Medjugorje visionary calls off visit

Sydney
14 July 2002

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Medjugorje visionary calls off visit

By Marilyn Kerjean

Vicka Mijatovic (pictured left), one of the six Medjugorje visionaries, has cancelled a visit to Sydney this month because she is pregnant.

She was advised by her doctors not to undertake the trip - her first to Australia - in the early stages of her pregnancy.

Vicka, 37, had been planning to speak at Willoughby Town Hall on Saturday and the State Sports Centre at Homebush on Sunday (July 13-14).

Because the Catholic Church is not able to guarantee the supernatural nature of the occurrences at Medjugorje, Archbishop George Pell had requested that official church venues not be used as part of the tour.

Vicka, who was married in January, says she still sees and speaks with Our Lady daily.

Several million pilgrims travel to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina each year to hear messages relayed by the visionaries and experience the community’s strong Catholic faith.

The crux of the Medjugorje message is a call to faith and commitment to God through prayer, the sacraments and fasting, plus reading of scripture.

A major theme is that of peace within individuals, peace in families and peace throughout the world.

June 25 marked the 21st anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady in Medjugorje to the six visionaries Vicka, Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez, Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo, Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, Ivan Dragecevic and Jakov Colo.

A celebration in Sydney last year to mark the 20th anniversary attracted 1,200 people to St Pius V parish at Enmore.

Martin Hannigan, who helped organise that celebration and who has visited Medjugorje many times, says that the place exudes “a real presence of Mary and a real presence of Catholicism”.