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Blog warning against a false 'visionary' Maria Divine Mercy and her cult

Monday, March 17, 2014

Profiting From a False Prophet? The Strange Case of Kelly Bowring

By Tim Stuart

Dr. Kelly Bowring
Kelly Bowring lately of Cummins, Georgia, continues to launch marketing spiels for his books from his website. He is focused on writing about end times prophecy and how it relates to the Catholic Church. His latest attempt to sell his books was issued just a few days ago. Last year he told us that it was “plausible” that Pope Francis was the false prophet of the antichrist, based on the often ludicrous “prophecies” of one calling herself “Maria Divine Mercy” or, simply MDM.

Dr. Bowring wants us to take him seriously and often points out his academic credentials as well as his “mandatum” to teach theology. There is no question of his academic background, he is well-schooled and holds a doctorate in theology.

However, his claim to hold a “mandatum” to teach theology is problematic. In order to have a mandatum, you have to be employed as a theologian, and at this writing Dr. Bowring is unemployed; his sole occupation now appears to be the marketing of his doom saying books. Canon 812 of the 1983 code of canon law tells us that the mandatum is required for “those who teach”. As he no longer holds a teaching position, Dr. Bowring’s claim to possess a mandatum is tenuous at best. 

Dr. Bowring has spread the messages of MDM for some time now, as he believes one is allowed to do so, whether they are approved by Church authority or not. But unlike Kelly Bowring’s tentative description of Pope Francis as a “possible” or “plausible” false prophet, the messages of MDM state unambiguously that Pope Francis is an antipope and indeed the false prophet of the Antichrist! 

Now of course, we can point out to Dr. Bowring that anyone who wants to spread such revelations is in fact required by canon law to submit them first to his or her bishop. Dr. Bowring claims that since her bishop has not issued any directive on the subject, one is free to spread them. But this is not the position of the Catholic Church at all and MDM herself (also apparently known as Mary Carberry in her native Ireland) stated in an audio interview that her bishop had rejected her claims. 

With respect to the Church’s position the canons on prior censorship still govern here. Cardinal Ratzinger spelled out these concerns in 1996 when he said:
“A reminder, therefore, that for the diffusion of texts of presumed private revelations, the norm of the Code in force, Canon 823, para 1, which gives pastors the right "to demand that the writings of the faithful which touch faith or morals be submitted to their own judgment before publication," remains valid. 
Presumed supernatural revelations and writings which regard them are in the first instance subject to the judgment of the diocesan bishop and, in particular cases, to that of the Episcopal conference and the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.” (CDF Notification of Nov. 29, 1996. The full text may be read here.

And one would think Dr. Bowring is competent enough in moral theology to also realize that Pope Francis like any other individual is also entitled to his good name. And to spread such messages does grave harm to the good name of the pope and sets up even the possibility of encouraging schism at the very least. 

Bowring asks us to consider the “disconcerting actions and statements” of Pope Francis in the past year. Reading this, we expect to hear a review of just what those statements and actions are. But instead we get a long review of various supposed Catholic prophecies related to the end times without Dr. Bowring ever explaining how any of this “plausibly” or “possibly” relates to Pope Francis, who has not attempted to change so much as a single Catholic doctrine. It isn’t necessary to go point by point through this list as I can spot a few errors on a first reading. And if there are a few errors then the integrity of the whole article is called into question. 

Included in this list is one attributed to Pope Saint Pius X, in which Pius X sees a vision of a future pope “fleeing over the bodies of his brethren”. Unfortunately for Dr. Bowring’s case, there is no credible source for this supposed prophecy. It is simply spread around the World Wide Web without anyone citing an original source for it. Bowring relies heavily on the alleged prophecies of St. Malachy and his now well-known list of popes. But no serious scholar takes these prophecies seriously. They are at times highly inaccurate in fact and more than likely a forgery. (For more on the prophecies of St. Malachy see Dr. Donald Prudlo’s excellent article

The “revelations” of MDM also rely on this list as the messages tell us Pope Benedict is the last
true pope and “the keys of Rome are now being handed back to God the Father” (MDM message of June 6, 2011). We are running out of popes is the cry of Dr. Bowring as well as MDM. 

Dr. Bowring has insisted repeatedly that he is not able to find any doctrinal errors in the messages. Well, when you claim we are running out of popes and that the keys of Rome (aren’t they in fact the keys of St. Peter?) have gone to heaven, it should be very evident to someone familiar with Church teaching that this is a huge error. The First Vatican Council did more than simply define papal infallibility. It issued other dogmatic definitions which bind all Catholics. One of these dogmas is related to the perpetual character of the Roman primacy. It states: 

“Therefore if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church; or that the Roman pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema.” ( Vatican I, SESSION 4 : 18 July 1870, Chapter 2 of the First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ) 

In short, we simply cannot run out of popes, Christ intended the primacy to endure until the end of time. It is therefore very erroneous for anyone to claim the “keys of Rome” have disappeared into the sky. 

