Medjugorje Website Updates - Medjugorje News & Articles

Fr. Carmelo, you spent two years in Medjugorje. How did you get this opportunity, and what does it mean for you now?

It was definitely a call by Our Lady, and it was through a small article precisely in the Echo of Mary which said there wasn't an Italian priest in Medjugorje to look after the Italian pilgrims. I took this as a personal call, and I asked Our Lady to provide a ticket to get there and a place to stay as a sign that it really was for me. Not long after this, whilst having dinner with friends, one of them said he had an extra ticket to go to Medjugorje and that he wanted to give it to someone. Then, at Medjugorje I asked Fr. Slavko about it and he confirmed that Our Lady had called me to stay there so I could better comprehend God's plans.

By Stephen K. Ryan

Who is the man behind the mask known as the "Friend of Medjugorje"? The founder and operator of Medjugorje.com/ Caritas of Birmingham insists on calling himself "A friend of Medjugorje" rather than by his own name. Maybe it is just us but this curious business of referring to oneself in the third person, as the "Friend of Medjugorje" does throughout his web site, is beginning to creep us out. From the onset the third person references on his web site create an aura of obfuscation and an unsettling lack of transparency.

The "Friend of Medjugorje" as it turns out is named Terry Colafrancesco. He may refer to himself as a friend of Medjugorje but the more we peel away the layers we are beginning to discover that many people who are devoted to the Medjugorje movement think he is anything but a friend.

By Daniel Jackson, Birmingham Post-Herald

Patrick J. Flynn said the founder of a Shelby County religious compound no longer has any control over him, but other people should be warned.

Last week Flynn was sitting 3 feet away from Terry Colafrancesco, founder of the Caritas Community, during depositions in a lawsuit filed by some of his former followers.

Colafrancesco had his deposition and bank records sealed in the lawsuit.

Flynn, one of the original 12 inhabitants of the Caritas Community, questioned Shelby County Circuit Judge J. Michael Joiner's confidentiality order, which bars discussion of the details in the three-year-old suit.

A group of former Caritas residents and parents of residents have accused Colafrancesco of operating a cult that preys on devout Catholics and drains them of their assets. Parties in the case will begin court-ordered mediation on March 30.

“Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”
(John 20,21)

To all parishioners, pilgrims, friends, benefactors, and to all men of goodwill a

Blessed and Happy Easter!

Parish priest and the Franciscans

Photos

Jim Caviezel became the world famous actor with leading role in Mel Gibson’s movie “Passion”. Who is that actor that has so impressively become one with character of Jesus? Personally, he claims that if it wasn’t for Medjugorje, he wouldn’t have ever even accepted that role. Namely, in Medjugorje he had experienced certain dimension of faith that was unknown to him up to that point. In February he came to Medjugorje for the sixth time as pilgrim, and he visited Vienna after that trip. While he was in Vienna he had interview with Christian Stelzer for magazine “Oase des Friedens”, and interview translated in Croatian can be found in new edition of “Glasnik mira” from Medjugorje.

The many accounts of personal stories involving Medj. show how only the hand of God can get to the bottom of a person’s heart and radically change it.

This is the story of a young woman who lives in a religious community in Medj. She was born in a Catholic family; her parents practised their faith, but from when she was a little girl, she felt nauseated by everything they did. At first, out of respect, she hid these feelings from them, but when she was only 13, her heart was already distant from them, from prayer and from God.

My name is Candace Evans. I am 43 years old and live in New Hampshire (USA) with my husband and nine year old son. My parents, both deceased, were Jewish. My mother was an atheist. We never spoke of religion in our home so I never had any spiritual teaching or guidance as a child, nor later as an adult.

Respected brothers, the purpose and aim of this questionnaire is to make a list of priests who received their vocation through Medjugorje.

So, we kindly ask you to fill out this form with following information:

By Sara Foss, Birmingham Post-Herald

Accusations of brainwashing and money laundering plague an area religious group as some unhappy members leave

Terry Colafrancesco started Caritas in Shelby County in 1987 to promote the experience of Medjugorje, the Eastern European village where six youngsters reported seeing the Virgin Mary.

Today, Caritas has grown into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, complete with families who live there year-round, a travel agency that offers trips to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a publishing arm and even a farm. Caritas' mission of educating people about Medjugorje remains unchanged.

But recently the organization has come under fire by longtime residents who have left the community and others interested in Medjugorje. A lawsuit filed in California accuses Colafrancesco, the president of Caritas, of brainwashing residents and using funds raised from donors to purchase heavy equipment for himself.

By Sara Foss, Birmingham Post-Herald

In 1986, a man with a great enthusiasm for Medjugorje began visiting Jack Sacco in his office at the Eternal Word Television Network, a Roman Catholic television network based in Irondale.

At that time, Sacco was organizing one of the first trips from Alabama to Medjugorje, a rural village in Bosnia-Herzegovina where six youths had reported receiving messages from the Virgin Mary in 1981.

"I convinced two friends to go with me," said Sacco, a Birmingham native who now runs Michelangelo Films, a film production company based in Marina del Rey, Calif. "Before we left, this guy Terry is showing up in my office every day, all enthusiastic. He would talk about Medjugorje."

Sacco was referring to Terry Colafrancesco, then a landscaper who ran his business out of his home in Sterrett in Shelby County.

Today Colafrancesco is the president and founder of Caritas of Birmingham, a religious organization in Sterrett dedicated to promoting devotion to the visions of Medjugorje.

By Sara Foss, Birmingham Post-Herald

When the Flynn and the Littiken families moved to Caritas of Birmingham, they did it for their children.

The idea of a wholesome farming community, where devout Roman Catholics worshipped together and worked side by side, appealed to them.

By Andy Treinen, Fox News 19

Faith is defined as a complete acceptance of a truth which cannot be proved by the process of logical thought. All of us have faith in something, but sometimes our faith is betrayed. That's exactly what happened to a local man who after nine years, came to the realization that he was in a cult.

Tom O'Neill, a Xavier graduate and former teacher at LaSalle High School, was also in the FBI for 20 years. But none of his past work prevented him from making one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Now, his daughter is the one at risk.

"What is happening at Caritas is exactly the same as Waco, Texas," claimed O'Neill.

By Associated Press

A multimillion dollar religious mission in rural Shelby County is under fire from critics and former residents who accuse the leader of brainwashing and financial mismanagement.

Longtime members have left Caritas of Birmingham after becoming disenchanted with the operation, and the organization is named in a federal lawsuit over its work to promote visions of the Virgin Mary.

The disputes center around Terry Colafrancesco, the founder and leader of Caritas, which has a publishing house and operates a travel service to Europe.

Complaints about the organization were revealed Monday in a story by the Birmingham Post-Herald, which said Colafrancesco did not respond to repeated interview requests.

An attorney who has done legal work for Caritas said Colafrancesco and his followers are good people with a "positive mission."

"Terry has always had the philosophy that he doesn't respond to people who say bad things about him," said lawyer Joseph Ritchey.

By Jay Reeves, Montgomery Advertiser

Sterrett -- A multimillion-dollar organization that promotes visions of the Virgin Mary is fighting charges of being a destructive cult as religious pilgrims from across the nation arrive at its Alabama compound seeking spiritual renewal.

Five former residents of Caritas of Birmingham have filed suit in state court seeking an unspecified amount of money from the group and its founder, Terry Colafrancesco.

The suit claims Colafrancesco lures people into Caritas with promises of spiritual enrichment and then drains them of money. Families are made to live in nasty trailers at the group's compound, and Colafrancesco controls their lives almost totally, the suit claims.

"Considering the above, it can be concluded that if someone supports Caritas of Birmingham, they are supporting a strange, religious sect and this potentially, which may cause serious damage in an individual's personal and family life.

If you are Roman Catholic perhaps you should first seek spiritual direction from the recognized and historic Catholic Church, before becoming involved with Caritas of Birmingham and/or the Community of Caritas."