There are two main groups who treat the apparitions in Lipa, and everything associated with it, as ‘diabolic’. It is not the Vatican, nor the Mother Church, nor it is our local bishops (CBCP). In fact, there are countless devotees and staunch supporters of this reported Marian apparition, including priests, bishops, and cardinals inside and outside the country. Two of these bishops, namely Venerable Bishop Alfredo Verzosa and Venerable Bishop Alfredo María Obviar are now on their way to sainthood. His eminence, the late Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, a very holy man, signed the imprimatur of the visionary’s biography called “I am Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace.”

Note: A Tagalog version of this article is available here.

So, who are these groups who are criticizing the Lipa event and the devotion to Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace?

First, the anti-Catholics, especially bad Protestants and other members of non-Christian sects who consider all Marian apparitions to be demonic due to their hatred of the ‘Mother of God’ and pretty much everything related to Catholicism. I specifically said ‘bad’ because most non-Catholics, in their own conscience, are kind to Catholics and they do not consider themselves as someone against the Church.

Second, and surprisingly, something that did not happen in the previous decades when priests-exorcists were abundant, in the last couple of years, there is a group of fallible Catholic exorcists who confidently concluded that Satan was the main perpetuator of the phenomenon. Since towards the end of the year 2016, a months after the release of the 2015 CDF Decree, they have been fearlessly promoting this idea that because Rome disapproved the apparition, it is diabolic. Just like that! After decades since the apparitions, these exorcists suddenly decided to tag the Lipa event as diabolic. Even worse, it has been reported that one of these exorcists made a clandestine exorcism rite in the apparition site without the consent of the resident Carmelite nuns.

As a result of these attacks, Harriet Demetriou, a well-respected lawyer and former Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan, a very devout Catholic and a devotee to our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace, sent complaint letters to our beloved bishops regarding the exorcists’ actions. But these unfortunately were mostly ignored. Harriet’s next step was to file a criminal case against one of the exorcists, Fr. Winston Cabading, for offending her religious feelings.

With these facts, one should already understand the complainant’s motives and not judge her of her actions. However, in my observations, I can say that more than 90% of Filipino Catholics, even those who consider themselves as staunch defenders of the faith, are blindly supporting these exorcists and demonizing the complainant and the other Mediatrix devotees. This is not a surprise in a Catholic country wherein only two of 5 adults attend weekly Masses and mostly are not catechized. In my opinion, they have taken the negative side of this clash by supporting these exorcists because the evidence that the Blessed Virgin appeared in Lipa is so compelling compared to the evidence that she didn’t.

The evidence I am referring to are the miraculous showers of rose petals in the apparition site and in other places. In some of these petals, one can clearly see an engraved image of Jesus or of Mary. The miraculous cures and conversions attributed to the apparition are also concrete evidence that the apparition was of God and not of Satan.

For example, an infant was found to have more than two-inches hole on her head, the parents, confident that God would provide healing through Mary, went to the apparition site and invoked her intercession, their petitions were granted and the cavity in the skull was miraculously sealed. Another instance was a 56-year-old crippled woman beggar who prayed before the image of Mary and then was able to walk again. There is even a story of a religious sister born with a clubfoot (deformed or twisted foot). When she was 8-years old, was instantly cured after a nine-day novena, and with the help of a bottle of holy water previously placed overnight in front of the Mediatrix statue.

An occasion of a conversion was an anecdote involving a freemason who went to check out the Lipa phenomenon out of curiosity, he witnessed one of the petals fall straight on to him. This one single petal made him renounce freemasonry. These miracles are documented by June Keithley in her documentary “The Woman Clothed with the Sun” which I greatly recommend to skeptics.

These and other reported miracles are clearly not attributed to the devil. If they were of the devil, these individuals and their families should have stopped going to Sunday Masses, confessing regularly, and receiving our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Communion. But they remain devoted to our Lady, who leads us to Jesus, the source of grace.

Like many Vatican-approved apparitions of the Virgin Mary in other parts of the world, the countless miracles and healings that lead numerous souls to Jesus Christ should have been the focus of investigation in the first place. Unfortunately, this was not sufficiently done in the case of Lipa. Instead of focusing on the positive aspects of the phenomenon (miracles and conversions), the investigation, for reasons no one knows for sure, was focused on destroying the devotion once and for all.

