MARIAN APPARITIONS

Marian apparitions refer to visions of the Virgin Mary, sometimes accompanied by messages that are experienced almost exclusively by Catholics.

There have been over 20,000 Marian apparitions reported through history, and probably countless more that have not been formally reported.

The following is a list of major 20th century apparitions viewed by multiple persons and investigated by the Church in the Americas alone. The number worldwide is much greater.

MARIAN APPARITION AT CONYERS, GEORGIA

HISTORY

1948 – Nancy Fowler was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her mother died when she was eleven years-old.

1959 – Fowler reports having had a profound spiritual experience in which she entrusted herself to the Virgin Mary's motherly care.

Fowler received a degree in nursing and worked for a time as a registered nurse. She married, had two children, and divorced.

1983 - Fowler told her husband of visions of thousands of menacing eyes staring down on her and demons lurking in the night. A priest told her to send the demons away in the name of Jesus. After a sacrament of Reconciliation, the visions stopped

1987 - Nancy Fowler, then a housewife and former nurse living in Illinois, began having apparitions in which Jesus appeared to her.

1987 – Fowler made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje and reported that God told her that she was a prophet.

1988 (January) - Fowler experienced being taken to heaven and then a few weeks later that her Marian apparitions began.

1990 - Fowler and her husband moved from Illinois to Georgia. After a series of visions, Fowler reported being led to a house outside of Atlanta and to build an altar on the hill behind her home.

October 13, 1990 – Monthly visits on the 13 th of the month by the Virgin began. The Virgin stated that these visits were intended to bring souls to her Son.

1991 - The number of pilgrims began to increase, growing to several thousand by September. Our Loving Mother asked that a 30-acre farm adjoining her home be purchased.

1991 (July) - Robert and Bernice Hughes, wealthy benefactors, established a non-profit organization, Our Loving Mother's Children.

1994 (May) - The number of pilgrims was estimated at 80,000-100,000.

1995 (October 13) – Mary revealed that would no longer appear on the 13 th of the month and her next appearance would be on October 13, 1996. Monthly pilgrims declined to 100-200.

1998 – Shortly before the last apparition, Bishop Robert Moskal established a Byzantine Rite parish under papal authority called Mother of God Church, located on Fowler’s property.

1998 (October 13) - Fowler held her final public apparition event and announced that there would not be further messages from the Virgin. An estimated 100,000 pilgrims attended. Over 1,000,000 pilgrims attended the apparitions between 1990 and 1998. Monthly recitations of the rosary continued after the final monthly apparitions.

1998 – Fowler dissociated herself from Our Loving Mother’s Children (OLMC) over fundraising and publications disputes and a decision to link OLMC to the Great Crusade of Love and Mercy in Cochabamba, Brazil, which is associated with stigmatist Catalina (Catia) Rivas.

1990s – Fowler contracted terminal lung cancer and her situation has continued to worsen

2010 – Fewer than 100 pilgrims gathered monthly at The Farm to recite the rosary.

2010 (May) – Fowler was at home with friends when she went into a trance-like state. Jesus manifested himself to her alive on the cross on the crucifix above her fireplace.

2010 (May) - Fowler was attending Holy Mass when she saw an angel appear glowing in a beautiful white light.

2012 (January 10) – Fowler died of cancer.

MYTH

Message Themes:

● Jesus is present. He knows our every conversation and what is in all of our hearts. Satan is also very real.

● People freely choose to mock and curse and hurt God.

● Pray, repent and have more faith.

● The Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ.

● Go to confession and pray for peace and forgiveness.

● Abortion is murder. Humans are not the author of life.

● Many new diseases will be occurring.

● China, Russia, and Korea are a deadly trio of nations. China is a real enemy. There will be a great war. Do not trust China. Fowler reports visions in which she saw Asian troops on U.S. soil.

There is too little faith in America. If the U.S and the world do not turn back to God, there will be serious chastisements. To avoid divine chastisements

● Convert our hearts to God

● Attend mass regularly

● Read the Bible

● Make reparations to Jesus through prayer and sacrifices

● Pray the rosary daily

In the final apparition in 1998, Fowler reported that Our Loving Mother said Her requests remain the same as the ones Mary made in Fatima, Portugal in 1917.

● Imitate Jesus and honor Mary.

● Pray for the Holy Souls in purgatory.

● Be ready for Heaven and do not store up treasures of the world.

● Pray, pray, pray.

● Pray the Rosary for peace and strength against the evils of this age.

Several days later, Jesus appeared to Fowler and told her that all the souls in purgatory of relatives of the people who were praying the rosary in union with Our Loving Mother on the 13th, all over the world, went to Heaven with Her on that day.
 

RITUAL

The apparitional events at Conyers resemble those at Medjugorje in their emphasis on prayer, conversion, and sacrifice. They resemble those at Fatima, which ended on October 13 th and in which "Our Lady of Fatima" wore a white dress with something silver or gold.

