Private Revelations and the Mission of the Marian Catechist Apostolate

Laudetur Iesus Christus!

I offer a counsel for Marian Catechists regarding the promotion of private revelations. Private revelations are those “supernatural manifestations by God of hidden truths made to private individuals for their own spiritual welfare or that of others,”[1] many of which are a source of inspiration and can be spiritually beneficial.

The Servant of God Father John A. Hardon, S.J., was totally opposed to the involvement of the Marian Catechist Apostolate in promoting private revelations. It is not at all that he doubted that there are private revelations or that he thought that they were harmful, but he rightly saw that the Marian Catechists, who by nature are devout Catholics, could easily lose their focus, if the direction of the Apostolate became involved in promoting private revelations of which, as I am sure you know, there are many, some of which have been studied and approved, and some of which have not. The different private revelations are spiritually helpful to individuals, but they do not attract all. But, when the Marian Catechist Apostolate begins to promote one or another private revelation, it loses energy in doing its main work, catechesis, which, when properly done, is attractive to all. In other words, we must daily set again our focus on the mission which God gave to the Servant of God Father Hardon and to us who are his spiritual children.

The world has never needed more the solid teaching and direction which Our Lord, in His immeasurable and unceasing love of man, deemed to pass on through His Church.  Though it is not my intention to discourage the study of approved, private revelations and their possible use as a tool in catechesis, I wish to convey that the focus of the Marian Catechist Apostolate is on teaching and spreading the doctrines of the Catholic Faith in a time when the majority of Catholics are poorly catechized and in a world in which atheistic materialism and relativism continue to promote confusion and division in the Church and to ravage the cultures of many nations, to the detriment of countless souls.

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.
March 25, 2019

[1] Modern Catholic Dictionary, John A. Hardon, S.J. (Bardstown, KY: Eternal Life, 1999), p. 451.