Last July, MacDonald traveled to Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina where, since 1981, Mary has been appearing and giving messages to the planet. He found Medjugorje accommodation where he stayed a few days.

“The first night, when we arrived from Frankfurt at Mt. Podbrdo ( also known as Apparition Mountain ), one of the visionaries had a meeting with the Virgin Mary.

“There were 5,000 to 10,000 pilgrims in the totally black and the Virgin Mary appeared at 11 p.m.”

MacDonald, who was brought up Catholic, announces they didn’t know that was the time the vision had took place, but later discovered that at that actual time, he and others in his party noticed odd lights in the sky and saw a cross separate and rejoin.

“We were highly lucky. It’s totally rare to have a visual occurrence,” he is saying. “But we weren’t in the least surprised by the mystical occurrence . It is a town of miracles, folk are healed every day, come to religion every day.”

Mary first appeared to 6 kids on the site where the shrine now stands and her messages are still being received, spectators learn in Our Woman, that has its world launch on Vision Television Wednesday at eleven p.m.

The miracles at Medjugorje are still being investigated by the Vatican, reports MacDonald, a producer / director / writer specializing in paranormal, science Fiction, aviation and horror films.

Speaking via Skype from Istanbul, where he’s filming an episode of Cooking Metropolis, a food-travel series from Parthenon Entertainment, MacDonald asserts he would have liked to go to folk who had a take on Mary the earthly world would find engaging.

He revealed that in folks like Marie Desjardin, a New Brunswick native who has been leading pilgrimages to Medjugorje for twenty years, and Marian professionals Judith Dupre, Leslie Hazelton and Charlene Spretnak.

They, together with Randall Sullivan, a Rolling Stone contributing editor who wrote a book about Medjugorje, entitled The Miracle Investigator, are featured in Our Woman, three years in the making.

“I listened to a radio interview with ( Sullivan ) on the CBC and he described his transformative experience in Medjugorje while covering the visions in the early 1990s,” recalls MacDonald, who created, wrote and directed Our Woman.

“As I listened to the radio interview, I felt just like it had been a great subject to take on, but I knew it might be tricky to do, there’s so much to say.

“I’ve always been fascinated by mystical experiences, everyday miracles, apparitions, so I believed it was a wonderful angle,” continues the filmmaker, whose resume includes The Shag Harbour UFO Event, Trespassers : Abductees Talk Out!, Famous Monster : Forrest J. Ackerman and Visions From the Edge : The Art of Science Fiction.

“As a Roman Catholic, I am drawn towards the Virgin Mary and recall her icons in churches in the 1960s. It seemed the decent thing to do.”

The documentary, produced by Halifax’s Tell Tale Productions and voiced by Halifax actor Mauralea Austin, was filmed in Bosnia, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee, California, Oregon and Halifax at St. Patrick’s Church on Brunswick Street and at St. Mary’s Basilica.

It is crammed with beautiful design evocative paintings that go back to the 15th century alongside beautiful stained glass from the Halifax churches.

“We had extraordinary access at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and at the Nativity Church in Bethlehem ; we were at mass in the spot Jesus was born,” says MacDonald.

“We shot in seven different churches in Israel and at gorgeous locations in northern and central Israel.”

One of the things MacDonald kept in mind was that Mary discussed only 7 times in the Bible was a standard lady with an incredible calling.

“She modelled a trail for human deliverance as she said yes to God, she would carry the kid of Our Lord God. She knew from the beginning what would happen to her child, the discomfort she would suffer as a mother. She’s the perfect counsel for all peoples on the planet.

“Mary’s most important message is to open your heart to like, to accept that God is real. Mary wants to bring folks back to God. It is not about being Catholic or Protestant or Buddhist or Muslim, all religions are good. It’s God that we should focus on.

“Mary’s child is an element of the faith. She needs us to pray, fast, love one another, remember the sacrifice he made for mankind” as reported tagza.

Traveling can bring you almost no or as much as you can possibly imagine. All of it depends on how open your head and heart are and the way adventurous your spirit.

After selling our house and most of its contents, we left for any two-year adventure traveling and exploring a few of the many great places with this wonderful planet, a world filled up with history, stunning scenery, adventures and unique, friendly and generous people. Our mode of travel varied depending on the places we were exploring. We traveled by car included in a 6-month journey in Europe.

For your Traveler’s Journal presentation, we target four beautiful and diverse countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia.

