UFOs, ETs, and ghosts: skeptical and superstitious Catholics encountering anomalies and miracles

July 6, 11:59 PMDenver Roman Catholic ExaminerTheresa Navarra

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Denver UFO July 4, 2009 apparition similar to this anomaly

Many devout Catholics are skeptical about UFOs, extraterrestrials, ghosts, and other metaphysical and paranormal activity, yet believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and performed many miracles as are recorded in the Scriptures. Just as interesting is the fact that some Catholic believers are unable to accept the miracle during Mass of the bread and wine being changed into the actual body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet have no problem believing what a fortune teller or an astrologer predicts will happen in the future.

Believing that Jesus rose from the dead is a requirement for our Catholic faith, as is transubstantiation, a daily miracle accepted as truth in Catholicism despite a lack of observable physical evidence. It is a given that angels and demons exist to all Christian believers, because they have been written about often throughout the Bible. Some Catholic priests have even performed exorcisms, which shows that even in modern times the Catholic Church views demons as being very real. Angels seem to be the most accepted of other-world beings. Having a great reputation for being beautiful ministering spirits, even some non-believers adorn their homes and work spaces with artistic likenesses of them.

Yet when faced with the questions of whether our Blessed Mother Mary has actually appeared somewhere, whether something that defies natural and scientific rules as we know them is really a miracle, or how to determine what to believe about other anomalies that people claim to have experienced, there do not seem to be a lot of concrete answers on these subjects from the Vatican. Some Catholics admit to being very superstitious about things, having little difficulty believing whatever somebody tells them, without questioning fantastic tales about apparitions. I tend to feel that there can be different interpretations of the same experience, and simply want accurate information about it. Usually the Church reserves judgment and is typically silent about the matter. Private revelations, as in a visitation from the Virgin Mary or in sighting a UFO, are not frowned upon if they do not conflict or contradict our Catholic faith, which is based on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

However, this portion of our Catholic Catechism is important to note and to adhere to:

"All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone." (CCC 2116) http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.htm

Furthermore, St. Paul wrote that "even if we or an angel from heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed!" Galatians 1:8.

On July 4, 2009 at about 4:15 pm what appeared to be a thin sheet of orange-brown or rust colored cloud-like substance somewhat rectangular in its confines of an estimated 5 to 10 feet long by 4 to 10 feet across from perhaps 100 feet away, that did not dissipate, flew across our path, heading southbound in Denver, over I-76 at just about the area where the overpass exchange to I-25 is reached when driving eastbound on the freeway. 2 adults and 3 children saw this UFO from inside a car and it seemed to come to within less than 50 feet and head more westbound just after passing us. I am sure it could have been picked up by camera, if there are any in that area, since the swift-moving slice-of-cloud or ghostly image was visible to everyone in the car.

The driver of the vehicle is a good family friend in the Jewish faith, who tried to reason that the anomaly must have some logical, rational explanation, like a fireworks after-image or a weather balloon. He had to agree, though, that due to the rapid and continuous rate of speed at which it traveled, while retaining the see-through, cloud-like appearance and shape, it did not behave in a manner that fits our understanding pertaining to clouds, smoke, or wind. He stated that it looked somewhat like a narrow, vertical chariot, and that whatever it was that we'd observed, "it seemed to be on a mission."

I was the front-seat passenger who, likewise, suspect that there is probably some scientific explanation for what we presently have no knowledge about. If anyone lost an extremely interesting giant-sized kite resembling a slice of swiss cheese, you might try looking somewhere southwest of Denver.

It is important to report such events at the Mutual UFO Network, so that researchers have the data on UFO sightings for investigative purposes. At the present time, I am also researching and contacting experts in various fields of expertise, including Rick Donaldson, long time anomalies expert and website administrator at http://communities.anomalies.net/forum/. It is possible that this strange phenomena was something from another realm as in an angel or a ghost, or an ET or ship from another world. If anyone else has seen this odd occurrence on Independence Day in the late afternoon, or something similar at another time, your comments are welcome regarding this anomaly. More importantly, file a report at http://www.mufon.com/.

Although none of us who observed the anomaly felt frightened by the experience, I honestly did feel relieved and thankful that we were not targeted for it's intended mission, but mostly that we had not collided with it. (After my family has been able to best express in an artistic creation the thing that we saw, it will be photographed and the picture of the artwork will be posted to accompany this article.) The detailed report that I submitted to MUFON has been copied here for forum discussions: http://communities.anomalies.net/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/247157/Main/15793/#Post247157

My children, who witnessed this unidentified flying object, all believed it to be from the spiritual realm; one of them uncomfortable with the notion of thinking that it could have been either an angel or a demon, one believing it to be something supernatural, perhaps an angel, and the youngest one proclaiming, "it was God!"

In an excellent article on this topic entitled "Miracles" Father Dwight Longnecker wrote:

"Those who take a materialistic view deny the supernatural altogether. Some scientists believe the fixed laws of science can explain everything, and that miracles are therefore impossible. Some psychologists suppose that supernatural incidents are all in the mind -- ignoring the fact that some supernatural events are witnessed by thousands. More open-minded theorists admit that strange things happen, but insist that these are simply natural events for which we do not yet have an explanation. This is a better answer, but it also doesn't account for all the facts. Some supernatural events are simply strange, one-off miracles, and there is no other explanation." http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0280.htm

Here's the latest that has come publicly from the Vatican about encountering extraterrestrials and believing in UFOs. In May 2008, Father Jose Funes, the Director of the Vatican's Observatory, in an interview with the Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano, stated that believing in the possible existence of extraterrestrial life is not opposed to Catholic doctrine. He even went so far as to call the interview, "The alien is my brother". http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12628

That is not, however, an "official" statement from the Vatican. While I agree that God certainly can make intelligent, extraterrestrial, non-human life forms if He so chooses; they can earn my trust before I will call them my brothers.

 Virgin Mary seen by thousands!

This concludes the 3rd in a series of articles on miracles, visionaries, Our Blessed Virgin Mary in apparitions, visions, and images, the image of the Virgin Mary that appeared on the Sapp family garage window in Georgia, and how the Holy Spirit may be involved in some of these events.

Article 1 Catholic family from Jesup Georgia is blessed with the image of the Virgin Mary
http://tinyurl.com/Marywindowimage

Article 2 The Virgin Mary icon image window is for everyone
http://tinyurl.com/Maryiconwindowimage