On the day of the apparition, pilgrims headed toward a large field adjacent to Fowler's home where they prayed on Mary's Holy Hill, filled bottles with water from the Blessed Well, or visited the small bookstore on the property.

● When the apparitions were about to occur Nancy retired to the apparition room and awaited the message while the audience waited outside.

● Members of Our Loving Mother's Children, the volunteer group that organized the Conyers gatherings, led the crowd in song and in prayer.

● The apparition began when Nancy reported seeing a light, and the audience was informed by loudspeaker what was transpiring during the apparition.

● When Mary's message was broadcast over loudspeakers, the pilgrims raised their rosaries, icons, and petitions heavenward, hoping the items would be blessed by the presence of the Virgin Mary.

● When the apparition is concluding, Mary’s departure is announced to the pilgrims.

Miraculous events reported during the ritual events:

● Scent of Roses

● Cross Silhouettes in the sky

● A bright light surrounding a statue of Mary

● Statues of Mary shedding tears

● Rosaries turning to Gold

● The sun spinning in the sky

● Healings

Polaroid cameras are used by pilgrims to record miraculous visions in the sky.

Believers come here the rest of the year as well, although in much smaller numbers. They wander the green, peaceful grounds, sit on benches and pray, collect water from Fowler's Holy Water well. At three o'clock, they make their way to her farmhouse for the daily prayer service

At times when an apparition is not scheduled in much smaller numbers At three o'clock, they make their way to her farmhouse for the daily prayer service.

LEADERSHIP/ORGANIZATION

Fowler has never claimed charismatic authority

● She refers to herself as a very ordinary person, uneducated and unqualified for the position she has been asked to assume.

● She describes herself as unimportant and that she simply tries to explain what she is hearing and being shown.

● She consistently says she will follow the direction of the local bishop with respect to her experiences. She considers obedience to the church to be of the utmost importance.

● While visiting Mejugorje in 1987, Fowler reported that God told her that she was a prophet.

The apparition site was made possible through major benefactors, a wealthy Virginia couple, Robert and Bernice Hughes became major benefactors.

● They purchased The Farm

● They established, Our Loving Mother's Children), a non-profit organization.

The Farm contains a well, Holy Hill, believed to contain holy water and a marble statue of Madonna and Child was erected at the site.

During the time when apparitions occurred monthly, attendance varied between 20,000 and 80,000.

CONTROVERSY

The increase in the number of pilgrims in the 1990s led Rockdale County officials to begin enforcing a variety of ordinances to cope with the consequences of the large influx of pilgrims on county facilities and services.

Roman Catholic Church officials refused to legitimate the apparitional events.

● Priests had stood with Fowler as she reported the messages she had received.

● In March, 1991, the Archbishop of Atlanta instructing priests not to lead or initiate pilgrimages to the site, hear confessions there, celebrate Mass there, or suggest that the church endorsed them in any way.

● In September, 1991, the Archbishop ordered that no parish facilities be used to support the apparitional devotions.

Fowler submitted to a variety of medical tests. A panel of neurologists, psychologists and environmental scientists determined that she was not psychotic. Physiological and environmental anomalies (such as unexpected electrical activity in the room and unprecedented brain wave patterns) occurred while she had her visions. These events could not be explained.

Fowler lost control over the Conyers apparition site in 1998.

The Roman Catholic Church established a presence at the Conyers site.

● The visionary had been receiving divine instructions since 1991 to build a church named Our Loving Mother Catholic Church.

● Shortly before the last apparition in 1998 Bishop Robert Moskal established a Byzantine Rite parish under papal authority called Mother of God Church, located on Fowler’s property.

Fowler dissociated herself from Our Loving Mother’s Children (OLMC), which administered the Conyers site and was a separate organizational entity controlled by the Hughes.

● OLMC announced an aggressive fundraising campaign that Fowler opposed.

● Fowler brought suit against OLMC in 1999 for control of donations to OLMC, but the courts ruled against her.

● OLMC announced a decision to link OLMC to the Great Crusade of Love and Mercy in Cochabamba, Brazil, which is associated with stigmatist Catalina (Catia) Rivas.

● Catalina Rivas of Cochabamba, Bolivia, was a “fallen-away Catholic” until 1993, when she went to Conyers. She had her first stigmatic experience there.

● OLMC has downplayed Fowler's importance in Conyer's history. OLMC maintains that from the beginning the apparitions were part of God’s “Master Plan” for “the return of many fallen away Catholics back to the Church,” and that Conyers was a missionary field for Mary to “bring more souls to her Son as part of God’s effort to evangelize within and alongside of the Church.” It refers to Fowler only cryptically, as “the main Conyers visionary,” and to her visions simply as having occurred at “The Farm” or “Conyers.”