The Czech Republic has many great cities and towns but the two we enjoyed one of the most were Prague and Cesky Krumlov. The thing that separates Prague (the Paris with the East) from most other European cities is it survived for the most part undamaged from The second world war.

It seems every street you walk has even more beautiful old buildings as opposed to previous one. The Czechs take great pride to maintain this beauty. This city, full of cafes, endless boutique shopping and a lot of other things, is a must.

Cesky Krumlov is a town inside the south of the country surrounded by an attractive flowing river. Its great charm and friendly people, and its picture postcard streets from another time, made it a favorite.

Next stop: Budapest, Hungary. Originally a few separate cities of Buda, Pest and Obuda were divided by the river Danube. The three became Budapest in 1873. Although Hungary was one of the most difficult country in Europe for all of us to travel because of the language, the friendly people went of their way to help along with the language never became a great deal of problem. Once again, if beautiful buildings full of history, magnificent spas once employed by only the wealthy of Europe and a great city for exploring by walking is for you, we recommend adding Budapest to your Bucket List. We walked for 5 days and could have spent another five easily.

Our time in Slovenia and Croatia came unintentionally because part of our travel plans included lacking a set itinerary. We wanted the flexibleness to stay or leave depending on how we liked places.

After about fourteen days in Austria, the weather turned bad along with the forecast showed more of the same, so we decided to cut our time there short. We attended an Internet cafe to find a place with better weather for an additional three weeks. Croatia it was!

Our main focus was Croatia, though the great thing about travel is not only the destination though the journey as well. As we entered Slovenia we knew we must stay a few days and explore the stunning scenery. Bled, when a retreat for many parts of Europe for the beauty and spas, was obviously a spectacular setting. Once again we’d found another place we might come back to. Croatia declared independence in 1991 and possesses been growing and upgrading since.

We traveled through Split and of the many islands to visit, Hvar and Korcula looked good to us. We’d great weather, beautiful beaches, small-town island charm and intensely friendly people. The ferries between islands were great; the price tag on everything still was very reasonable compared to other areas in the Adriatic and Mediterranean. Rediscovering the reassurance of these islands is at the top of our list.

From these relaxing tranquil islands we tripped to the walled city of Dubrovnik. What a history this excellent city has! Walking around, seeing the injury inflicted just a few years ago, was sad and yet amazing.

The city wall has protected Dubrovnik and its particular people since the ninth century. While weapons have changed from old siege weapons to the latest of bombs, mortars and missiles, the wall along with the city endure. It’s incredible to take into consideration. Walking around the city both below and also on the wall is forever etched in your memories, writes tagza.

May and June are traditionally considered lower season so taking a holiday during these months is just not usually perceived as an attractive idea. From my chilly base in the UK, that might be an easy myth to continue! Spend a while in Croatia and you will soon realise it’s sunny there for a whole lot longer all year! Croatia is quite southern and from around April onwards are able to see temperatures rising up to 30 degrees!

Needless to say the weather is a bit less predictable during April and could but it is generally very warm, and in June the temperatures begin to really rise! They’re great months to go to Croatia – the sun is a balm to the spirit following your long winter and the you’ll discover that not everyone lives under grey rain clouds!

“For couples, A few day breaks are becoming popular this year in May and June” says Saron Lease of Croatia Gems Villas. “Larger villas can also be proving a draw for sets of friends and for wedding guests”, she continues “- the lower prices at this time of year make bigger villas great value and obtain a group of couples or friends to go and you have a great deal on a beautiful villa with the sea!”.

Croatia Gems have 4 upscale villa offers on at this time for the odd free week in May and June which are definately worth taking a look at if you are inclined to like a classy villa! Such villas just can’t be had at these prices per month later so they’re a steal. Also, you will discover a nice Split hotel in Split.

Indeed it’s a vaild comment that villas are much more availble at this time of year and also the weather can be just as nice. Needless to say it is less busy but this may be a real bonus – in Dubrovnik for example, although it makes for a fantastic atmosphere in the height of the summer to achieve the busy Dubrovnik Summer Festival happening, it is just as nice to see the old town and surrounding sea edge villages in the less intense way! You can wander with the winding streets and stop at little cafes and shops, eat the museums and architecture, please take a boat out to explore the coast and generally have a bit more space to soak all this in!

