Christina Gallagher of the House of Prayer is feeling the pressure.
This report is to place on record the facts from the side of spokespersons for The House of Prayer regarding the efforts they made to fully and openly engage with TV3 during the days before the programme was scheduled for broadcast.
We are not in the least surprised that TV3 finally declined our offer and availability and at the last moment cynically refused to include any participation from our side in the programme.http://www.christinagallagher.org/en/st_111011.htm
Naturally, as we sought to engage responsibly, it was felt prudent to include legal advice since we were dealing with an entity that employs the underhand tactics of hidden cameras and microphones as well as deception and lies”, when none of such was necessary.
Senior spokespersons for The House of Prayer, working in contact with Christina and Fr McGinnity, continually and sincerely sought to reach agreement with TV3’s production and legal team from 23rd Sept through the weekend following, offering to meaningfully participate and in advance of the programme to fully address all questions etc. from the TV3 team.
Spokespersons for the House of Prayer were left for a period of 22 hours waiting for TV3 response.
All these efforts were finally in vain when after several delaying tactics, TV3 finally declined to agree the reasonable terms and conditions we sought, including being shown any finally edited material prior to broadcast, and the assurance that material given from our side would not be tampered with prior to the broadcast.
As already stated, we are not surprised that TV3 could not allow fairness and balance into what was just another black-propaganda exercise…and after all, when was Christina Gallagher or spokespersons for The House of Prayer EVER given the slightest level of fairness and honesty in what has been a vile media campaign of insults, vilification, mockery and lies now well into its 5th year?
In hindsight it is clear that TV3 never intended to allow the truth to be represented by inclusion of statements from our side. Such was the nature of the pathetic programme, any such inputs would have totally contradicted and derailed their cheap efforts to represent lies and sensation.
However, although expected, it was nevertheless sad to see a national TV channel descend to the depths of a gutter tabloid ….remarking, as they did, “We can do what we like because we have the licence” which is reminiscent of the words of Michael McCrory, (the instigator of the campaign against Christina Gallagher) as he described the Sunday World…“ a tabloid newspaper of ill-repute, willing to publish lies, and not concerned about proof”…(M.McCrory, March 2007)
We will comment further upon the damage and danger caused by the incitement to hatred and the effect this has had upon Christina’s life.
Questions and Issues:
QUESTIONS and ISSUES which would have been dealt with had TV3 permitted participation by the spokespersons for The House of Prayer:
• It would have been clearly stated that Christina Gallagher NEVER was involved in “fortune-telling”, and it would have challenged those faceless accusers to come out in the open with any evidence or proof of such.
• She is NOT a “healer”; she has NEVER claimed to have healed anyone but through Our Lady’s intercession, many have been healed when Christina prayed with them -only to prove the authenticity of her work and mission.
• How the allegation of wealth and ownership of multiple properties is totally false, explaining again the total separation of the Houses of Prayer in USA and Mexico, put in place by the free choice of the people there and are in a Charitable Trust in which Christina has no responsibility and from which she has never benefited.
• It would have been explained how there were names of some people from Ireland registered there at the outset to allow the efforts in the USA become established and only until the relevant individuals with the required skills were put in place, at which point all Irish resigned, and it would have been shown that none of those ever received any fees or benefits for their temporary and necessary roles.
• How regarding other properties, and despite the facts being many times explained publicly, the media persists in its false reports…for example how the house in Malahide, so much publicised and exaggerated, was provided for Christina to be a place of safety and refuge for her when she was hounded by media at her home in Knockmore peering into and photographing her very bedroom trying to make cheap ornaments appear expensive!
And how the house in Malahide is now also seriously needed to ensure she is close to hospitals due to her state of health and many illnesses.
How the modest home near Newport Co Mayo was acquired by Christina solely funded by royalties from sales of her own books.
How later , when she sold that house, she donated - as she was entitled to do - the proceeds of the sale to her daughter who then bought a home near Ballina which has also been crudely targeted.
Indeed, not only Christina’s daughter, but also her son and husband were the victims of vilification and invasion of privacy… Brendan’s house also being stalked by the The Sunday World which sought to question his ability to purchase such without receiving his mother’s help….DESPITE the fact that he is part of a successful plumbing company which he shares with his father.
Those crude, immoral comments by the Sunday World sought to damage Brendan’s reputation and put his livelihood at risk, but also displayed the vile nature of the that so-called “journalist” striving to cause pain and distress to all the innocent members of Christina Gallagher’s family.
And lastly, when Christina’s privacy and safety in Malahide were destroyed, and her life was being threatened, how the Fraternity decided to provide Christina with a fund to enable her to procure an alternative home in safety and privacy, doing this in a completely transparent and legal way with every donation being formally signed off for that purpose and most specifically for Christina to use as necessary, which explains the house in the UK.
