist Katherine Wells' golden-haired version of Our Lady, titled Barbielupe, from public display. Three years earlier, parishioners stormed the santuario to complain about an art exhibit using nude figures.

Wells, reached by phone at her home Friday afternoon, said she was disappointed the foundation showed little interest at the time in finding the Christian value in her work.

Her main concern in the parish's taking over the santuario, she said, was the possibility its leadership would carry the same "inconsistent" stance on artistic expression as the foundation.

Foundation board president Leo Kahn and board member Joe Martinez could not be reached for comment Friday. Board member C.F. Lucero refused comment.

"I would hope that they would have a little more liberal policy about the presentation of religious images," Wells said.

"I would worry that they would be very conservative and stifle free expression among artists."

The santuario hosted a number of musical acts after being remodeled, ranging from folk singers to pianists.

Pamela Epple, an oboist and founding member of Serenada de Santa Fe, a classical-music troupe, will play a series of concerts at the santuario starting in September.

After a conversation in May with the Rev. Tien-Tri Nguyen, she said, she felt confident the music scene at the santuario would stay roughly intact. Nguyen was out of the office Friday and couldn't be reached for comment.

Epple said Nguyen told her he wouldn't authorize rock and pop music acts out of respect for the santuario's sacred ground, but he admitted he was an avid music fan and would honor the venue's musical tradition.

"Whether that comes to pass, that's anyone's guess," she said.

Epple said it was premature to conclude the parish's return to controlling the santuario--the foundation's lease expires in December--would result with a wave of conservatism washing over featured events.

"I hope that they just let (the status quo) stay for the community," she said. "As a musician, my biggest fear is that we won't have our many rehearsals there."

The santuario isn't one of the most glamorous venues in town, Epple said, with sometimes uncomfortable seats and lackluster bathrooms.

But it features a Yamaha piano she called "one of the best in Santa Fe," which along with spectacular acoustics provides a powerful show for those in attendance.

"There really isn't anything in this community that can do what the santuario can," she said.

The da Vinci Duo Gets a Makeover
[Source: Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada), August 30, 2005]

The best loved mother and daughter team in art is the Virgin Mary and Anna, or St. Anne. They were often joined by the Christ child. When Leonardo da Vinci depicted this family group, he opted for a traditional approach. But Sofonisba Anguissola, 85 years later, rejected tradition and made the mother-daughter duo role models for women.

Leonardo's work epitomizes the Renaissance style because it aims for naturalism, calmness and beauty. In an oil from about 1508, Leonardo places Anna, the Virgin Mary and Christ outdoors. His subject is not new. Icons and wall paintings of Anna seated with a smaller figure of the Virgin Mary in her lap and the Christ child in Mary's lap were well known by the time Leonardo put brush to panel.

The famous Florentine continues to make Anna the dominant figure and the source of this holy family.  Accordingly, he positions Anna's head at the top of a pyramidal composition and gives her a solid, bulky form. Her feet rest securely on the rocky ground and stabilize the group.

Her oval face is lit by a smile that looks ahead to Leonardo's Mona Lisa. The face looks somewhat gaunt; this tells us she is an older woman. Anna's lowered eyes point us to Mary, who has a plumper face.

Mary, a large woman, sits rather awkwardly in Anna's lap. She directs her attention--and ours--to the Christ child by her glance and affectionate gesture.

Having an adult sit in another adult's lap detracts from Leonardo's lifelike style. But instead of making Christ sit in Mary's lap, Leonardo places the child on the ground. He looks back to his mother while hugging a lamb. Such playfulness makes him look like a real child, but the lamb is also a sacrificial animal, reminding us of Christ's crucifixion.

So Leonardo's painting still follows tradition. But Sofonisba Anguissola, who was born in Cremona, trumps Leonardo's lifelikeness in her oil, painted in 1592.

In Anguissola's composition, Anna no longer dominates. It's the Virgin Mary's head we see at the centre, but she does not tower over the group the way Anna does in Leonardo's piece. Hierarchy gives way to naturalism.

Where Leonardo uses a misty mountain landscape, Sofonisba situates the group in a darkened room, illuminated by a candle. This domestic space represents the world of good women; in this way Anguissola succinctly conveys the morality of the women in her painting.

The Virgin Mary's bowed head moves us to Anna who, stooped and dressed in gray, sits on the left. Mary's lowered eyes direct us to the golden-haired nude Christ who leans against her legs.

Removing Mary from Anna's lap makes the scene more natural. Anguissola further domesticates her subject by having the characters engage in ordinary activities. Anna and her grandson exchange a piece of fruit.

Mary and Anna serve as role models for contemporary women. A wool-winding frame rests beside Anna, its presence attesting to the spinning and weaving of conscientious housewives. A small dog lies in front of the frame and looks out at the viewer. Dogs are not just pets; they symbolize a woman's loyalty to her family.

Additional male figures balance the feminine world. The little boy on the right is John the Baptist, Christ's cousin, but he also reflects the contemporary ideal of a woman having male children. And the barely visible old man in the background is probably Joseph. In bolting the door, he serves as the male guardian of the family.

Regina Haggo is teaching Mannerism and Baroque, a 10-week introduction to 16th- and 17th-century Italian art, at the Dundas Valley School of Art. Classes start the week of Sept. 26 and you can sign up for Monday or Friday afternoons. Call 905-628-6357 to register.

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