Of course the retired in our midst have known this for some time, but with lower cost flights increasing constantly to Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and Zagreb, (Check out Easyjets latest contributions on flights to Croatia) a lot more of us are taking the opportunity to jet off at these lower season times. “Easter in Dubrovnik last year was beautiful, everything was booked up and sunny and it was the busiest for years” says Saron of Croatia Gems – perhaps it is a sign of the times that August is king no longer and we really are starting to see more possibilities around? Ah well, that can’t be bad now can it! – writes tagza.

After merger of two management companies (Excelsa doo and Adriatic Luxury Hotels) underneath the joint name Adriatic Luxury Hotels, a whole new organizational structure and strategic business plan was adopted and should ensure the advantages of the merger and the company’s continued growth.

The new management company Adriatic Luxury Hotels Ltd. will manage hotels in the Dubrovnik area: Hotel Excelsior, Hotel Bellevue, Grand Villa Argentina, Dubrovnik Palace Hotel, Hotel Croatia, Hotel Compass Hotel Odisej and Hotel Supetar, said in a very statement this groupation.

Exelsa Hotels in Croatia received the EuroCHRIE Domestic Industry Award 2011

A week ago, 29th EuroCHRIE conference on ‘Tourism and hospitality, drivers of transition ‘, occured at the Hotel Excelsior in Dubrovnik , organized by international organization EuroCHRIE (The European Council on Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Education) and hosted with the American College of Management and Technology (ACMT) along with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

29th EuroCHRIE Conference gathered numerous international and national experts in the area of tourism and business that have held multi-day workshops and discussions on innovation in tourism, trends in the hospitality industry, managing and training of employees and specified numerous examples using their areas.

On Saturday, 22nd October, Dubrovnik’s fortress Revelin hosted the closing gala dinner and awarding for special achievements in the tourism industry. Award for local leader in tourism was awarded to Excelsa hotels, for outstanding contribution to Croatian tourism and hospitality .

Excelsa hotels d.o.o. manages the Dubrovnik hotel Grand Villa Argentina, hotel Croatia and Supetar in Cavtat and Odisej hotel on Mljet.

EuroCHRIE can be an international organization that brings together educators from prestigious colleges for tourism and hospitality and tourism professionals, as a way to link and improve knowledge in the fastest growing industry on earth.

Also, a new organizational structure with the Adriatic Luxury Hotels was established and in accordance with the same the leaders with the company were appointed.

Katija Jerkovic was appointed as director of marketing and advertising of ALH, Vlado Lucic is the director of corporate development and hotel business, Josip Mikulic Director of Legal Affairs and Recruiting, while Antun Jakobusic is Finance Director of ALH .

“The new organizational structure with the Adriatic Luxury Hotels is necessary to build a stronger company which is consistent with long-term investment strategy of Luksic Group in the development of Dubrovnik and Croatian tourism ‘. said Camilo Soza, CEO of Adriatic Luxury Hotels and added:

‘As economic engine with the destination, Adriatic Luxury Hotels group continues with further investment in destination development through increased sales and promotional activities in priority markets, creating content and active participation in social as well as other events of special importance for Dubrovnik. Later on, new capital investments are planned for improving quality of services in hotels with the group ‘ as reported tagza.

Have you ever considered going on a pilgrimage? In case a pilgrimage is a journey taken in search of some type of spiritual fulfillment, then pilgrimages might be part of the universal human experience rather than tied to a particular religion.

Many ancient American sites are believed to have been pilgrimage centers as essential to these indigenous cultures as Jerusalem would be to modern Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Also,many pilgrimages from all of over the world come to Europe in most holy places such as Medjugorje and searching for Medjugorje pansion and then stay in Medjugorje 2-3 weeks or months.

In the latest issue of the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, John Kantner with the School for Advanced Research and Kevin Vaughn of Purdue University think about the sites of Cahuachi in Peru and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico as ancient pilgrimage destinations and ponder how these places had become important centers of religious devotion.

They propose that a pilgrimage is a form of “costly signaling” that enables members of a religious group to demonstrate commitment by doing something extraordinary. Normally, one’s devotion to some group’s values might not be evident, therefore the group would benefit insurance agencies some means of knowing who’s dedicated and who is pretending in order to reap the benefits of membership.

Kantner and Vaughn realize that both Cahuachi and Chaco exhibit the functions of classic pilgrimage centers. As an example, both have monumental architecture incorporating hidden knowledge, like alignments to solar and lunar events. And there’s evidence at both sites to the extensive use of exotic materials inside the production of craft items.

