THE STATUS OF NAJU
IN THE CHURCH
December
2002
This article is
written in response to many inquiries that we receive about the status of
Naju in the Church. Additional information can be found in our Special
Issues (1998 #1, 1998 #2 and 1998 #3) and also on our web site: www.marys-touch.com.
I.
THE MESSAGES AND MIRACULOUS SIGNS IN NAJU, KOREA
1. Messages
Julia
Kim received the first message from the Blessed Mother on July 18, 1985. (Interestingly,
Our Lady’s first apparition to St. Catherine Labouré of the Miraculous
Medal in Paris, France, was also on July 18 (1830).)
Since then, she has received many more messages from Our Lord and
Our Lady with irregular intervals between them.
Sometimes, she received more than one messages on one day; other
times, with an interval of a few weeks or months between messages.
Sometimes, she received messages in ecstasy; other times, while
being awake. Most recently,
Julia received the Lord’s message on August 15, 2002, which is on our
web site and can also been seen in a recent video: Who Will Sew Up My
Torn Heart . . . ?”
2.
Tears and tears of blood from the Blessed Mother’s statue
Clear
tears were first shed on June 30, 1985, while bloody tears began on
October 19, 1986. Our
Lady’s weeping lasted intermittently for a total of exactly 700 days
until January 14, 1992. According
to Fr. Raymond Spies, Julia’s spiritual director, this number 700
means a strong emphasis and continuity.
3.
Fragrant oil
Oil
with an intense sweet fragrance, similar to (but not the same as) the
fragrance of roses, began exuding from the Blessed Mother’s statue on
November 24, 1992, and lasted for exactly 700 consecutive days until
October 23, 1994. During that period, the Chapel, where the statue was (and
still is), was continuously filled with fragrance.
More recently, fragrant oil dripped down on the ground on the
Blessed Mother’s mountain near Naju several times while Julia and her
helpers were doing the Stations of the Cross.
4.
Fragrance of Roses
Sometimes
a powerful fragrance of roses fills the Chapel all night during the
overnight prayer meeting; other times, it lasts only briefly. Some people smell this fragrance from the water from the
Blessed Mother’s spring on the mountain, from the message book, from
photographs, and so on. Some
people experience the fragrance while writing their testimonies.
Sometimes, the fragrance can be smelled only by a particular person
(who may be undergoing conversion or physical healing).
5.
Eucharistic miracle involving changes of the Eucharistic species
into visible flesh and blood
This
miracle occurred more than twelve times through Julia, in the Naju parish
church and Chapel, on the mountain in Naju; in the Cathedral in Sibu,
Malaysia, in a hotel room in Rome, in St. Francis Church in Lanciano,
Italy, in St. Anthony Church in Kailua, Hawaii, and in the Holy Father’s
chapel in the Vatican. The
most recent one was in the Naju parish church on October 19, 1996.
6.
Miraculous descent of the Eucharist
This
miracle occurred eight times, in the Chapel and on the mountain in Naju.
The most recent one was on the Blessed Mother’s mountain on
January 1, 2002. Some of the
Sacred Hosts that came down miraculously were taken to the Kwangju
Archdiocesan office and others were consumed at the instruction of the
bishop or priest.
7.
Stigmata on Julia
Visible
bloody wounds appeared miraculously on Julia’s body (palms, feet, and
side) several times so far. They
lasted for a few days and then disappeared, probably because Julia prayed
for that. The Stigmata
usually occurred when Julia was suffering the pains of Our Lord on the
Cross.
8.
Descent of Our Lord’s Precious Blood on the Blessed Mother’s
mountain near Naju
Between
November 9, 2001 and August 15, 2002, Our Lord’s Precious Blood
descended miraculously on the Blessed Mother’s mountain several times
and stained thousands of little rocks.
Julia saw that Our Lord’s Sacred Heart was torn apart because of
people’s sins and their refusal to repent and the blood and pieces of
muscles pouring out of the Sacred Heart.
On one of the rocks collected on August 15, 2002, the Precious
Blood has been alternating between solidifying and liquefying.
The blood-stained rocks are being preserved in Naju and will
probably be displayed in the Basilica which will be built after an
official Church recognition of Naju.
9.
Countless spiritual and physical healings
Lately,
the water from the Blessed Mother’s spring on the mountain has
frequently been a medium for healings.