Kelly Bowring gives MDM great credit for having allegedly prophesied the end of Pope Benedict’s pontificate. As he puts it:
“ONE-YEAR LATER TO THE VERY DAY of her reported prophecy, he surprised the world by announcing his retirement. The devil does not know the future! Her messages say Benedict would be secretly forced out, to which much evidence has been presented by those who have investigated it, though he himself also states that the resignation itself was done freely.” 
Let’s take a closer look at this. First, we might ask ourselves why Bowring did not favor us with an actual quote of the “prophecy”? Let’s leave that aside and just look at his statement here. “Secretly forced out”?? And this he seems to regard as reliable as “much evidence has been presented by those who have investigated it”. And just who has investigated it and presented us with such evidence? Bowring never lets us know, though he admits Pope Benedict himself says otherwise. So what else is he saying or could he be saying except that Pope Benedict is lying? 

Any reasonable Catholic would take the Pope’s statement at face value and let it go at that. This is a recurring problem with Bowring, he wants to have it both ways, and he wants to spread the messages of MDM all the while pretending he does not fully support them. But that’s quite like a Catholic priest going door to door with Jehovah’s Witness literature and advising people “I am not sure I really believe this but why don’t you read it?” In that instance I think the Catholics would be rightly scandalized whereas others would simply be confused. 

The MDM message he is referring to is that of February 11, 2012. Now Pope Benedict actually resigned on February 12, 2013 so it wasn’t exactly one year to the day as Bowring and MDM followers like to think. But was the prophecy in fact fulfilled? The prophecy said this: 
“Other world leaders will be killed soon, and My poor Holy Vicar, Pope Benedict XVI, will be ousted from the Holy See in Rome. Last year, my daughter, I told you of the plot, within the corridors of the Vatican. A plan to destroy My Holy Vicar was devised in secret on the 17th March, 2011, and this will come to fruition, for it has been foretold.” 

Well search as you will but no other world leaders have been killed since then, and we are now two years past the date of this prophecy. And “destroyed” is a pretty strong word and suggests Pope Benedict was to be murdered. Pope Benedict affirmed his resignation was voluntary and recently re-affirmed that so we can hardly call that “ousted”. And he has appeared several times in public with Pope Francis, which is very strange behavior if he thinks Pope Francis is an antipope. Indeed, it would be more than strange, as Benedict would be seen to support an antipope and that is more like a dereliction of duty. 

But there is a later message of MDM that Bowring does not call our attention to. And that is the message  of March 13, 2013 which says:"My beloved Pope Benedict XVI was persecuted and fled, as foretold." But he didn't flee; he just went to Castelgandolfo until the conclave was over and then returned. Those of us watching on TV saw Pope Benedict board a helicopter and leave the Vatican smiling and with an air of calm. Who “persecuted” him? No sign of that anywhere. 


So in what sense can Bowring (or anyone else for that matter) argue that these prophecies have been fulfilled?

Without reviewing his entire laundry list of quoted prophecies, let’s just take a look at one more. Bowring quotes Our Lady of La Salette as having said: “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the antichrist…” This is another “prophecy” that is idly copied and pasted around the web and I don’t doubt that Melanie Mathieu, one of the child seers of La Salette said it. But she said it some thirty years after the apparitions occurred, and Dr. Bowring fails to let his readers know this text was in fact condemned by the Holy Office in 1915. (1)

The actual secrets of La Salette have now been published and can be read at miraclehunter.com. That phrase which seems to imply the apostasy of the hierarchy in Rome does not appear in Melanie’s actual secret which she gave to her bishop in writing and before witnesses in 1851. (Those wishing to read the actual secret of Melanie Mathieu will find it at this link here.

So now we can conclude quite easily that Kelly Bowring is misrepresenting some facts, and I have not examined each of his points but only called attention to a few. Is he doing it deliberately in order to sell books or is this simply an instance of sloppy scholarship? I don’t know, I did point out these facts and more on his Facebook page but his only response was to delete my remarks without responding. Perhaps that speaks volumes all by itself. One of his former colleagues in teaching also posted a cautionary comment but that too was deleted. Incidentally, 

Bowring recently posted this on his Facebook page:

In a recent interview with an Italian newspaper, Pope Emeritus Benedict said that liberation theology is a "falsification of the Christian faith". This is in direct opposition to the approach of current church leadership, which has embraced liberation theology.” 

