Sunday, February 03, 2008
SEER JULIA KIM EXCOMMUNICATED
SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) -- A South Korean archbishop said an alleged Marian visionary and her followers have been excommunicated automatically.
Archbishop Andreas Choi Chang-mou of Kwangju issued the decree Jan. 21, saying "for Christians' healthy faith life and the unity and communion of the church, I declare as such, though my heart grieves."
The decree was released to all dioceses and media Jan. 23, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.
The Kwangju Archdiocese issued directives in 1998, 2003 and 2005 banning Catholics from visiting and participating in ceremonies in Naju, South Korea. The Korean bishops' conference supported the archdiocese.
Archbishop Choi said he met with Julia Youn, 60, and her husband in Naju in 2003 to warn them against promoting the alleged apparitions and later gave her a final warning in 2005, but they did not modify their actions. The excommunication was not imposed by judgment but automatically results from an action that places one outside the community of faith, Archbishop Choi said.
"Rather, they speak as if the Holy Father approves them," the archbishop said. "They libel me, the Korean bishops and the Korean church through their publications and the Internet."
Continue reading...