Many times, Julia suffers the same pains that the person whose
illness is being healed.
II.
POSITIVE RESPONSES BY CHURCH LEADERS
1.
Bishop Daniel Chi of the Wonju Diocese in Korea visited Naju
in January 1990 for a Novena prayer.
After witnessing the tears of blood on the Blessed Mother’s
statue, he wept and left a written testimony: I clearly saw and firmly
believe.
2.
Archbishop Giovanni Bulaitis, the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio in
Korea until 1997, visited Naju on November 24, 1994, and witnessed a
miraculous descent of the Eucharist two times.
He wholeheartedly accepted these as genuine signs from God and
accordingly reported them to the Holy Father and Cardinals in the Vatican.
He has been spreading the information to many Church leaders in
Europe.
3.
Bishop Dominic Su of Sibu, Malaysia, celebrated Mass on the
Blessed Mother’s mountain in August 1995 and witnessed a miraculous
change of the Eucharistic species into visible flesh and blood.
He accepted it as an authentic miracle and a call for him to more
vigorously teach the truth about the Holy Eucharist.
4.
Bishop Roman Danylak from Toronto, Canada, celebrated Mass
on the same mountain in September 1995 and witnessed another Eucharistic
miracle. He wrote a sworn
testimony and has been giving testimonies in many countries.
5.
On October 31, 1995, the Holy Father witnessed a Eucharistic
miracle through Julia in his chapel in the Vatican.
Some months later when he was with a bishop from Korea (Most Rev.
William McNaughton of the Inchon Diocese), he said that he saw the
Eucharistic miracle through Julia.
In 1997 and afterwards, a major Catholic TV station in Italy and the
Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel in Monte Sant'Angelo, Italy, were allowed by the Holy See to publicize
the same Eucharistic miracle. The
Holy Father also urged the Korean bishops who were on their ad limina
visit to share the wonderful graces in Naju, especially with people in
Asia.
6.
Bishop Dominic Su in Malaysia witnessed another Eucharistic
miracle through Julia during her visit to his diocese in Malaysia in
September 1996 and issued a statement officially recognizing it, as this
miracle occurred within his diocese.
7.
Bishop Paul Kim of the Cheju Diocese in Korea visited Naju
on June 12, 1997 and witnessed a Sacred Host that miraculously descended. During his ad limina visit, he made a detailed report
to the Holy Father and asked him to open an international investigation.
The Holy Father reportedly sent down some instructions to the
proper Congregations. Bishop
Kim informs us that the Holy Father had a deeply warm feeling toward the
Blessed Mother in Naju and Julia.
8.
Bishop Dominic Su visited Naju again on August 15, 2002, and
witnessed Our Lord’s Precious Blood descended on the mountain.
After his return to Malaysia, he wrote a testimony.
III.
REJECTION OF NAJU BY THE MODERNIST CLERGY IN KOREA
In
the early years of the messages and signs in Naju, Archbishop Victorinus
Yoon of the Kwangju Archdiocese, which covers the Naju parish, was quite
favorable toward Julia. However,
he was gradually persuaded by the progressive priests surrounding him, and
eventually issued a negative statement or declaration on January 1, 1998. His stance toward Naju is being maintained by his successor,
Archbishop Andrew Choi. Most
of the twenty Korean bishops have been going along with the decision by
the Kwangju Archdiocese. A
few bishops and some priests in Korea continue their positive stance on
Naju. The flow of many
pilgrims — both Korean and foreign — continues.
Even
though Korea had about 20,000 Catholic martyrs from the mid-18th
century until the late 19th century and still has a large
number of priests, religious, and laity who are solidly faithful to the
traditional Catholic teachings, loyal to the Holy Father, and devout in
their Eucharistic and Marian devotion, it cannot be said that the Catholic
Faith and Tradition has landed its root firmly and deeply among the Korean
people and culture yet. After
Korea was liberated from the Japanese colonization at the end of World War
II, Protestant denominations grew at phenomenal rates partly because of
the effective work by the American missionaries. (Now, about one quarter
of the Korean population of 47 mil. are Protestants compared to only about
six to seven percent for Catholics.)
For the past several decades, the Catholic Church in Korea has been
making considerable efforts to accommodate the Protestant brethren as well
as the traditional Buddhist and Confucian followers and has not been
adequately assertive in unequivocally proclaiming and propagating the
traditional Catholic teachings. Also,
many of the leading theologians in Korea were trained in Europe,
especially in Germany and Austria. Frequently,
their loyalty to Rome seems doubtful.
