Flagrante Delicto
On Thursday, October 8, the Archbishop of Baltimore’s signed a Pastoral Advisory letter that was inserted in the church bulletin of every Catholic Church in Archdiocese.
The letter from Archbishop O’Brien cautioned Gianna
Talone-Sullivan,
“not to communicate any manner whatsoever, written or spoken, electronic or printed, personally or through another in any church, public oratory, chapel or any other place or locales public or private, within the
jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore any information of any type related to or containing messages or locutions allegedly received from the Virgin Mother of God.”
The letter then went on to caution others not to disseminate her messages because it is harmful to the Church. The archbishop hoped that his letter would stop the confusion of the faithful.
Try as we might, we couldn’t shake the feeling of déjà-vu as we read Gianna Talone-Sullivan’s response
to the Archbishop of Baltimore’s Pastoral Advisory.
In her response, Gianna stated:
“The monthly prayer group at the Lynfield Complex will be suspended until further notice. I will not disseminate any information related to or containing any messages written or spoken, electronic or printed within
the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore as outlined specifically in the Pastoral Advisory.”
Sound familiar?
Eight years ago, on Friday, September 8th, 2000, the Archdiocese of Baltimore issued a similar statement that was read at the Saturday evening and Sunday Masses at St. Joseph’s Parish
in Emmitsburg. The Thursday night prayer service, at which Gianna Talone-Sullivan allegedly received messages from the Blessed Virgin Mary, was hereafter to be terminated.
In 2002, following a lengthy review, the Archdiocese issued an instruction that "no Catholic church properties may be used for the purpose of providing a platform for any activities associated
with the alleged apparitions."
In response to that church instruction, Gianna said "It is a great gift to belong to the Catholic Church, and we are always safe when we bow in obedience under her wing."
After she accepted, "in obedience," the archdiocesan decision to stop the Thursday prayer services, Gianna also stopped publishing the messages she claimed to receive from the Virgin Mary.
At the time, most of those involved thought the issue was settled and once again life in Emmitsburg would return to normal. The reprieve was short lived.
In August, 2002 Gianna claimed that Mary directed her to resume distribution of her messages on the Internet. In the summer of 2004 Gianna began to hold a monthly meeting at a farm outside of
Taneytown, Maryland, and in 2005, moved her meetings to the Lynfield Complex just north of Frederick, Maryland.
Questions began to be raised about the appearance of disobedience to the Archdiocese. Specifically, people wondered how Gianna could advertise her experiences as supernatural at public events, when the cardinal had already judged those same
experiences as non-supernatural. In response, Gianna’s supporters were always quick to point out that she was in fact being thoroughly obedient: that the only thing she needed to worry about was not to stage her séances on Church property.
So with that history in mind re-read again Gianna’s response to the Archbishop of Baltimore’s issued a Pastoral Advisory letter:
“The monthly prayer group at the Lynfield Complex will be suspended until further notice. I will not disseminate any information related to or containing any messages written or spoken, electronic or printed within
the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore as outlined specifically in the Pastoral Advisory.”
So much for the letter of the law. She would like us to believe that she is being completely obedient to Archbishop O’Brien by discontinuing her apparition business in Maryland. Yet
she gives no sign of accepting the findings of Cardinal Keeler and Cardinal Ratzinger that she is not seeing anything supernatural – the very reason for Archbishop O’Brien’s prohibitions. Quite to the contrary, in her letter she likens her sufferings to those of Jesus,
and her ecclesiastical doubters to Jewish elders who put Jesus to death. And so Gianna retreats north of the Pennsylvania line, blowing raspberries backwards at
Baltimore as she goes.
Which of course, leaves the door open for her to continue to carry on her movement across the border in Fairfield, Pennsylvania.
Gianna follows up her apparent “I’m going to be obedient” statement with a rather sinister sounding announcement that swings wide the door to this possibility.
“Neither my husband Michael nor I are members of the Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary Inc., and are no way responsible for its future activities.”
Hum ... funny, according to the incorporation papers for the Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary Inc., filed on July 28, 2005 with the state of Maryland, Michael Sullivan is listed as one of the Foundation's Board of Directors! So unless he resigned
recently, Ginna's statement that "Michael.... (is a) members of the Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary Inc." is a false statement. And if he is a member of the board, then he does by the very nature of that position, is 'responsible for its future activities' of the foundation.
The website of this “Foundation” has been the chief propagator of Gianna’s messages in recent years, not to mention the fact that it has offered thirty-minute “apparition videos” after each First Sunday performance.
Last but not least, Gianna then encourages her followers thusly:
“Any written healings and testimonies can be sent to The Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary Inc., P.O. Box 505,
Fairfield, PA
17320-0505.”
Had one logged into The Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart’s web site at 9 a.m., October 15th, the “contact us” address on the web site was listed as,
101-2 Silo Hill Road, Emmitsburg, MD 21727
… which places it squarely within the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. (For those not knowledgeable about Emmitsburg, this is the address for St. Peter's Book Store, an establishment run by close friends of Gianna and Michael
Sullivan.)
Yet by noon on the same day, the Foundation web site changed its contact information to,
P.O. Box 505, Fairfield, PA
This switch snatches the Foundation from the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and places it into the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Harrisburg. That leaves one to wonder: Why would they bother to do this unless Gianna and her
followers plan on following the path established in their response to the 2002 decree ... meet the letter of the decree, but not the spirit. In other words, ignore a Church teaching they don’t like, as any good cafeteria Catholic would do!
The change of address for the web site allows them to get around the second caution in the Archbishop’s Pastoral Advisory:
“Further, I strongly caution those who participate in any activity surrounding these alleged apparitions or who seek to disseminate information and promote them here in the Archdiocese. To do so is a great
disservice to the Church and creates further confusion and division among the faithful.”
Had the contact information on the web site remained as it was, the web site would technically be housed in Maryland, and its operators would be viewed as disobeying the caution
against promoting or disseminating her messages within the Archdiocese.
By moving the contact information to Fairfield, Pennsylvania however, the owners of the web site can continue to promote or disseminate her messages with impunity. This apparent
strategy was re-enforced when The Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart issued an e-mail announcing that it was ceasing sending out her messages. In the internet community, messages sent from a web site is called called ‘Push’ technology. So no matter where the messages were sent from,
they would be seen as a clear violation of the Archbishop’s Pastoral Advisory not to promoting or disseminating Gianna messages within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
However, a web site is considered a ‘Pull’ technology, meaning people must log into it to see it’s contents. So while it may continue promoting or disseminating her messages, the Foundation would not be doing so within
Maryland. It’s a technically, but the type of technically that the operators of The Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart web site can easily exploit while still puffing out their chests claiming they are obedient!
Move across the line and set up shop if you wish, be we will not let up. We will continue to challenge the notion of an Our Lady of Emmitsburg as long as Gianna's messages are present on the internet waiting to draw
souls away from the truth that is the Catholic Church.
All that said, we would like to make one thing very clear ... thankfully, in this country we all have a right to freedom of speech. So as much as we might disagree with Gianna and the
operators of The Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart's web site, the do have the right to say what they want, however, we are left with one nagging question ... how many dioceses will be forced to play in this shell game before the cult gets the message? The show is over!
'No one can go off and start up their own church and call it Roman Catholic.'
