Bayside - Our Lady of the Roses

Beginning in the 1960s a woman in Bayside, NY (Brooklyn Diocese), Veronica Lueken, reported apparitions of Our Lady, Our Lord and St. Therese. She attracted a following,  which came to the grounds where the New York World's Fair had been held in 1964. There there were alleged phenomena, claimed miraculous healings and a constant stream of new revelations, including a new title for Mary, "Our Lady of the Roses, Help of Mothers".  Eventually the Bayside apparitions were judged not supernatural by the Bishop of Brooklyn, a decision rejected by Veronica and her followers because neither Veronica nor any witnesses were interviewed. Whatever the defects of the decision process, it is nonetheless true that these "revelations" are demonstrably false. Veronica's Lady is not only ignorant of English, but of Catholic terminology, history and theology.

With the minimal amount of effort I was able to cull these gems from Veronica's writings.

"Pastors, no hands other than those consecrated by a legally-ordained priest shall give the Host to others. Better that you spend more time consummating your role as the representative of Christ than joining the world. "The extraordinary ministers have become a farce! Women? Children? Whatever shall become of you? The rules of discipline in the houses of My Son have already been given to you. "Only legally-ordained representatives of My Son - they receive the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit deems that they shall bring the Host to the man and the woman recipient and the children!" - Our Lady, August 21, 1975 [my emphases]

Priests are correctly said to be validly ordained. Further, priests are ordained by bishops, not other priests. Our Lady would not be ignorant of Catholic terminology-terminology used in the doctrinal, catechetical and writings of the Church. This shows a human origin, rather than a heavenly one. It also seems intemperate for Our Lady to call anything a farce, much less a practice approved by the Vicar of Christ. "Whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." 

Or, consider this ignorance of Scripture, Church teaching and history about the diaconate and the theology of Holy Orders.

"Why are you now planning to take married men, making them what you call deacons, to give the sanctity and holiness, the grace in marriage to My sheep? What right have you to change the rules and the direction?  Understand well: when I appointed the Apostles there were no names given as cardinals or bishops; but Peter was the first Pope, the leader, and would you say not that the Apostles were the first bishops? And after that they chose from out of multitudes, seven whom you call deacons and listed as deacons, but they were truly priests at that time. But you do not need the procedure now if you are willing to ask the Eternal Father, and if you do not give yourselves over to doctrines of demons, you will have priests sufficient to carry out the ministry. But what do you do now? "You will seek to make instant priests, against the will of the Eternal Father! You will delude others to think that your deacons can take the Sacraments and give them as in the priesthood! A priest, My children, is a chosen man of God. A true legally-ordained priest is far superior than any man, as he represents Me in the Godhead." - Jesus, May 23, 1979 [my emphases]

Surely the Blessed Virgin is capable of speaking more clearly than in this confused statement? The apostles called their first seven assistants deacons. The Church's liturgy celebrates St. Stephen the Martyr as a deacon, the third of the Sacred Orders, not a priest, the second. The teaching of the Catholic Church on the nature and division of sacred orders, and the revival of the permanent diaconate by the authority of the entire episcopal college (the bishops of Vatican II) and the Vicar of Christ, is called "the doctrine of demons". This one message alone is enough to destroy the plausibility of Bayside.

While the following of Bayside has greatly declined in recent years, despite the death of the "seer" it continues to have followers, attracting a mixture of people seeking traditional piety and wary of imminent apocalyptic horrors. However, no number of alleged "miraculous photos" or healings can validate a private “revelation” filled with errors such as this one has.