Is Akita Approved?

One commenter in the combox drew my attention to a piece by a Donal Foley which seems to suggest that the visions at Akita are not approved.  Foley is correct when he says that the Vatican has not approved the visions, however for an apparition to be officially approved, the recognition of the local bishop is all that is required.  Knock, for example, is in the same situation as Akita - never formally approved by the Holy See, though the visit of Pope John Paul II is taken by many to be an equivalent of Vatican approval. 

On the 22nd April 1984 the Bishop of Niigata (the diocese in which Akita is to be found) Bishop John Shojiro Ito approved devotion to Our Lady of Akita (see his pastoral letter here), and asked the Vatican to judge definitively, which it has not as of yet. Until the Vatican gives a negative judgement, which it has not yet, the decision of the local bishop is to be taken as the decision of the Church for now.    The process of authenticating visions is usually decentralised and the Vatican tends to let local bishops deal with the events.  Perhaps we think the Vatican has to approve visions rather than the local bishop - the situation with regard to Medjugorje is probably confusing people.  Medjugorje is a unique situation since there are issues there which require the Vatican to intervene.

For more information on approved and unapproved apparitions go to Miracle Hunter's website, which includes many official documents and statements.

Akita and the Japanese Earthquake

Following the disaster in Japan, the world is, thankfully, rushing to assist the people affected by the earthquake and tsunami, and prayers are being offered.  I would ask all members of the Fraternity to include the peoples suffering because of this disaster in their daily prayers.

In relation to this the CNA has an interesting article which looks the apparitions of Our Lady to a Japanese sister in Akita.  It seems Akita was near the epicentre of the earthquake, though, thankfully, it escaped the brunt of the disaster.  The article takes the message Our Lady gave to the sister, Sr Agnes, and it could be concluded that it is wondering if the message is being fufiled in this disaster, and perhaps even in the others which have hit us in recent years.  Here is the article, have a read and a think.

That said, we would do well to acquaint ourselves with the apparition - it being one of the more recent which have approved by the Church and having a message pertinent for our times. To be honest, since she came, the people of the world could hardly be said to have responded to Our Lady's call.

Video on the apparitions: