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Pilgrimage to a Divided SocietyAuthor(s): Paula ShieldsSource: Fortnight, No. 431 (Dec., 2004), pp. 14-15Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25561343 .

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D Paula Shields / culture

"I don't believe it at all, but I can see that they do."

Pilglrimageo to a divid

Rain of Old Testament proportions washed down the stony fields of Medjugorje as 150 Northern Irish Catholics prayed, recited rosaries and climbed hills during a

week-long pilgrimage in Eastern Europe. (The October sun meantime was shining in Ireland.) This village of vineyards and tobacco fields, which once upon a time provided the main livelihood of the area, is an unprepossessing, grey-green landscape, brightened only by pomegranates growing on trees dotted here and there. (We left breathtaking views behind on the spectacular drive from the Croatian capital

Dubrovnik along the Adriatic coast.) As Philip Ryan, the affable Joe Walsh Tours rep, says himself, Medjugorje is no beauty

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spot. There would be few international day-trippers were it not for three extraordinary days 23 years ago.

Medjugorje itself means between the mountains, namely Cross Mountain (Krisveca) and Apparition Hill (Podbrdo).

We'd never have heard of it but for Our Lady's habit of making her presence felt in poor, rural places of Catholic devotion around the world. In a story frequently told during the week, the Blessed Virgin first appeared here to six children on the Feast of John the Baptist, 24 June 1981. Word of the apparitions spread, drawing crowds of the faithful and the dangerous attention of the authorities at a time when Tito's brand of Communism still ruled, though he himself had died a year earlier.

Thirty million pilgrims have since passed through, according to tour leader

Mairead Peoples. The official website -

medjugorje.org - has totted up statistics of 17,158,440 people taking Holy

Communion and 376,935 concelebrating priests at masses since 1985. The visionaries, aged from six to fourteen in

1981, are adults now, of course, with young families of their own. Gospa (Lady), as she is known locally, still appears to three wherever they are. Marja Pavlovic Lunetti continues to be the recipient of monthly messages from Our Lady as well as daily visions in Italy where she lives with her husband and children. Ivan Dragevic is married and based in the US. Both return to the village every summer. Vicka Ivankovic lives locally and was in hospital about to give birth during our trip. The others, Jakov,

Mirjana and Ivanka, see Our Lady once a year, on a special occasion such as Christmas or birthdays.

MANMADE Modern-day Medjugorje is a man-made creation. A walk down main street reveals travel agencies, hotels, guesthouses, cafes, a parade of souvenir and gift shops - the capitalist supply and demand of religious tourism. A Disney religious theme park, as one of our group noted wryly. Glittering keyrings, postcards, all kinds of jewellery,

even walking sticks, you name it, it bears the image of the Queen of Peace, Kraljica

Mira. Books, often written by American and Irish devotees like Wayne Weible and Heather Parsons, immortalise the story of the visionaries or the lives of the saints, even those like Philomena ('The Wonder

Worker') who are no longer recognised by the Vatican as such. The Vatican has yet to rule on the events of Medjugorje.

The central landmark of the village is the Church of St James (patron saint of pilgrims), packed to overflowing for every mass and rosary, twenty priests at a time on the altar. A veritable Tower of Babel, the congregation is a mix of Croatian, Irish, English, American, Canadian, French, and German accents. Pilgrims also come regularly from South Korea and the Philippines. With all age groups in evidence, the church is the social and spiritual hub of the place. Lourdes belongs to the world, one of our group points out, but in Medjugorje the local people have a strong sense of ownership and participation. During the religious services, the atmosphere is heavy with a feeling of community, devotion and peace.

MAIREAD There is a strong religious connection between Medjugorje and Ireland. Tour organiser Mairead Peoples first visited in 1985 and, Serb-Croat wars of the early 1990s aside, has organised two

pilgrimages a year here since, in May and October, from Belfast on chartered flights direct to Dubrovnik or Mostar. She talks fervently about how Our Lady is alive now in Medjugorje for anyone who opens their heart. A Dungannon native, she lives in Ballykelly, Co, Derry where her Drummond Hotel, complete with small chapel, is a regular centre for retreat and inner healing. There are a surprising number of young people with her, including relatives and neighbours.

Attendance figures for Sunday mass in the West may be in decline, but if this group is anything to go by, faith still has a hold on the hearts and minds of some in 21st century Northern Ireland. Many are

PAGE 14 FORTNIGHT DECEMBER 2004 PAULA SHIELDS

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society

veterans of the Knock-Lourdes-Fatima circuit, and beyond. They are visibly moved by their surroundings, laying claim to a sense of peace and of close connection

with Our Lady, planning to return. There is much talk of 'offering it up', whatever the sacrificial setback happens to be - the unusually wet weather or lengthy periods of standing during crowded religious services.