To begin with Bowring is misquoting Pope Benedict. What he actually said was: “A falsification of the Christian faith needed to be opposed precisely for the sake of the poor and in favor of the service rendered to them.” That’s quite different. 

Father Gustavo Gutierrez
As Bowring presents it, the entire movement was considered false in the eyes of Rome. Has Pope Francis embraced liberation theology? And just where and when did this happen? Presumably he is referring to Pope Francis recent meeting with Father Gustavo Gutierrez, long considered the founder of liberation theology. Yet, Pope Francis issued no statement on the subject whatever. And Gutierrez was not in trouble with anyone in the Vatican under previous popes. 

When Cardinal Ratzinger investigated liberation theology he asked Father Gutierrez to rewrite certain portions of his works. And Father Gutierrez complied with this request. He has continued to teach and write since then without any restrictions from the Vatican. Questioned recently about his meeting with Cardinal Ratzinger, Father Gutierrez described it as “very good”. Ratzinger was more of a theologian. He understood better and that's been very important. 

I can honestly say that his understanding worked because he knew what it was about from the start," because he knew "it wasn't the idea of Marxism." Once again, we see that Dr. Bowring offers an observation that no facts will support. Is Dr. Bowring more driven by his own agenda to sell his books? Given the fact that the Facebook page of MDM has over 91,000 “likes” now it is not unreasonable to believe Dr. Bowring wishes to sell his books to some portion of those 91,000. They are his natural market. 

He has shown us that he is anything but a careful scholar. Sadly, he seems to have also forgotten some important principles of moral theology. 



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Notes


  1. The text of La Salette that Bowring quotes from was condemned three times by the Holy Office between 1915 and 1923. The full details can be seen at this link: http://jloughnan.tripod.com/sal_decr.htm

7 comments:

  1. “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. . . and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” 1Corinthians 12:12-13

    The Holy Spirit does not guide the faithful into suspicion, calumny, paranoia and division. The Catholics who said the seven day novena of MDM for discernment had already set aside the Church’s protocol for determining the trustworthiness of all so-called direct communications from heaven. This compliance to MDM’s request to pray to the Holy Spirit with the prayer her entities composed bears witness that such Catholics already place their judgements above the divinely ordained servants of God. Sadly, this predisposition may have provided Satan all the permission he needed to blind the eyes of their souls and lead them “from the heavens.” Many have become so obstinate in their devotion to the counterfeit MDM that it is almost, if not, idol worship. After all, there is only one Jesus and He certainly is not the one writing new scripture with the hand of MDM.

    Is it possible God was putting their faith to the test through this “false prophet” Mary McGovern Carberry and that thousands of lifelong Catholics have failed this test of discernment, loyalty and obedience? They have failed to trust in the promises of the Lord that He will be with us always until the end of the ages. (Mat. 28:20) and they failed to remain obedient to His call to unity. (See John17)

    Dr. Kelly Bowring is misguiding many of the faithful. He reminds me of Balaam who was too clever for his own good. He knew better and so does Dr.Bowring. Even an ass can see more than he does.

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  2. “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.” Matthew 23: 1-3

    Compare and contrast the traditional and historical Jesus with this bumpkin from Mary Carberry's "Jesus."

    “Were I to walk the Earth, at this time, they (the Catholic clergy: modern day Pharisees according to MDM) would crucify Me again. Those who claim to love Me and who lead My disciples in the Christian Church would be, sadly, the first to drive the first nail into My Flesh.” “Jesus” to MDM, Aug. 26, 2013.

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  3. Was Pope Francis canonically elected?
    http://catholictruthblog.com/2013/12/30/was-pope-francis-canonically-elected/

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    Replies
    1. Yes he was.
      The website that you provided is pure trash and as true as 'The Book of Truth' by Maria Divine Mercy (which means it has nothing to do with truth). It is run 'Rad Trads' sedevacantists that can hardly be considered Catholic - it also bashes also Pope Benedict XVI, John Paul II if you noticed. But probably not. Lefebre on the from page should give you the due warning. Wake up!

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. For anyone to reject the Pope as being canonically elected is impugning a known infallible dogmatic truth de fide tenenda and is one of the 6 deadly sins against the Holy Spirit. The Papal Election is where the Holy Spirit works to proclaim a new Pontiff. Deny the Pope's election and you deny the Holy Spirit. There can be no Pope who is bestowed infallibility on matters of faith and morals if he has not been elected with unquestioned infallibility

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  4. What about free will did Jesus not pick the apostles and one betrayed him

    ReplyDelete