Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Priest Expels Weeping Statue Man

Western Australia's Rockingham parish priest, Fr Finbarr Walsh, has expelled a self-styled visionary who has a "weeping" statue of the Virgin and is reputed to have Christ's wounds, saying that the apparitions, wounds, and statues' tears may be fake.

PerthNow reports that Fr Walsh, who is parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes, had previously been a backer of Ron Jakeman and consulted Archbishop Barry Hickey before deciding to order Mr Jakeman out.

"I told him to leave. The (reason) is my business," Fr Walsh told The Sunday Times."But it was serious or I wouldn't have thrown him out. He (Mr Jakeman) was a nuisance to the place ... a huge embarrassment. "

"I told him to go back to Brisbane, but he might think he is entitled to come back. If he does we will see what happens. It was never proved he had the apparitions. We relied on his word. There was no outward evidence. Most of the messages were vague and wordy - too many words and too little solid teaching in them. "

"These people say they have these things (messages) in their minds and write them down. Whether or not they come from Our Lady (Virgin Mary) is another matter. There is probably some doubt now."They (stigmata) could easily be faked. You just don't know. He could make them up before showing them (his hands) to us."

Mr Jakeman arrived in Rockingham from Brisbane about seven years ago when he teamed up with Patty Powell and her twin sister Eileen Giles to turn Ms Powell's house into the Family House of Prayer.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce