If the OP had referenced the concept of Mary’s perpetual virginity (the idea that Mary never had relations with Joseph or any other man, before or after the birth of Christ), I would have been way off base if I claimed that was an essential feature of all Christian churches. So far as I know, Mary’s perpetual virginity is almost an exclusively Catholic belief, and doesn’t appear in any of the canonical texts of orthodox Christianity (the Gospels, the Nicene creed, etc.).
My point was that the Virgin Birth (Mary’s virginity before Christ was born) is not in itself a specifically Catholic belief or papal dogma, as the OP had phrased it–most Christians accept it, as stated in the Nicene creed (“by the power of the Holy Spirit, [Christ] was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man”)–which has traditionally been regarded as setting forth the central tenets of orthodox faith.
If the Nicene creed is no longer regarded as expressing the beliefs of all orthodox Christian churches, then I have obviously misspoken, and I apologize. I was unaware that some churches regard themselves as orthodox, and also reject or question the concept of the Virgin Birth (however the term “virgin” is interpreted).
Seeing that the Virgin Birth and its relationship with orthodox Christianity is more debateable that I had thought, any further discussion is probably best suited for Great Debates.
Getting back to the OP…
I don’t think any of the Marian apparitions have effected any major changes in Catholic doctrine or practice. They have reinforced some pre-existing practices–Fatima, for instance, strongly emphasized the traditional practice of saying the rosary, and introduced the Fatima prayer, which many Catholics now include in the rosary (recited after the Glory Be’s). However, the Fatima prayer is not a mandatory part of the rosary prayers, though it’s popular.
So no major changes in doctrine, but the apparitions have served to reaffirm people’s faith, so that’s considered a good thing.
And yes, Lucia dos Santos (the only child from the Fatima apparition who survived into adulthood), is living as a Carmelite nun today in Coimbra, Portugal; this is a recent interview of hers.
For discussions on Mary’s special relationship with Christ, as defined by the Catholic Church, read (or skim–they’re a bit long-winded) the following papal encyclicals/letters: Redemptoris Mater (by JPII) and Signum Magnum (by Paul VI).
Mary seems to appear on everything from cookie sheets to windows to fence posts.
(http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/30/1043804464591.html?oneclick=true)
Pretty soon she’ll be endorsing running shoes.
Yes, she is still alive. For some reason I was under the impression that Mother Teresa was one of the children at Fatima. Don’t ask me why, maybe I got confused at Sunday school.
That is not Roman Catholic doctrine. It overlooks the function of the third part of the Trinity — the Holy Spirit — which is the ongoing revelation of God.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega” in Johanian theology is meant to emphasize that Christ has existed for all time and will exist for all time, just as alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
That website apparently hasn’t been updated in some time! It refers to Sister Lucy dos Santos as being 89 years old, but gives her date of birth as 22 March 1907, which would make her 97.
The interview that I found was in 2001, and in it they mentioned she was about to turn 95.
I haven’t found any reference to her passing away, so I assume she’s still alive at the age of 97 or 98.
She’s written a book about the Fatima visions entitled Appeals of the Fatima Message, but it doesn’t seem to be distributed by any major publisher.
…but have any of the Apostles made a return visit? St. Paul would be most welcome…he could clear things upquite a bit! :smack:
Grimpen, a tardy but very sincere welcome to the boards! I appreciated the thoughts you put into the posts in this thread!
Not in that mode, as far as I can tell (nor BTW has a vision of Mary, or of Gabriel, ever opened the floor to off-topic or open-ended questions; they stay on-message). Most of what I can find about encore engagements of the Apostles/Saint is of accounts by some other later-to-become-Saint who may claim a vision of one of the big-box-office saints came to him/her to say “keep yer chin up, kid” or “here, let me heal that mortal wound for you”.
USA visitations
Note that some of these are in large cities such as Boston and San Francisco. I particulary like the one on the fender of the '81 Camaro in Texas. I happen to remember the one on the back of a road sign near Yakima being reported in the news. As I recall, it was caused by some kind of coating on the sign reflecting the sunlight.