"It's called 'Holy Love' and I caught holy hell"

By Matt C. Abbott

Who would think that merely reprinting the bishop's decree regarding an alleged apparition site in Ohio could make one the target of hate mail — or, more precisely, hate e-mail?

But that's what happened to Wendy Cukierski, a mother of 13 whose family runs a farm and the Cukierski Family Apostolate (which I featured in a June 5, 2006 column).

Mrs. Cukierski reprinted on her Web site the Nov. 11, 2009 decree issued by Cleveland Bishop Richard G. Lennon regarding Holy Love Ministries; she subsequently received some not-so-loving e-mails from Holy Love supporters.

"It's called Holy Love and I caught holy hell," Mrs. Cukierski told me in an e-mail.

A background on Holy Love Ministries, courtesy of The Apparition Deception Web site (excerpted; for the full article, click here):

'Maureen Sweeney-Kyle started reporting heavenly locutions in 1985 when the Blessed Mother allegedly appeared to her above the altar in St. Brendan's Catholic Church in North Olmsted, Ohio... Not long afterward, the Blessed Mother started making personal appearances to Maureen almost every day. Maureen would hear thoughts like, 'Pray for the Church, pray for the souls of corrupt priests, and Maureen, please remember to take your medicine.'

'Not knowing what to do with all the messages, Maureen confided in Father Ferris Kleem, a visiting priest at St. Brendan's parish.... Maureen explained her situation to Father Kleem by saying, 'These words just keep popping in my head, and I don't know where they come from.' Father Kleem responded by saying, 'Those aren't words, those are divine locutions.' He urged her to write them down in a journal so that they could be read aloud at his prayer group.

'Because the pastor at St. Brendan's Church treated Maureen's visions like far-fetched tales, Father Kleem and Maureen's followers left the church and started meeting in private homes. The prayer group then adopted the name Our Lady Protectress of the Faith and began a crusade to win ecclesiastical approval from the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.

'During this time, Maureen's husband, Paul Sweeney, was skeptical about the locutions. He was an active parishioner at St. Brendan's Church and had attended many of the group's early meetings. Although he was a devout Catholic, he had no interest in becoming more involved with Maureen's alleged locutions. To resolve this problem, the Blessed Mother prompted one of the group's members to deliver a message to Donald Kyle, a former police officer, requesting him to join the ministry.

'By the early 1990s, Maureen was spending more time with Don Kyle than she was with her husband. After asking Don to accompany her on a trip to Florida, Maureen found herself inseparable from his side. Soon after their trip to Florida in the summer of 1993, Maureen moved out of the house and filed for separation. Several months later, Paul filed for a divorce, which was granted in May 1995. Don and Maureen were eventually married in February 1997.

'During this time, the ministry moved to a home in the Seven Hills area, and after hiring a professional fund-raiser, the ministry began to flourish. It was at the Seven Hills home that the Blessed Mother told Maureen to dig a well in the backyard. The holy spring, which Mary called 'Maranatha Spring,' took shape in the form of a red-handled pump on a far corner of the property. After the pump was installed, the pilgrims could fill empty milk jugs with water that allegedly contained miraculous healing properties.

'...According to a December 5, 1994, fund-raising letter, the spiritual entities that were delivering messages to Maureen wanted 'three to five acres with options on the surrounding land.' The Blessed Mother also wanted a 900 number and was calling out to financial backers for help, 'Dear children, the hour has come when you need to pool your resources just as the apostles did, all for the greater glory of God,' reads a letter mailed to potential donors. 'Search your hearts, find your assets, and contribute generously.'

'Shortly after, Don Kyle started knocking on farmers' doors to see if they had any land to sell. Several months later, the ministry was able to acquire an eighty-three-acre farm in Lorain County for $350,000.... In 1995 donations from the public nearly tripled to $306,139 and peaked in 1996 at $506,724. Attendance hit an all-time high on May 5, 1996, when 6,000 people turned out for a scheduled appearance of the Blessed Mother.

'Recently, the Blessed Mother gave Maureen a strand of her hair, which is kept in a glass case in a small prayer room off the Holy Love chapel. The faithful file in, kneel, and 'kiss' the hair, wiping their lip prints off the glass with Kleenex from a box on a nearby nightstand. The day Maureen found the hair, she was looking at her blouse, thinking, 'Oh, I did a pretty decent job of ironing.' She noticed the long strand of hair, picked it off, and threw it on the floor. Afterward Jesus told her, 'You shouldn't have done that. That was Our Lady's hair.' So Maureen got down on the floor to find it. According to Maureen's husband, Jesus had promised that if anyone were to venerate that strand of hair, 'untold graces would be theirs.'

'Today, Holy Love Ministries at Maranatha Spring continues to host thousands of pilgrims who arrive by bus to pray the rosary and sing 'Ave Maria.' Many of the pilgrims have claimed to have witnessed spectacular phenomena in the sky, taken miraculous photographs, and watched their rosaries turn to gold. Others have left the site disillusioned by the million-dollar business complete with a full line of sacred merchandise, everything from twenty-five-cent holy cards to a one-million-dollar commemorative plaque....'

Some excerpts of the "loving" e-mails Mrs. Cukierski received from Holy Love supporters:

'You disgust me and you are sick people. Jesus is Holy love. It's about love.'

'You'll be sorry.'

'Get your facts straight. The bishop doesn't know everything.'

'Take me off your mailing list because you are not the kind of people who are loving to print things like that.'

'We will no longer continue to visit your apostolate since you chose to point out the bishop's decree. Obedience to God before the bishop!'

Sheesh. Such a reaction is akin to being scolded for using foul language by someone complaining, "Hey, watch your [expletive] language, will ya?!"

Not surprisingly, Maureen Sweeney Kyle received another "heavenly message" — and a defiant one, at that — on Nov. 13:

'Jesus is here with His Heart exposed. He says: 'I am your Jesus, born Incarnate. My brothers and sisters, tonight confusion may have entered your hearts concerning certain statements from the diocese. I have come to ask you some questions to help you to think like citizens of Heaven, not of earth. Does it not say in Scripture, 'You should not stifle the Spirit' (1Thess 5:19). Did I not state in Scripture, 'Where two or more are gathered in prayer, there I am in their midst (Mt 18:20). My brothers and sisters, you must not place OFFICE and AUTHORITY and TITLE above the TRUTH. Tonight I am blessing you with My Blessing of Divine Love.''

In a way, I feel sorry for those who get sucked in by these, how shall we say, pious frauds. Heck, it happened to me in years past. Perhaps we wouldn't see so many well-intentioned, spiritually-thirsty Catholics flocking to false apparition sites if most of our shepherds had been...well...properly shepherding for the last few decades.

After all, when one doesn't have proper guidance, it's very tempting to go "lookin' for love in all the wrong places."

© Matt C. Abbott