How do you all feel about the Fatima?

I do not believe any appearances or miracles occurred there. It's a hoax.

 

I understand how you feel. Fatima is an optional belief for Catholics. It was called "worthy of belief".

Well, the Fatima prayer is a good prayer to have.

 

Talking of Fatima, what do you think of Lourdes?

 

I agree with you.

 

I on the other hand believe that the children truly had a vision, and that the vision came from God. But they interpreted it according to their childish and thoroughly Roman Catholic experience. Thus the children heard the Lady tell them to pray the Rosary, and to pray for peace. A protestant receiving the vision would have been more likely to have a vision of Jesus, and have heard him say things consistent with Protestantism.

So though I accept the vision of Fatima, I have no interest in devotion to the heart of the Mother of Jesus, or in becoming a Roman Catholic.

 

for you it seems …… childish = catholic

 

You are mistaken. They are separate things.

 

I just finished reading an interesting, if slightly 'dated', book called Quite Contrary: A Biblical Reconsideration of the Apparitions of Mary, by Timothy F. Kauffman. It was worthwhile. The author surveys a number of apparitions and notes that very many of the apparitions make claims which are not Biblical.

 

what does the book say about Lourdes?

 

It talks about the long list of people who testified to receiving a miracle there. It says that the apparition of Lourdes specifically identified herself as "I am the Immaculate Conception" for the first time. It tells how Bernadette threw 'holy water' on the apparition and yelled, "If you come from God... stay!" as a test. It mentions the three secrets, of course. It also mentions John Paul II's visit to the site and his homily stating that "the two mysteries of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary into heaven come together here and 'reveal their mutual complementarity'."