c. 1999 Religion News Service

MEDJUGORJE, Bosnia-Herzegovina _ Doug Flint came here to see firsthand the town where visions of the Virgin Mary have been reported since 1981 out of a deep interest in the Medjugorje apparitions, which have included appeals attributed to Mary for greater prayer, fasting and regular participation in Mass and confession.

But Medjugorje was not what he expected.”I thought I’d come here and get showered with peace,”said Flint, who is from Clovis, Calif.

Instead, he found himself, to his later regret, pushing and shoving with fellow pilgrims into the town’s main church for Mass. He struggled to avoid the distractions of all the new hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops.”If I’d give anybody advice, it’s spend as minimal an amount of time in the shops. Go places to find peace and reflection,”said Flint, 36, a hearing-aid specialist.”You can get so wrapped up in it being a vacation.” More than 17 years after the first visions of the Virgin Mary were reported here, Medjugorje is now one of the Catholic world’s leading pilgrimage sites. Nothing _ not the continued Vatican refusal to endorse the shrine, or the savage Bosnian war that raged near but not in Medjugorje _ has slowed the pilgrim tide.

Yet Medjugorje’s international reputation as a tranquil spiritual haven lags behind its present reality.

This once dusty, obscure village in the Herzegovinan badlands now annually attracts about a million pilgrims. The chants of”Ave Maria,”emanating from loudspeakers at the church mingle with the diesel rumble of tour buses and the grind of construction machinery as ever more commercial establishments are built.

Dozens of souvenir shops stand cheek by jowl, their shelves cluttered with Marian umbrellas, key chains, statuettes, sun visors, and snow globes.”Medjugorje has changed radically,”said the Rev. Edward Rischmann, a retired Roman Catholic priest from the diocese of Newark, N.J., here for his fourth visit since 1986.”It has been built up and become more commercial than a lot of us would like to see.” Yet some find inspiration in the crowds.”Every person is here for the same reason you are, to honor the Blessed Mother,”said Nellie LaJoy, an office worker from Carbondale, Colo.”This is holy ground.” The ground became holy, devotees agree, in June 1981, when six peasant children began reporting the apparitions. Three of them, now adults, continue to report apparitions on the 25th of every month. (A fourth said in September that Mary told him she would now appear only at Christmas.)

Prayer groups and individuals throughout the world try to follow the calls attributed to Mary for greater spiritual discipline, and eagerly seek out her messages posted monthly on the Internet (http://www.medjugorje.org).

At the shrine itself, pilgrims can find the messages printed in every major language at the visitor’s center and even on the backs of pizza menus.

Visitors here pray the rosary, sing hymns, attend Mass and wait patiently at outdoor confessionals labeled in several languages. Pilgrims, some barefoot, climb paths of jagged stones up two nearby hills, praying along the way.

Some church services take on charismatic overtones, with worshippers receiving prayer for physical healing and often slumping to the floor _”slain in the spirit”_ where they rest and pray quietly.”There’s great peace of mind, peace of soul,”said Brid McDonnell, a retired teacher from County Caven, Ireland, after one such service. She came to Medjugorje seeking healing for her severe arthritis.”I’m hoping it’s God’s will to be cured or at least to have the strength to live with it,”she said.

Unlike the Marian shrines of Lourdes, France, and Fatima, Portugal, Medjugorje lacks the precious cachet of Rome’s endorsement. The Vatican says it cannot confirm the visions there, though it allows pilgrimages under pastoral leadership. Pope John Paul II has avoided the shrine in three trips to the Balkans, most recently in October.

The Vatican always takes its time in ruling on the supernatural, though Medjugorje’s case faces two complications.

First, the visionaries are still reporting apparitions, and Rome hesitates to judge an open case. Second, the bishop of nearby Mostar has consistently voiced skepticism of the visions.

Yet the faithful here aren’t waiting for validation from Rome or Mostar.”The presence of all these priests and all these nuns has to mean something,”said LaJoy.”When the religious are here, it’s real.” Local skeptics attribute the Medjugorje phenomenon to the exaggerated imagination of the visionaries and pilgrims. Yet even doubters aren’t complaining about the accompanying bonanza of hard currency.”I have nothing against people saying there has been some vision. The vision has brought economic prosperity,”said Pero Jurisin, a freelance journalist from Split, Croatia.

Jurisin said Medjugorje has strengthened the Franciscans’ position in a long-running church dispute with the Mostar diocese. After centuries of work here amid wars and persecutions, members of the Franciscan order command a fierce loyalty among local Catholics.

The bishop, in turn, says the Franciscans came as missionaries long ago and it’s time they turned their churches over to the local diocese.”The Franciscans don’t want to get rich”from Medjugorje, Jurisin said.”They want to help the people. But in that way, they want to hold their position.” The Rev. Slavko Barbaric, a Franciscan priest who works closely with the Medjugorje visionaries, reacted testily to questions about finances.”How do we benefit financially? We build for the pilgrims,”said Barbaric, speaking of lecture halls and pavilions. The growth of hotels and restaurants is”normal,”he said:”People need to eat; people need to sleep.” As for Flint, he said the crowds and commercialism provided him with an unexpected lesson.”I came here with my will, my agenda,”he said. Having to adjust to Medjugorje’s reality, however, forced him to look deeper within himself for the place’s spiritual meaning, he said.”This was so much more rewarding,”he concluded. Then, looking around, he added:”Medjugorje is not just here. You have to live it.”

IR END SMITH