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Hi, Mike —
In 1993, a Cincinnati homemaker,
Mrs. Rita Ring, started getting alleged
locutions. Her spiritual director,
theology professor Fr. Edward Carter,
S.J., started to get some too, and
formed "Servants of Christ" to
promote the messages received by both of them.
In an unrelated matter, a bank office
building in Clearwater, Florida,
became the site of attention. In 1996
after a colored swirl pattern appeared
on the windows which onlookers considered
to be an image of our Lady. Later
that year, Mrs. Ring said that Our
Lady had described the Clearwater
event as another place where she
was visiting the faithful. Servants of Christ leased the bank building
and started conducting prayer meetings
there. That's in the diocese of St.
Petersburg.
As far as I can tell from what is
on the Internet, the archbishop of
Cincinnati has not made any statement,
except to say that he didn't think
Fr. Carter needed his permission
to start "Servants of Christ".
Some of Mrs. Ring's events took place
at a farm in the neighboring diocese
of Covington, Kentucky, and the bishop
there did forbid priests from attending
those. I don't know whether the bishop
of St. Petersburg has taken any position
on the claims of Mrs. Ring — she's
probably had some of her locutions
down there too by now. Fr. Carter
died in 2000.
Rick Salbato has a blog — where he watches out for cults and:
One entry was
written by a former participant
in Mrs. Ring's group. She says
that Mrs. Ring is an abusive person
who basically started her own
cult. While some of the accusations
she makes against Mrs. Ring are
wild and probably exaggerated,
I'd urge anybody to steer clear
of her movement.
— RC
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