Filipino pilgrims warned against ‘House of Prayer’
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:11:00 03/25/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Irish bishops have warned Filipinos about going to pilgrimages to the “House of Prayer” in Ireland’s Achill island, cautioning them against pseudo-religious organizations and sects running the site where a sizeable number of Filipino tourists have visited.
Tuam Archbishop Michael Neary of the Irish Bishops’ Conference wrote to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in early March, saying that the House of Prayer had neither the approval nor the confidence of Irish diocesan authorities.
The so-called House of Prayer was founded in 1993 by Christina Gallagher, who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary and to have been given messages by her in 1988. She also claimed to have received the stigmata, or marks that appear on a person’s body in the same places as those on Jesus Christ’s body when he was nailed to the Cross.
The Irish Bishops’ Conference has been informing other Catholic bishops’ conferences worldwide that Gallagher’s activities do not have the consent of the Catholic Church.
The congregation has called on other prelates to caution their flocks against Gallagher and her organization, which continues to attract thousands of people to its weekly novenas.
“A large number of people from the Philippines visit the place on a regular basis. I would like to make people aware that it has no ecclesial authority whatsoever, and urge the greatest circumspection in consideration of a visit there,” Neary said in his letter. Jeannette I. Andrade
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