Then, from the mid-1960s, there were the tidal waves of the
so-called The Spirit of Vatican II, which is actually a progressive
spirit, disloyal to the authentic Catholic Faith and Tradition and based
on distortions and exaggerations of the true teachings of the Second
Vatican Council. As widely
known, the progressive theologians and their followers seized that
opportunity to implement their modernist, secular, Protestant-like ideas.
Soon after Vatican II, kneelers in all Korean Catholic churches
were removed; the beautiful Catholic tradition of genuflection (they now
bow instead) and kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament disappeared; many
of the Blessed Mother’s statues were taken away; communion on the tongue
was virtually prohibited; the leading liberal theologians have been
advocating female priesthood, abolishment of priestly celibacy, election
of bishops by priests and laity, adapting the Church doctrines to the
modern needs, etc. and have been guiding the Sisters who teach Catechism;
Buddhist monks have sometimes been invited to speak in Catholic churches;
the ban on “Chesa (an old custom in Korea of ancestor worshipping
or veneration)” was lifted (many Korean Catholics of the 19th
Century were martyred for discontinuing to practice “Chesa”);
and more. In the mean time, a
significant number of the priests in Korea have lost their sense of
heavenly vocation and got married.
The
theologian and priest who wrote the Kwangju Archbishop’s negative
declaration on Naju defended this declaration in his article carried in
the official magazine of the Korean Bishops’ Conference, Pastoral
Care, two months after the declaration.
In it, he stated that the real reason for rejecting the Eucharistic
phenomena in Naju was “to seek the grand objective of pursuing unity
with Protestants.” Is
he proposing that Catholic teachings be compromised in order to unite with
Protestants? Is he saying
that we should adopt the Protestant belief that Christ is present in the
Eucharist only in a symbolic way? Is
he suggesting that Church teachings are human products and, therefore, can
be altered by humans? He even
seemed to have some air of pride and satisfaction in having provided his
bishop with a theological justification.
The Kwangju Archbishop’s declaration and subsequent arguments by
some Korean theologians state that the Eucharistic miracles are in
conflict with Church teaching that says that the Eucharistic species must
remain unchanged and also that descents of the Eucharist are in conflict
with Church teaching that says that Eucharist can be formed only through
consecration by validly-ordained priests.
(By this statement, the Korean theologians are making a mockery of
all the Eucharistic miracles in Church history and the Church decisions
that officially approved many of the miracles.)
As explained elsewhere (in the three Special Issues of Mary’s
Touch 1998 and on the Mary’s Touch web site), these statements by
the Korean theologians are themselves outright distortions of the
authentic Catholic teachings. The
Korean theologians are referring to the Fourth Lateran Council and the
Council of Trent to defend their views, but, on other occasions, they
usually discredit the Church teachings prior to Vatican II — especially
the teachings of the Council of Trent, which clarified Church teachings
against the Protestant errors. In
Korea, the modernist forces are powerful in the Church and hold teaching
positions in seminaries and Catholic universities.
They also get involved in some of the political issues through
their influential organization called “Priests for Social Justice,”
which has also been exerting a major influence in blocking Naju.
They seem to have many reasons to feel confident that they can
easily crush something like Naju. Whether
the messages and signs are really coming from God or not seems to be
beyond their interest.
IV.
CONCLUSION
What
is going on in Korea is an intense spiritual battle. It is a war being waged all over the world to decide the fate
of the human race, but is currently being fought especially intensely in
Korea. In some ways, Korea
seems to be at the focal point in this spiritual war.
Korea has the highest abortion rate in the world: more than 50% of
all pregnancies end in abortion. North
Korea has the only remaining Stalinist dictatorship, now threatening world
peace, while starving its own people.
The Blessed Mother has been giving messages of grave importance and
pouring down so many miraculous signs in Naju.
When she wins the battle in Korea, the whole continent of Asia may
open up for her advances, and the faith in the West may also be
revitalized.
This
is a difficult time for the Church and for everyone who stands up for the
Truth. In Naju, Our Lady has
repeatedly said that, with the help of her little-but-devoted children,
her Immaculate Heart will surely triumph.
Sang
M. Lee
Mary's Touch By Mail
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