For example, after the apparitions, the mother superior of the Carmelite monastery of Lipa was exiled and said to have been forced to sign a document against what she and everyone considered a miracle. The main visionary, Teresita Castillo, according to her testimony, was also almost forced to sign a statement against her will. Their diaries, and every paper, documents, even the petals that showered inside the monastery were asked to be burned which could have been evidence of the apparitions. The then ordinary of Lipa, now Venerable Alfredo Versoza, and his auxiliary bishop, now Venerable Alfredo María Obviar, had been relieved of their ranks. Inappropriate actions like these on the part of our church leaders are obviously not godly! It’s Satan’s work.

Satan worked very hard to cause confusions and fear among the faithful, even to the ordained. Thus, a decree in 1951, signed by six bishops was issued in his favor. He thought he had already won the fight, but decades later, one of the bishops had confessed in his deathbed the evil of coercion that happened in 1951. Meaning, he was forced to sign the negative decree against his will. For those who do not know, canon law (Canon 124) explicitly states that “an act is invalid if performed as a result of force imposed from outside on a person who was quite unable to resist it.” This makes the fight of the Mediatrix supporters valid.

Fast forward to our times, Satan still works tirelessly because he knows that an approved apparition would only result in one thing, the conversion of so many souls. Imagine how many millions of souls could have been converted inside and outside the Philippines, and how many souls in purgatory would have been helped if nobody succumbed to his temptations. But in order that the souls of lost Catholics and non-Catholics remain in a state of sin, Satan and his legions work day and night to ensure that fewer and fewer souls convert.

It is true that demons can appear as angels of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), or perhaps as the Virgin Mary, or as a saint, as the Sacred Scriptures can tell. But what is rampant are the constant temptations and deceptions they cause that even the holiest of Catholics can unknowingly become instruments in keeping some people away from the grace of God.

Therefore, any person of good will, especially open-minded Catholics, should understand why there is a battle between the Philippine Church hierarchy and the Mediatrix devotees. It is a moral and canonical obligation of bishops to clear things up especially regarding this very controversial Marian apparition in Lipa. Instead of recklessly defending the exorcists, the priests and CBCP, who as human beings, have and will make mistakes, we should remind them of their job as shepherds of souls.

It is a moral obligation as well for each individual Catholics to exercise the virtue of charity when commenting regarding the case. We can not blindly support one and demonize the other. This is very uncharitable. We need to pray for Fr. Winston and Harriet Demetriou because they are both faithful and devout Catholics. We need to accept that, like any other human being, anyone can commit a mistake. If we say that one can not commit a mistake, we deceive ourselves. (1 John 1:8-10).

The court may rule against or in favor of Fr. Winston, but the problem remains. It is not appropriate and charitable for exorcists or for anyone who is not infallible to say that the devotion, especially derived from a controversial apparition like Lipa, is demonic. Plus, the problem remains that the CBCP is still not seriously taking the devotees’ appeal to reopen the investigation.

To conclude, in my opinion, supported by evidence, the Lipa event, the devotion to Mary Mediatrix of All Grace, the churches built in her honor, the statues, the apparition site and everything related to it are NOT demonic. But the forces (to be clear, not the exorcists nor their supporters) that are trying to silence the devotion and stop its promulgation are, in no doubt, demonic.

I hope that sooner our Church leaders will open their minds, exercise humility in accepting past evils done by Church leaders, and usher in a new wave of investigation of the Lipa event which will surely unmask the truth behind the 1951 disapproval. After all, in the end, the Mother of God always has her ways to crush the head of the Serpent. (Genesis 3:15)

A note from the author. I am not (yet) a devotee of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace. But I started to inquire a bit more about the apparition upon hearing about the case against Fr. Winston Cabading. The resources (see below)I already knew and those I studied led me to the conclusion that the Lipa event was of God and that the Church’s decrees against it may have been invalid. Because of this, I am compelled to share the truth in the hope that other Catholics would do the same.

Resources include but not limited to: Hours of YouTube episodes of “The Woman Clothed in the Sun,” June Keithley-Castro’s book of the same name, Harriet Demetriou’s letters to the Philippine bishops, Hours of YouTube videos of Harriet and Fr. Pio Aclon, the documents of approval and disapproval of the apparition, testimonies of devotees, several books of Fr. Jocis Syquia and Fr. Gabriele Amorth and hours of videos and podcasts related to exorcism, and https://ourladymarymediatrixofallgrace.com/.

My special thanks to Ate Dayay, a Mediatrix devotee, for revising the veracity of the historical elements of this post.