A theology professor from the University of Notre Dame has taken sharp issue with the suppression of prophetic gifts in the modern Church -- blaming extremes in both liberal and conservative factions.

The professor, Father Edward D. O'Connor, says in a new book, I Am Sending You Prophets, that friction between prophetic and institutional sides of the Church -- as well as the resistance of priests to laymen who appear to possess special "gifts" -- has all but eliminated practices that were common in the Church's first two centuries and practiced by Jesus.

"Among those who are particularly skeptical are many faithful Christians -- obedient, pious, zealous, generous," writes the professor. "They call themselves conservatives and indeed they are. Their idea of fidelity consists in staying with the tradition of the Church, submitting to its judgment in everything.

"They do not reject prophecies, revelations, or apparitions on principle, but they are uneasy about such manifestations until these have been stamped by the Church with an official Church approval. Not trusting their own discernment, they want to wait on the Church's judgment and follow it. They gladly honor the approved apparitions of Lourdes, Fatima, and the like, but are unwilling to pay attention to those which have not yet been officially endorsed.

"Such reverence for the Magisterium is in many ways admirable," Father O'Connor goes on. "However, these people are cutting themselves off from some of the most delicate graces of the Holy Spirit, Who does not confine His activity to acts officially approved by the Church. He is present, in touch with us and constantly active in our lives. He has things to say to us, sometimes by interior inspiration, but also sometimes by prophetic messages, extraordinary signs, or apparitions of Jesus, Mary, and the saints."

On the opposite end of the spectrum but equally opposed to apparitions are "progressives" and liberals who are not as faithful to the Magisterium and reject locutions and apparitions precisely because such revelations often seem to reinforce the more conventional and traditional practices of the Church, as well as condemn modern forms of sin.

It is a tricky, sensitive topic at a moment in history when obedience to the Church is critical -- a safeguard against false (and even demonic "revelations") -- while at the same time there often has been an exclusion of the very supernatural phenomena on which the Church is founded, asserts Father O'Connor.

"To out off these graces until they have been officially approved by the Church is in effect to close oneself to them, because it is simply impossible for the Church to investigate them all; and the few that are investigated are seldom approved until long after they have taken place," writes the prominent theologian.

"Even the prophecies of Scripture were not, at the moment they were given, approved by religious authorities," he continues. "When Moses heard the Lord speaking from the burning bush; when Isaiah or Ezekiel received their visions; when the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, or the Lord to St. Paul on the way to Damascus, the recipients had to judge on the spot whether this was from God. If they had postponed their response until the hierarchy gave its imprimatur, the grace of these messages would have been lost.

"To quote Father John Mary: 'If the shepherds at Bethlehem had waited for the approval of the Temple authorities, they would never have seen the Infant Jesus.'"

The book, which has chapters on many historic mystics, notes the irony that while some conservatives avoid current manifestations of the supernatural -- saying all they need is Scripture and the sacraments -- many mystical experiences greatly strengthen precisely these aspects of Catholicism. "Mary frequently urges people to read Scripture, whereas the very people who claim that Scripture suffices frequently don't read it very much," the priest claims. "At Medjugorje people go to Confession and Communion far more frequently than at most other places in the world. The people who make pilgrimages to Medjugorje have found their love of Scripture and devotion to the sacraments intensified there.

"In other words, Our Lady's apparitions lead the people who listen to her to profit by Scripture and the sacraments more than do many of those who claim that Scripture and the sacraments suffice," the priest charges.

Let us interject that while it indeed has been noted in virtually every diocese that those following mystical currents tend to visit Church more frequently, caution is in order because there have been dozens if not hundreds of instances in which the faithful have been led astray or ensnared by falsity -- pointing out the need for careful balance between over-belief and accepting too little.

It is important, agrees the theologian, "to stay within the guidelines furnished by the Magisterium."

Father O'Connor, who discusses cases from the Old Testament ones to more recent ones such as St. Hildegard, Bridget of Sweden, Anne Catherine Emmerich, Mary of Agreda, and Fatima, as well as Medjugorje, says that it was the rise of exaggerated and false prophecy in the way of Montanism that began the decline of charismatic dominance.