The “monumentality and spectacle” with the sacred landscapes at Cahuachi and Chaco made them attractive to pilgrims. And if pilgrims were initiated into the mysteries of the sites, then coming home with this knowledge would prove they will really had been there.

If pilgrims brought special offerings to some pilgrimage center and returned home with some token as further proof that they did, indeed, make the journey, it would make sense for these craft what to be made of rare and valuable materials instead of easily acquired cheap issues that could fool other group members. Ohio’s Hopewell earthworks exhibit all of these qualities. They are monumental structures incorporating esoteric astronomical alignments within their architecture.

Spectacular craft items created from rare materials, such as marine shell in the Gulf of Mexico and obsidian from the Rocky Mountains, frequently are found at these sites, while flint blades created from Ohio’s Flint Ridge are found across eastern North America.

Kantner and Vaughn propose that one of the benefits of pilgrimage could be fostering “pro-social cooperative behavior.” They note that there was a marked decline in violence when both Cahuachi and Chaco were at their heights.

The same holds true for the Ohio Hopewell. When compared with both earlier and later on periods, there is virtually no evidence for violent trauma in skeletons with the Hopewell era.

It might have been the sacred landscapes developed by ancient Native Americans at Cahuachi, Chaco and Hopewellian Ohio that drew generations of pilgrims about bat roosting sites and fostered eras of peace in each one of these regions, writes tagza.

Pope Benedict XVI has met with Cardinal Camillo Ruini to debate the investigation of Medjugorje, a veteran Vatican reporter informs. Cardinal Ruini’s commission continues to have six or seven months of training left, and while the visionaries made a good impression in Rome, most Vatican observers tend not to expect the Commission to become openly for or against.

Let`s us recall a little the Medjugorje – it is a pleace where priests as well as other visitors come during the whole year and so they loooking for Medjugorje pansion very often.

Pope Benedict XVI receives Christmas greetings from Cardinal Camillo Ruini. By next Christmas, the Vatican Commission’s directory Medjugorje should be finished, Cardinal Ruini told the Pope who had called him to give a briefing on the issue on February 24.

The Vatican Commission on Medjugorje has six or seven months of training left. By the end of this year the commission headed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini will conclude its make use of a pronouncement to the Congregation for the Doctrine with the Faith and then Pope Benedict XVI.

Early on February 24 this schedule was presented by Cardinal Ruini if the Pope received him in audience to debate the progress of the investigation, the seasoned Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli informs in Vatican Insider.

Like other sources before him, Tornielli likewise states that visionaries Ivan Dragicevic and Jakov Colo met with all the Commission earlier this week, understanding that all six visionaries have now appeared ahead of the Commission.

“Currently, it is not possible to predict exactly what the final verdict will be. The seers have generally developed a good impression on the Commission members. Nevertheless the outcome considered most likely inside sacred buildings at the moment can be a repeat of the 1991 suspension of judgment, without openly having a stand for or against” Vatican Insider reports.

In 1991, the Yugoslav bishops left the problem of Medjugorje’s authenticity undecided, leaving the matter open for more investigations. Subsequently, the bishops’ verdict “non constat de supernaturalitate” was often misinterpreted to mean that the bishops had condemned Medjugorje when it’s in fact the bishops refrained from raising their voices about the issue.

Vatican Insider further tells that the visionaries’ audiences with the Commission happened in a hall of the Vatican Congregation to the Doctrine of the Faith where the Commission has its archives, writes tagza.

They were an unusual pair, an odd-looking twosome which had a way of making people stop and appearance twice. She was skinny, 30-ish and blond, with hazel eyes as deep as two oceans. And the man was a Catholic Bishop, a septuagenarian in a clerical collar with a wispy powdering of snow-white hair.

Stranger than their physical appearance were the poses they struck at the pub in Medjugorje, a village in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Heads slightly cocked, eyes closed, with fiddle bows available and with fingers flying, dancing throughout the strings, summoning traditional Celtic tunes – jigs, marches, reels, waltzes and airs – directly from Cape Breton before a smattering of happily speechless onlookers.

“When we proceeded this trip people got a serious kick out of seeing a bishop and also the little blond girl playing together,” says the little blond girl, better known as Natalie MacMaster, the Cape Breton fiddling queen.

