Church disowns Irish mystic
By Ed West
7 March 2008

The Church hierarchy in Ireland has disowned the controversial House of Prayer religious community in Co Mayo, ruling that it has no standing in the Church. In a statement last weekend Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam said that the Achill Island group "has no Church approval and their work does not enjoy the confidence of the diocesan authorities".

Christina Gallagher founded the House of Prayer in her native Mayo after she claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in 1988.

Since then Mrs Gallagher has also claimed to receive regular messages from the Virgin and also to suffer the stigmata.

Thousands of people have visited the site in the past 20 years, and houses of prayer have also been established in the US and Mexico.

But Mrs Gallagher has always been a controversial figure.

The Irish newspaper The Sunday World has published several stories alleging that she has amassed considerable wealth, including a multi-million pound property and a luxury car, something which she has denied.

In 1996 Archbishop Neary established a diocesan commission of inquiry to investigate the House's claims.

The following year, acting on the commission's report, he issued a statement that "no evidence of supernatural phenomena_had_been observed but that the persons involved gave every evidence of good faith".

Dr Neary then proposed a canonical structure that would integrate the House into the Achill parish and the archdiocese.

"While this was then attempted by the archdiocese," he wrote last Saturday, "I became increasingly perturbed by an apparent absence of enthusiasm on the parts of Mrs Gallagher and her associates.

"The relationship deteriorated to the extent that Mrs Gallagher, in July 1998, closed the 'House of Prayer' at Achill, expressing to the media at the time a sense of having been harshly treated by the archdiocese.

"In order to clarify the issue for the faithful I issued another statement, regretting the development and expressing grave misgivings as to the wisdom with which Mrs Gallagher had been advised and had acted in the matter." As a result Dr Neary said that the Archdiocese of Tuam "cannot lend its approval" to the House of Prayer.

He also added that celebration of the sacraments and reservation of the Blessed Sacrament at the House of Prayer are not permitted.

"Any work carried on since then has been entirely of a private nature and has no Church approval whatever," he said.

"Neither, for reasons given above, does such work enjoy the confidence of the diocesan authorities. Nothing has been brought to my attention to indicate that I should change from this position in the future.

"Over the years since then, the Tuam diocesan office has clearly and consistently replied to inquiries in respect of this work, which Mrs Gallagher recommenced." Dr Neary finished by stating that he respected the faith and devotion of many people who had been involved in the House of Prayer, "some of whom have expressed their sadness at my stance".

But he also advised any Catholics to ask local diocesan offices about any group "describing itself as Catholic, should they be in any doubt".

The move comes against the background of a series of crackdowns by the Church against rogue mystical seers.

Pope Benedict XVI is said to regard such visionaries as a risk to Church unity because they create sects at odds with the local hierarchies.

In September the Vatican dismissed the claims of a Surrey woman who had claimed to see the Virgin Mary in a pine tree.

Freelance jewellery designer Patricia De Menezes, 67, had developed an international following since she first began seeing the apparition, dubbed "Our Lady of Surbiton", in 1984.

The Virgin allegedly instructed her to urge the Church to proclaim all aborted babies as martyrs.

The Archdiocese of Southwark dismissed claims but Mrs De Menezes's Community of Divine Innocence, with followers in almost 50 countries, nevertheless approached the Vatican seeking approval for its statutes.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, however, ruled it was founded on "exaggerated" and "hysterical" claims.

Archbishop Angelo Amato, the Congregation's secretary, also said that the "martyrdom of all the innocent children deliberately killed before birth" was suspect.

"A martyr is someone who bears witness to Christ," he said. "If the victims of abortion were to qualify for martyrdom it would then seem that all victims of any moral evil should be likewise deemed martyrs."

In January, Archbishop Andreas Choi Chang-mou of Kwangju in South Korea announced the excommunication of another Marian visionary, Julia Youn, and her followers, after repeated warnings.

Mrs Youn claims to have seen a statue of the Virgin weeping in 1985, after which she and her supporters established "Blessed Mother's Mountain" 200 miles south of Seoul. The Church issued sanctions against her after she claimed to have the support of the Pope for bizarre rituals practised by the sect, which include the drinking of Mrs Youn's urine as a cure for illnesses.

Mrs Gallagher was not available for comment.