michaelr says, "the Lourdes visions may have occurred only a couple of hundred years ago but the mindset that produced them and the Lourdes cult that followed are firmly rooted in medieval Catholic mysticism."

I agree partly, Michael - but I think that the real problem with these shrines is that after the initial event (Lourdes, Knock, Fatima, Guadalupe, Medjugorje), the mystics fade into the background and are replaced by marketing and hysteria. Generally, the Roman Catholic church is officially "nervous" about most of these shrines and apparitions - although Rome has to make some acknowledgement of many of them because they mean so much to so many people. As one who has taught in Catholic parishes all my life, those things make me nervous, too. They tend to distract from what's supposed to be the real focus of the Christina faith - the gospel, loving one's neighbor, serving the poor, and such.

Somehow, there always seems to be a right-wing political and religious agenda connected with Mary's appearances on earth. You'd think the Blessed Virgin was a card-carrying George W. Bush Republican, or something (from little on, however, I've been assured that Jesus was a Social Democrat).

Still the shrines are a source of hope and inspiration for many who would otherwise be hopeless. Yeah, they're superstitious, and the Catholic Church is (privately) embarrassed by the superstition - but these phenomena have a lot of meaning for a lot of people whose lives are starved for meaning. Why shoot down their balloons?

For that matter, maybe there is a reality and a mysticism to it. I guess I'd describe mysticism as a direct, non-verbal, non-ritual experience of the Divine Presence. Mystics come from all religious, ethnic, and economic backgrounds, and there is much they share in experience that crosses religious boundaries - by definition, their experience cannot be adequately described in words. While this shrine stuff makes me nervous, I know many people who have felt a phenomenal lifting of spirit from visiting shrines. I suppose I got some of that from following the footsteps of Jesus in Israel and Paul in Greece, but the Mary shrines don't do it for me.

Sorry, Mary.

-Joe Offer-