“I don’t determine if Bishop Faber ever aspired to be famous for his fiddling; you know, he had an incredible ear for the music, and he could enjoy anybody.

“But somebody in that position – you will need to practise, you have to be dedicated to something – anf the husband was dedicated to his priesthood.”

Bishop Faber MacDonald, the red-headed, fiddle-playing priest from Little Pond, Prince Edward Island, died last Friday in Charlottetown at the age of 80. Sick with pneumonia, he fell for a heart attack after a long, good life.

Ms. MacMaster can’t remember when they first met. He was just always there, at East Coast music festivals, and try to with a fiddle tucked beneath his arm.

Spiritually, they shared perhaps the most common faith. Musically, they came from the same place and time, a mostly bygone era of kitchen parties, chowder pots and foot-stomping fiddling fun that runs deep inside the seams of Cape Breton’s rock and also the Island’s red mud.

“He grew up with the background music as a part of his way of life therefore did I,” Ms. MacMaster says. “There are a handful of unspoken commonalities there, which is not something you raise up, because it is obvious.”

Ordained a priest in 1963, the future bishop served several Catholic parishes around P.E.I., entertaining them, sometimes, with his fiddle. He concerned with the death of traditional music and worked difficult to revive it, helping found the Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival. Now in its 36th year, it is a top draw for tourists and fiddle masters alike, such as the little “blond girl” and her famous Cape Breton cousin, Ashley MacIsaac.

Ms. MacMaster would receive letters from the bishop once her life as a travelling musician had begun. Lengthy dispatches that were spiritual, musical and affable in tone, they mixed words of encouragement and praise with theological meditations on whatever her latest musical project was.

“He had this incredible chance to express the depths of his spirituality,” Ms. MacMaster says. “I accepted his letters as gracious gifts.”

In 2003, the fiddlers trekked to Medjugorje, together with Ms. MacMaster’s fiddler-husband, Donnell Leahy. The village is often a pilgrimage site for Catholics. The couple confided inside the bishop, expressing their desire to have children, a great deal of children. He prayed on them; Ms. MacMaster is now pregnant with your ex fifth child.

“He said some beautiful things,” she says. “Every time I examine my children I am reminded of him.”

Music is an additional reminder. Bishop Faber’s funeral will be held Friday at St. Dunstan’s Basilica in Charlottetown. His old pen pal may be asked to play a tune.

“My Mum was saying to me, ‘You know, you are going to require a really amazing piece.’ However i don’t look at it that way.

“I think all I have to play is something simple. I have to have the

intent, and the simplicity, but that will be more powerful.

“One of my favourite quotes of Bishop Faber is the line which he ended his homily with at our wedding. He explained, ‘In the words of Father John Angus Rankin there’s 2 things in life that are eternal – music and love.’

“I think of that a lot, and I agree” as reported tagza.

The Vatican Commission investigating the purported events of Medjugorje will finish in 2012 and report to the Pope, reports comission member Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo. “Work continues on but we have to be finished this year,” the very highest ranking prelate of Bosnia and Hercegovina told a press conference this week.

Before the end of 2012, the worldwide conjecture will come to a close. The Vatican Commission on Medjugorje aims to have given its last report to Pope Benedict XVI when the bells ring in 2013, Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo informed in a press conference on Feb fourteen.

“Later this year we want to finish our work and give our opinion to the Pope so that he will express his judgment. I can not talk of what the Commission does because I’m sure to secrecy. Our work is still going on. This year nonetheless , we must finish it,” Cardinal Puljic told the press, according to Italian news agency ASCA.

If the Commission stays on the schedule laid out by Cardinal Puljic, it’ll have worked little less than three years when it renders its report to the Pope. Presided over by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Commission was published by the Vatican on March 17th 2010.
About Medjugorje

Back in 1981, the Blessed Mum purportedly appeared to six kids in a little town in what was at the time Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. She came with a message of peace, and inspired prayer. Of course, much of the region became marked with war thru the 80s and into the 90s so it was more than a little well-timed.

She appears continually (I think) to three of the visionaries ; and ten auspicious “secrets” have been entrusted to the visionaries.

More background on Medjugorje, including bios of the visionaries, can be discovered at medjugorjetoday.tv. Info regarding the “status” of Medjugorje (so far as Vatican approval is anxious) can be discovered at Miracle Hunter as reported tagza.