• How her very life has been endangered, and threats received arising from the defamation and vilification published by the Sunday World newspaper.
• How The House of Prayer is NOT a cult and how totally the prayers and devotions which take place there are in absolute conformity with the Catholic Church.
• It would have been emphasised how those people who attend The House of Prayer are dedicated Catholics, active in their own parishes and are a most joyful and relaxed mixture of people of all ages and professions.
In particular it would have been stressed how the utter freedom and relaxation surrounding these people resoundingly demonstrates the complete absence of any features remotely reminiscent of ‘cult’! and, furthermore, how unaffected most of these people are from the fears and worries that are sweeping through the whole world as society disintegrates (as Christina already prophesied in the currency breakdown, the stockmarket collapse and the formation of the one-world bank -all now taking shape)
• How Christina’s work as a victim soul began, how she has been chosen to deliver God’s message, the special gifts she has been endowed with by The Holy Spirit including the gift of prophecy.
• How Christina’s messages to the world have been upheld by many miracles and how, through the intercession of Our Blessed Lady at The House of Prayer, over 700 testimonies of healings, conversions, vocations, and blessings of every kind have been received by people from Ireland and many other countries, to uphold the reality of Christina’s mission.
What a wonderful opportunity for TV3 to at least begin to tell the incredibly painful, but massively uplifting story of Christina’s life and just for once, to allow a little bit of truth and fact to be reported about Our Lady Queen of Peace House of Prayer and the very special Blessing and Graces which are to be found there by those who go there with a sincere heart.
It has been almost laughable that TV3 would conclude their botched programme giving the impression that there would be a “later programme produced involving participation from The House of Prayer.”
In light of how they have performed by disallowing us to participate and by the slander they permitted to be broadcast, we could not now have trust in them or encouragement to go forward -as we had been prepared to do.
How could any sincere party ever be expected to re-engage with an entity which seems lacking in values and whose only tools are deception, the use of nameless/faceless detractors, the inclusion of self proclaimed “arch-foes” of The House of Prayer and the shameless repetition of the Sunday World’s lies, defamation and slander?
Many horrific, slanderous and libellous allegations have been made against Christina Gallagher without a shred of evidence or proof. We would be interested if the people making such accusations were brought to us – to investigate where these accusations are coming from…
Not alone is it painful to know the depth of these offenses – in fact, it is a crime punishable in law and where formal counter action does have to be taken.
It is distressing that such very serious criminal accusations are made based on rumour or hearsay.
When confronted they personally WILL have to provide solid proof or face the consequences.
It is more distressing to see the purveyors of such accusations pretend to have also religious motives.
Concerning the House of Prayer
Also we would like to restate a few matters concerning The House of Prayer itself.
The House is open every day to visitors and for people wishing to spend some quiet time in prayer or participate in the daily prayers recited there. It is open to EVERYONE.
The affairs and accounts of The House of Prayer are totally separate from any personality and have always been properly administered and transparent to Dept of Revenue etc.
At the House of Prayer helpers, volunteers, directors, advisors etc come and go of their own free will…just as the normal dynamics of such in any well-run operation.
The House exists and is funded from the sale of religious articles and from donations received.
There is no membership and no collections have ever been taken up in the Chapel.
As for the despicable attack on Fr.McGinnity, we would point out that to recognise it for what it is -contrived, envious and malicious- one has only to recall his heroic stance as a ‘whistleblower’ to the inner Church authority while in the prestigious post of Senior Dean of the National Seminary, Maynooth.
As a doctor of theology, spiritual author and well-known retreat director for priests and religious he was responsible for priestly formation there.
His courageous approach to the bishops to ensure protection for seminarians who reported concerns to him in relation to another member of staff, were met with his dismissal from the prominent position he held and his being sent off to a remote assignment- a punitive manoeuvre which carried a loss of reputation.
Meanwhile the staff-member reported was promoted by the bishops as president and a short time later resigned through having to make a financial settlement with a young student (in an arrangement not admitting liability).
The outrageous treatment inflicted upon Fr.McGinnity by Church authority became widespread knowledge through The Ferns Inquiry and its subsequent report.
However, as came out in all the newspapers, his demotion and humiliation by the Church did not end there.
Not only did he receive no apology for the destruction of his life by the bishops’ action but the humiliation actually persisted -even seeking, fifteen years subsequently, to obstruct his appointment as parish priest and have him assigned, if possible, at the level of curate.
This endeavour did not succeed.
Yet the demotion of Fr.McGinnity within the Church together with the attacks permitted outside the Church sadly indicate that the Church has done nothing to uphold him.
The resentment such a good man continues to face now -in this case from a handful of belligerent laity- surely only proves his holiness at a greater level.
Those who ever see him in the depths of prayer and Mass can recognise this reality.
If those who slander him knew even the first thing about spirituality, they would recognise his holiness.
