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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Jun 16, 2008 10:37:33 GMT
Does anyone have any abiding memories of the year of the moving statues in Ireland?
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Post by Michael O'Donovan on Jun 16, 2008 19:36:39 GMT
Does anyone have any abiding memories of the year of the moving statues in Ireland? Yes, I saw the one at Ballinspittle "move". It happens if you stare long enough at something brightly-lit on a dull evening. Nevertheless it inspired fervour in some people I knew, and no doubt in others — just as Medjugorje does. Whether it lasted, I do not know.
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Jun 18, 2008 8:58:52 GMT
My recollection is that the first reported events came at Asdee in Co Kerry in mid-February, 1984. The most popular was in Ballinspittle, Co Cork. The phenomena were seen throughout Ireland through the year and in some cases persisted for longer. Something else happened in Mount Melleray in Co Waterford - I read some apocalyptic messages which time has shown to be false. I think the seeds of phenomena such as the House of Prayer in Achill Island were sown at this time.
The Ballinspittle case, which I witnessed too, was an optical illusion caused by the spaces between the lighted stars on the statue's head which was evident in twilight in particular. Someone noticed this after reports of other cases and because so many saw it, it became popular, for a year. These cases did bring out a lot of religious fervour and it masked the actual sliding situation of the Church and Faith in Ireland, as the Papal visit of 1979 and the referendum victories of 1983 and 1986 - religious practice was going down; vocations were going down etc, etc. We only woke up to this in the 1990s. The X case and the resignation of Bishop Casey in 1992 exposed weaknesses in the state of the Irish Church hitherto invisible to the naked eye.
I am not saying the moving statues were a smoke screen - they were a genuine outpouring of devotion among the faithful. But in retrospect, they can also be read a sympthom that something was going wrong with both the Irish Church and Irish Society, but that this was read the wrong way in the 1980s.
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Post by Askel McThurkill on Jun 18, 2008 9:54:35 GMT
If I remember correctly, the year we are talking about is actually 1985 and there was a lot of rain that summer.
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Jun 18, 2008 14:07:38 GMT
Ok, I got the year wrong
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Jun 23, 2008 13:58:23 GMT
There were a series of phenomena in Inchegeela (spelling?) in Co Cork at the time where rosaries allegedly turned to gold spontaneously. I don't believe any were even considered for scientific testing.
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Post by mcallister on Jun 23, 2008 14:15:11 GMT
I think the whole episode was a disaster, cheapening Marian apparitions and devotion in general. I think it paved the way for the widespread Irish acceptance of false apparitions such as Madje. There was a statue moving in every shed! Who could forget that weird time?
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Post by mcallister on Jun 23, 2008 14:16:49 GMT
Sorry, Medje as in Medjugorje, not Madje, typo.
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Post by Askel McThurkill on Jun 23, 2008 14:20:23 GMT
I am absolutely with McAllister on this one.
At one stage, a couple of Protestant fundamentalists were put on trial for smashing a statue while there was a crowd venerated it (it made the papers).
I think a Dublin wit (though it could have been Cork: most of the events were located in Cork) came up with this one?
Did you hear the one about the fellow who was charged with smashing the moving statue?
He pleaded self-defence.
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Jun 23, 2008 14:59:10 GMT
I remember this joke. There was another one about a driver who knocked down a statue crossing the road.
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Post by monkeyman on Jun 27, 2008 0:19:53 GMT
There were a series of phenomena in Inchegeela (spelling?) in Co Cork at the time where rosaries allegedly turned to gold spontaneously. I don't believe any were even considered for scientific testing. Well you know Molagga could probably help you with the spelling but then again maybe not...he does'nt seem to be interested in anything but promoting the StColmans crowd.
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Post by monkeyman on Jun 27, 2008 0:21:39 GMT
It was all a bunch of Ballyhoo anyway...there are still a few charlitans around making a few quid from it. God bless 'em.
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Post by monkeyman on Jun 30, 2008 21:36:45 GMT
It was all a bunch of Ballyhoo anyway...there are still a few charlitans around making a few quid from it. God bless 'em. They live in Rome and are commonly referred to as the pope and the curia. That Pope John Paul II was responsible for the downfall of communism in eastern Europe I always thought was stretching it but to suggest he was somehow behind the moving statues in Cork in the 1980s is a little silly Falconer.
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Jul 1, 2008 9:25:14 GMT
I think in the case of some of the moving statues, a number of genuine people with good intentions let their imaginations run riot.
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Post by falconer on Jul 1, 2008 12:12:10 GMT
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