Donal Foley a well known opponent of Medjugorje wrote a letter, also published in the letter column of the Universe Catholic Newspaper, stating some rather thin arguments to endorse his belief that Father Vlasic was substantially involved in Medjugorje from the very beginning.

I wrote back and the Universe published the following letter, which I think is a reasonable answer to anybody who would wish to publically attack Medjugorje.  Quite simply, Medjugorje is not a condition of faith, it does not contravene the faith, morals and teachings of the Catholic Church and we are free to either accept it or not until the time when there is a definitive directive from the Vatican.  In the meantime as we are told in the Gospel it should be judged only by the fruits and these as we both know are self-evident.

Sir,

Your recent news report on Fr. Tomislav Vlasic OFM could suggest that in some way he might have influenced the happenings in Medjugorje. This is not true. Fr Vlasic was not serving in Medjugorje in June 1981 at the time of the first apparitions and as the visionaries confirmed, he did not even know them. He came to Medjugorje at his superiors' request in September 1981 after Fr. Jozo had been imprisoned. He worked in the parish for less then 4 years when he was transferred to the nearby parish of Vitina and in 1988 he left for Italy.

The Provincial House of the Franciscans has confirmed that they have never appointed anyone as the spiritual director to the visionaries. The fact is that some of the Franciscans heard the confessions of some of the visionaries and still do, and some even have friendly relationships with them, but the relationship is that of a priest and a parishioner and nothing more.

What Fr. Vlasic is accused of has nothing to do with the short time he stayed in Medjugorje, and when he left the Bishop did not take away from him any of his priestly faculties, so if he is guilty of any wrong doing it is related to activities which happened after he had left Herzegovina, and has nothing to do with the happenings in Medjugorje.

In the same way the fact that he may be in error bears no reflection on the Franciscans of the Province of Herzegovina because when he left about 20 years ago he was not being accused of any wrong doing, and for the last 20 or so years he has been under the authority of the Franciscan Province of Abruzzo in Italy. It is therefore quite wrong to associate this present Vatican inquiry with anything to do with Medjugorje.

Bernard Ellis