It is not unusual to hear the current Pope revered as a saint, talk of apocalyptic prophecies and out of this world warnings and signs from God. "[Medjugorje] is just like Ireland was a hundred years ago," someone says admiringly. This is old-style

Catholicism, and in some cases Christian fundamentalism, writ large, and the singing of Daniel O'Donnell songs on the tour bus somehow sums it all up.

ACTUAL Intent on seeking out Our Lady, most fellow pilgrims show little awareness of their historical and political - in other

words, actual - surroundings. Interest in the disintegration of former Yugoslavia is sketchy at best. The name Medjugorje conjures up Marian apparitions, after all, not its geographical reality. The association is with the supernatural, not

with earthly borders and boundaries. The local guides accommodate this vagueness. 95% of the information is about wondrous events and the recent war only comes up in reference to Catholic martyrs, no word of

Croatian (Catholic) atrocities or the mass murder of other ethnicities.

To be fair, Medjugorje is a difficult place to get a grasp of. The dominant language and the cultural references are all

Croat, but this is officially Bosnia Herzegovina. Croatia is a separate, neighbouring country. Bosnia need not exist at all, it is so little mentioned here, and Herzegovina, the southern half of the state and home province to Medjugorje, is barely remarked upon either. An encounter with a local tour operator cleared up the mystery.

Paddy Travel (could you make it up?) is a stone's throw from the hotel, Pansion

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Dubrovnik, on the village's main street. A sister company of Marian Pilgrimages Ireland, they have brought 8,500 Irish pilgrims to the shrines this year. A dark haired woman is speaking fluent Croat to a colleague as I arrive. Turning towards me, Donna McGettigan Ostojic addresses me in English and a Letterkenny accent. A resident since 1987 and married to a local,

McGettigan explains that yes, this is a Croatian community, they follow Croat news and politics, and even have voting rights in Croatia, a situation with obvious

Northern Irish parallels. In this mono-cultural climate, it is

difficult to find an alternative point of view of any kind. Medjugorje, it is widely believed, was protected by Our Lady - Queen of Peace, don't forget - during the recent wars. Orthodoxy has been invested in the apparitions by the Catholic majority and by the Franciscans, the Catholic powers that be here who have been in place longer than any of the neighbouring empires (the image of Padre Pio comes a close second to that of Our Lady in popularity.)

Fr Jozo - parish priest in the village in 1981 - is now based a 40-minute drive away in the next parish. In mid-August of that year, he was arrested by the

Communist police for supporting the visionaries and sentenced to 3 and a half years hard labour, of which he served a year and a half. On the day of our visit, his sermon dealt, as expected, with Our Lady's message of prayer, fasting and reconciliation. However, it dipped into the territory of statues crying tears of blood and developed into a history of the persecution of Catholics in the region, first by centuries of Ottoman rule, and then by the Communists.

ANGRY The priest, who runs an orphanage for children affected by the wars of the 1 990s, was tortured by the police in 1981 and has plenty to be angry about, but some of his speech reinforced a sense that we were getting one side of the story all the time. He made no reference to Croatian

nationalism or aggression running rampant ten years ago. When it comes to persecution, Catholics are capable of dishing it out too (see Spanish Inquisition for details.) Turkish rule ended in

Herzegovina in the 19th century - the equivalent would be Irish priests today giving a sermon about what the British did to us 200 years ago. Politicians who don't pray can't make peace, the passionate priest claims, but the deadly duo Bush and Blair are both religious men, and that is part of the problem.

I can't quite believe Medjugorje is the 'base con trick' Dervia Murphy calls it in

her 2002 book, Through The Embers of Chaos: Balkan Journeys. I believe the visionaries believe Our Lady appears. I know traditional Catholic pilgrims who come here believe it too. But, for myself, I don't feel the presence. I don't believe it at all. Ultimately, it comes back to the essence of faith, and the difference between those who have it and those who don't. The main message from this particular Marian shrine is the need for more prayer and reconciliation. Given the current state of the world, 150 people and

more up a mountain praying can surely do no harm. And at least with the prominence of Our Lady in this alleged miracle, women for once are to the fore in this male-dominated, sometimes misogynist, sexist religion.

U RELIGIOUS BRICXA-BRAC ON SALE

CULTURE FORTNIGHT DECEMBER 2004 PAGE 15

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