As a result, an institutional structure was put into place to control precisely such renegade prophecy and has now reached the point, argues the scholar, where that structure now precludes legitimate spiritual gifts. The "age of the prophets" ended during the second half of the second century (a fact discussed as long ago as the fourth century, he notes, by St. John Chrysotom).

"This is one of the worst aspects of clericalism -- forgetting that it is the Holy Spirit, and He alone, Who sanctifies and inspires the faithful," says the priest.

"The priest is charged with the ministry of the sacraments, and with discernment of the graces received by the faithful; but in all this, he is only a servant, not an executive," writes Father O'Connor. "Luke 7:30 declares flatly that the pharisee and scholars of the law who refused to be baptized by John the Baptist 'rejected the Plan of God for themselves.' Could the same be said today of the clergy who refuse to pay attention to those through whom the Lord is speaking now?"

Father O'Connor says that the notion has grown that the time of Divine revelation is past, exhausted by the Apostles nearly 2,000 years ago -- despite Scriptural teachings "that prophecy is a permanent gift to the Church."

He further argues that both John Paul II and the Second Vatican Council reiterated the responsibility of those in pastoral positions "not to extinguish the Spirit" (as St. Paul put it).

He points out that the Divine Office which priests and religious pray each day opens with Psalm 95: 'If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.'" He also cites famed theologian Karl Rahner as averring that "there is a jealousy on the part of the institutional Church regarding the 'direct line to Heaven' that the prophets seem to have."

Still, let us again urge both caution and obedience.

Whatever the personal discernments of the faithful, priests overseeing a mystical claim should be respected, not to mention bishops who have authority over mystical experiences (unless his authority is removed by Rome, as happened at Medjugorje).

Obedience is more valuable, says Scripture, than sacrifice.

Such is also an exercise in humility.

In many cases, humbleness and obedience have prevented the faithful from exposure to exquisitely deceptive apparitions.

But the nerves touched by Father O'Connor's strong opinions are raw ones at a time when diocese after diocese in the U.S., Canada, and Australia has rejected assertions of the miraculous.

Despite its size, the United States has no fully-approved apparition of the Blessed Mother.

"There should be collaboration between pastors and prophets," argues the priest. "The pastor should be open to suggestions, leads, inspiration from the prophets. The prophet should be deferential to the pastor's authority.

That appears to have been the modus operandi of John Paul II, a Pope who was cautious and traditional and yet staunchly promoted mysticism, including Medjugorje.

Indeed, the pontiff met dozens of alleged seers during his pontificate, some at general audiences, some privately.

The current Pope, while less mystically inclined, has noted that "one of the signs of our times is that the announcements of 'Marian apparitions' are multiplying all over the world."

"The journalist [Vittorio] Messori, while interviewing Pope John Paul II, asked why God doesn't 'give everyone more tangible and accessible proof of his existence," notes Father O'Connor. "A year or two after his book was published, he had to report on the statue in Civitavecchia [Italy] that wept tears of blood in the hands of the local bishop!

"Similarly, a priest I know lets out a huge belly laugh whenever anyone speaks seriously about the apparitions at Medjugorje or elsewhere. Yet one morning at breakfast, he complained that God keeps Himself too hidden -- that He ought to give more signs of His Presence."

Another argument of skeptics, points out Father O'Connor: the Bible passage that says not to seek after signs. "But the issue here is not about seeking new marvels, but about recognizing and profiting from those which God has given us on His own initiative," he answers.

Meanwhile, liberals or "progressives" see mysticism as a fall back into the bad old pre-scientific days. Or they are concerned about the conservative nature of the messages -- which frequently warn against such things as abortion, divorce, and sexual impurity.

"In conclusion, however one may account for it, the sense of prophecy as an ongoing, active charism has been lost from the general consciousness of the Church over the course of the ages," says the priest. "The reasons I have proposed to explain this include concern for illusion, clericalism, exaggerated traditionalism, 'experimentalism,' and other factors."

Father O'Connor quotes The Imitation of Christ, a classic revelation in which the Lord allegedly told a monk, "I have instructed my prophets from the beginning and even to the present time I have not stopped speaking to all men, but many are deaf and obstinate in response. Many hear the world more easily than they hear God."

[resources I Am Send You Prophets and The Day Will Come]