Two members of his family have been healed of cancer through the mission of Christina Gallagher.
When the authority of such a person as Fr.McGinnity is questioned and resented, despite a lifetime of endurance for upholding truth so powerfully to the bishops of the Church- a truth subsequently authenticated and confirmed by the state enquiry – it raises interesting questions about what is driving this attack.
In regard to the matter of attacks upon spiritual missions, research remarkably shows that the more powerful the work, the greater the attack.
Studying the lives of the mystics who lived throughout the centuries of Church history, I have been invariably struck by this fact that the more significant the work given them to accomplish, the more extreme the attack upon it and upon them.
Even to refer to some out of such a large number, we find such remarkable resemblances to the gratuitous attacks upon Christina…
In Cathleen Medwick’s well-known biography (1999) entitled Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul , we read that when Teresa of Avila was pressing onwith the establishment of the houses of her foundation in Spain, she had left Villanueva after working hard to transform a hermitage into something resembling a convent and with her companions was passing through a small town where they stopped to visit the church.
Teresa’s fame had gone before her -but not the truth about her, rather a poisonous defamation of her character. The townspeople were incited to hatred: they were outraged that she presumed to enter their church and they were becoming increasingly violent when Antonio (one of the men who was helping her) fended them off, allowing Teresa to reach her coach. Soon after she arrived at Toledo on that journey, she became seriously ill.
When Pope Benedict was canonising Mary McKillop in Rome on October 17, 2010, how many people realised that during her earthly lifetime, as she went about establishing the houses for her mission in Australia, she was actually excommunicated by Bishop Sheil of Adelaide on September 22, 1871?
In his biography Blessed Mary MacKillop A Woman Before Her Time, a priest of the diocese of Adelaide, Fr.Modystack wrote in 1982, “It was sad that the sick Bishop had had his mind so poisoned by the malicious tongues of those who were supposed to be loyal, honest people that he should have reacted so unreasonably towards the Sisters” (page 62) (He accused her of disobedience when she could not accept his making himself superior and changing their rule as he chose. She was canonically entitled not to accept this imposition but he wronged her and expelled 43 sisters from his diocese when they chose not to accept the imposition. The following year, on his death-bed the bishop repented and withdrew the excommunication.).
In his preface to the biography Archbishop James Gleeson of Adelaide remarks of his predecessors in that era (ie. bishop and priest-advisors), “It is even more difficult for us to understand how they could seemingly be so unjust and outrageous in their judgements and actions towards Mary MacKillop…
In his book Padre Pio Man of Hope, Renzo Allegri relates in a chapter entitled ‘The Second Persecution’ (page 218) how his superors wanted Padre Pio to hand over to them control of the money donated at his appeal to build a House for the Relief of Suffering when the Capuchin order was facing financial disaster.
When he “refused, new accusations were made against Padre Pio, and new criticisms were invented. In an effort to destroy him, hidden microphones were placed in his confessional, violating the seal” of the sacrament and also “in his cell” (page 219). Allegri himself observes,
“Unfortunately, these poor souls, who felt threatened by such a pure and holy man, found a ready audience when they denounced the humble monk as a hypocritical exhibitionist, and denounced the charismatic gifts that evoked so much faith from his followers as deceptive and fraudulent.”
Allegri goes on to quote words from Cardinal Siri, “The ones who should have first recognised Jesus Christ are those who sentenced him to be crucified. The same thing happened also to Padre Pio…He was made an outcast, stripped…and made and isolated…”
At least Christina is in good company. Although she would never dream of placing herself anywhere near such personalities as these, no-one can dispute she receives the same treatment.
Biographers of John Vianney such as Fr. Francis Trochu in his The Cure D’ARS when describing how he too was unjustly persecuted by way of slander and false accusation, notes how the works used to draw back souls in the greatest danger are sometimes “allowed by God to become victims of the vilest calumnies”.
He describes how “John Vianney’s front door was splashed with dirt and night after night, under his windows stood a miserable creature insulting and reproaching him as if he had been guilty of leading a disorderly life. Apparently, he was to be spared no humiliation, no anguish of mind. Anonymous letters, full of venom were sent to his bishop… Not surprising that towards the end of his life, he one day remarked, ‘If on my arrival at Ars I had foreseen all that I was to suffer there, I would have died on the spot!’”
God cannot bring about enormous miracles such as giving back life to a child medically certified dead in the womb,healing cancer of the pancreas, thyroid gland, liver, stomach, bladder, lung,breast,tongue and mouth, leukemia,rheumatoid arthritis, brain tumor, brain haemmorage, brain death, heart failure, multiple sclerosis, blindness, chronic asthma and countless other conditions leading to over 700 testimonies, including psychiatric and nevous healings, conversions, vocations to religious life and priesthood drawing such abundant fruitfuless from a tree that is not good!