This story about an image of Mary appearing on a freeway underpass inspires my question:
Are these “sightings” officially supported by the Catholic Church? Not individually, but as a concept. Does the Church teach that images of Mary and Jesus can and do appear in strange locations like cheese sandwiches? Or is it just overzealous catholics willing to see “signs” in anything?
To ppiggyback onto the OP’s question, I’d like to know why aberrations of Mary are far more common among Hispanics than others. In the small New Mexico city where I once lived, pilgimage-worthy Mary sightings were very common. A VdeG-shaped silhouette appeared in the bedroom drapes of the next door neighbor of a friend; thousands converged on the site in the following weeks.
Sure, Mary may occasionally appear in the shadow cast on a wall in South Dakota, but most of the Mary sightings I read abut are in the Southwest, and most of those making the pilgrimage to see them are Mexican-Americans or Mexican nationals. In very Catholic cities in the Northeast, on the other hand, aberrations are very rare.
I think the church mostly just ignores it. They tend to be super skeptical of “miracles.”
Very few apparitions of the Virgin or other private revelations have received any form of official Church approval, and none of the more ridiculous (such as the current goings-on in Chicago). Even where some level of Church approval occurs, there is no requirement of belief for the whole Church. From the article What About Marian Apparitions?:
And elmwood, if you don’t mind I will appropriate your usage of “aberrations” for these sorts of nonsensical claims; e.g., the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, and the aberration of Our Lady of the Underpass.
It’s an odd statement, but true. We’re rather unaccepting of people seeing the virgin mary in salt deposits, amongst other things.
As I understand it, the Church is very carefule about officially proclaiming miracles, and rarely does so. They’ll usually either say “We think it’s a hoax” or “We can’t prove it either way, so if believing it’s a miracle deepens your faith, go right ahead and believe it.” I don’t think the Church even bothers addressing images in sweat stains, on sandwiches, etc. So in such cases it’s usually “overzealous Catholics.” Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
Just a guess but Our Lady of Guadalupe is very important to Mexican Catholics. Perhaps that miracle (if one believes it) makes them more culturally inclined to see and believe apparitions of Mary.
I hate to generalize (and this is a WAG), but could it be that Hispanics have a generally lower socioeconomic status, causing many to be less educated than their wealthier, more-educated, Northeastern counterparts? This general lack of education would presumably lead to less-than-honed BS detectors.
Well, actual appearances like Our Lady of Guadelupe were people who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary as an actual person in front of them, able to move and speak, etc. It would be as if I claimed to have seen a ghost.
These kinds of things, though, usually involve some sort of stain or mark of some kind. It’s usually some generic shape that someone with an overactive imagination will think is the Virgin or Jesus or whatever.