Medjugorje

the Pope is allowing pilgrimages to Medjugorje, and the "trads" are getting their knickers in a know about this, because 30 years ago, one famous trad writer wrote a book taking things out of context and exaggerating trivial problems, and a lot of people believed him.

and of course a lot of nut jobs started to hang around at the fringe of those going there and made other people suspicious.

However, the great majority of folks going there are ordinary folks, and find it a place of grace.

I went there 30 years ago and also found it a place of grace.

however, I have lost touch with what is going on there, because the civil war in Yugoslavia started then and then I was working on the "res" where we didn't get a lot of news...but many continue to report pilgrims still find it a place of grace.

if you have a chance to go there, I would recommend you go.

Ironically, I went with an Orthodox prayer group that included coal miners and steel workers and other "deplorable" types. The Orthodox priest who led the group had the permission of the local Orthodox bishop.

Half of the members of that group were Catholics: why didn't they join a Catholic prayer group, you might ask? Because there were none in our small town. We lived in the Altoona diocese and the bishop discouraged prayer groups... the few good priests hanging on trying to care for an increasingly cynical flock were pressured not to encourage people to pray, be it old fashioned novenas, newfangle Charismatic prayer groups, or Eucharistic adoration. (Enneagrams  and atheistic bible studies held by pc nuns were okay however).

Mark Mallet has a bit of information about the background of this place of pilgrimage, and covers their objections. LINK

the best secular report on the early apparitions is Spark of Heaven, by BBC writer Mary Craig.

and the 1986 BBC report here: