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Miracle Detective
In a tiny, dilapidated trailer in northeastern Oregon, a young woman saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in an ordinary landscape painting hanging on her bedroom wall. After being met with skepticism from the local parish, the matter was officially placed "under investigation" by the Catholic diocese. Investigative journalist Randall Sullivan wanted to know how, exactly, one might conduct the official inquiry into such an incident, so he set off to interview theologians, historians, and postulators from the Sacred Congregation of the Causes for Saints. These men, dubbed "miracle detectives" by the author, were charged by the Vatican with testing the miraculous and judging the holy. Sullivan traveled from the Vatican in Rome to the tiny village of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where six visionaries had been receiving apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Sullivan's quest turns personal and takes him to Scottsdale, Arizona, site of America's largest and most controversial instances of Virgin Mary sightings, culminating an eight-year investigation of predictions of apocalyptic events, false claims of revelation, and the search for a genuine theophany—that is, the ultimate interface between man and God.
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First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
December 28, 2013
For a while this book was freaking me out. The author begins as a non-believing editor for Rolling Stone who takes an assignment to investigate supposed miracles around the world. What follows is a gripping narrative, many bite-sized history lessons about the most violent war-town areas in the world, and honest interviews with all the principal players in the biggest mysteries in modern history. This is non-fiction, but like "The Rite" (by Matt Baglio) stranger truths are reported than any fiction Hollywood could come up with. Atheist scientists flock to these apparitions and subject the visionaries to dozens of tests, and none are able to conclude that the visionaries are faking it. Many skeptics are converted, but most just leave with the conclusion that something paranormal (inexplicable by modern science) is occurring. What the reader is left with is belief that something supernatural is happening, and yet those visionaries are also predicting a cataclysmic looming disaster that's coming within their lifetimes. That's the freaky part. The author gave himself three possibilities to explain the inexplicable: either it's all true, it's all false, or it's delusional. The struggle of the book is trying to fit all the evidence and hunches into one of those categories, and the author nearly despairs doing so. It isn't until the last 20 or so pages of the book, when the author recounts his meeting and conversations with Father Benedict Groeschel that another answer is presented. A deeper, more complicated one. It is satisfying. It reconciles things. It essentially blends elements together in shades of grey, with a warning that you'll go crazy trying to sort out what precisely is objectively true and what was subjectively influenced by the seers. This book is compelling reading, you'll sneak away and make time for it. I finished it days ago and it's still lingering and sticking with me.
August 10, 2014
If you want a book that will challenge your assumptions, this is a likely candidate. At many points I found myself wondering about what I was encountering here. Sullivan doesn't give many answers, but he will certainly raise questions. I commented further on this book on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
April 4, 2013
I actually published a slightly edited version of the following review in the Catholic Sentinel- my claim to fame!
*****************************
Reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary run from the sublime (At Fatima to three Portuguese children in a pasture) to the silly (In Florida to a jewelry designer on a grilled cheese sandwich). It was news reports of a Boardman, OR Marian apparition in the winter of 1994 skewing toward the silly which first piqued Portland author Randall Sullivan's interest and sent him on a ten year journey that resulted in The Miracle Detective: An Investigative Reporter Sets Out to Examine How the Catholic Church Investigates Holy Visions and Discovers His Own Faith.
Sullivan is an investigative journalist and contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine specializing in non-rock and roll feature stories often focusing on crime or offbeat themes with a mysterious slant. In 1994, Sullivan was neither a Catholic nor a believer in the divine but he did have the open mind of a journalist. As Sullivan sets the stage early in the book, it was the sincerity of the purported witnesses to a glowing image of the Virgin Mary in an Eastern Oregon trailer park and the fact that the incident was "under investigation" by the Diocese of Baker that induced him to look into how reported miracles were investigated by the Catholic Church.
Dubbing these Church investigators "Miracle Detectives" Sullivan writes that with virtually no firsthand knowledge of the Catholic Church he naively intended to produce an account detailing the official Church process for authenticating miracles focusing on the current apparitions of the Medjugorje seers. Armed with Vatican and Medjugorje introductions supplied by Father Milan Mikulich from St. Birgitta's Parish in Portland and Father Steve Sunborg of the Oregon Curia, Sullivan began his research in Rome and Bosnia.
On a superficial level, Sullivan accomplished what he set out to do. The Miracle Detective does feature interesting and insightful explanations and commentary on the Church's rigorous process for looking into reported miraculous incidents. Sullivan interviewed many clerics including an Eastern Oregon parish priest, a Postulator from the Sacred Congregation of the Causes for Saints at the Vatican and others including Father Benedict Groeschel C.F.R..
Additionally, Sullivan makes a welcome contribution to the body of Medjugorje-themed literature by providing a sober and thorough review of the numerous medical and psychological studies conducted on the six seers from 1981 to the present and objectively reviews the divisive reactions to the reported apparitions among world Catholics and Yugoslav government officials alike. Also, almost unique in writing on the subject, Sullivan masterfully frames the spiritual story of Medjugorje within the broader context of Balkan history from the pagan times of late antiquity through the medieval clash between Christianity and Islam, Communism and perhaps most importantly the Bosnian war of the 1990's.
Although the Church's study of events in Medjugorje was intended to be the focus of the book, it ultimately serves, as one element in a shotgun blast of a story that at times reads like a gripping detective thriller at others like a history text but ultimately becomes a moving faith journey, as the authors own experiences take center stage.
Many people have traveled to Medjugorje and claim to return changed. Unexpectedly and despite his impeccable popular culture credentials, Randall Sullivan spends much of the book detailing the peaks and valleys of his own conversion story. Beginning with an incident in the Purple Room at Powell's bookstore in Portland to his arrival in the Bosnian village, a brush with evil in a Roman piazza and finally circling back to an update on events in Boardman, Sullivan's unlikely story of coming to terms with God is at times fascinating, frustrating and uplifting.
In some ways, Sullivan's tale is reminiscent of The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. Although he is now remembered as a great spiritual sage, the young Merton outlined in his first book was also a thoroughly secular young man busy listening to jazz records and getting kicked out of college. It was only slowly and through the gift of grace that he refashioned his focus and became the man we remember. If the conversion story detailed in The Seven Story Mountain is told more gracefully than The Miracle Detective it is perhaps because Merton wrote from the benefit of hindsight while Sullivan admits to remaining in the thick of his.
The Miracle Detective is difficult to categorize, it is at once a survey of modern era Marian apparitions and a detailed summary of the major events and personalities that make up the Medjugorje story to date. Mostly it is the personal story of a man deeply immersed in American popular culture whose life takes a much-unexpected turn in response to grace.
Because this book runs in so many different directions and the author freely admits his personal involvement in the subject matter compelled him to throw out the notion of journalistic objectivity, some readers may find the scattershot organization of the book lacking cohesion. I suggest it is a strength; The Miracle Detective is the sprawling output of a well-educated thoroughly organized secular mind reeling from a profound experience of the divine.
*****************************
Reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary run from the sublime (At Fatima to three Portuguese children in a pasture) to the silly (In Florida to a jewelry designer on a grilled cheese sandwich). It was news reports of a Boardman, OR Marian apparition in the winter of 1994 skewing toward the silly which first piqued Portland author Randall Sullivan's interest and sent him on a ten year journey that resulted in The Miracle Detective: An Investigative Reporter Sets Out to Examine How the Catholic Church Investigates Holy Visions and Discovers His Own Faith.
Sullivan is an investigative journalist and contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine specializing in non-rock and roll feature stories often focusing on crime or offbeat themes with a mysterious slant. In 1994, Sullivan was neither a Catholic nor a believer in the divine but he did have the open mind of a journalist. As Sullivan sets the stage early in the book, it was the sincerity of the purported witnesses to a glowing image of the Virgin Mary in an Eastern Oregon trailer park and the fact that the incident was "under investigation" by the Diocese of Baker that induced him to look into how reported miracles were investigated by the Catholic Church.
Dubbing these Church investigators "Miracle Detectives" Sullivan writes that with virtually no firsthand knowledge of the Catholic Church he naively intended to produce an account detailing the official Church process for authenticating miracles focusing on the current apparitions of the Medjugorje seers. Armed with Vatican and Medjugorje introductions supplied by Father Milan Mikulich from St. Birgitta's Parish in Portland and Father Steve Sunborg of the Oregon Curia, Sullivan began his research in Rome and Bosnia.
On a superficial level, Sullivan accomplished what he set out to do. The Miracle Detective does feature interesting and insightful explanations and commentary on the Church's rigorous process for looking into reported miraculous incidents. Sullivan interviewed many clerics including an Eastern Oregon parish priest, a Postulator from the Sacred Congregation of the Causes for Saints at the Vatican and others including Father Benedict Groeschel C.F.R..
Additionally, Sullivan makes a welcome contribution to the body of Medjugorje-themed literature by providing a sober and thorough review of the numerous medical and psychological studies conducted on the six seers from 1981 to the present and objectively reviews the divisive reactions to the reported apparitions among world Catholics and Yugoslav government officials alike. Also, almost unique in writing on the subject, Sullivan masterfully frames the spiritual story of Medjugorje within the broader context of Balkan history from the pagan times of late antiquity through the medieval clash between Christianity and Islam, Communism and perhaps most importantly the Bosnian war of the 1990's.
Although the Church's study of events in Medjugorje was intended to be the focus of the book, it ultimately serves, as one element in a shotgun blast of a story that at times reads like a gripping detective thriller at others like a history text but ultimately becomes a moving faith journey, as the authors own experiences take center stage.
Many people have traveled to Medjugorje and claim to return changed. Unexpectedly and despite his impeccable popular culture credentials, Randall Sullivan spends much of the book detailing the peaks and valleys of his own conversion story. Beginning with an incident in the Purple Room at Powell's bookstore in Portland to his arrival in the Bosnian village, a brush with evil in a Roman piazza and finally circling back to an update on events in Boardman, Sullivan's unlikely story of coming to terms with God is at times fascinating, frustrating and uplifting.
In some ways, Sullivan's tale is reminiscent of The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. Although he is now remembered as a great spiritual sage, the young Merton outlined in his first book was also a thoroughly secular young man busy listening to jazz records and getting kicked out of college. It was only slowly and through the gift of grace that he refashioned his focus and became the man we remember. If the conversion story detailed in The Seven Story Mountain is told more gracefully than The Miracle Detective it is perhaps because Merton wrote from the benefit of hindsight while Sullivan admits to remaining in the thick of his.
The Miracle Detective is difficult to categorize, it is at once a survey of modern era Marian apparitions and a detailed summary of the major events and personalities that make up the Medjugorje story to date. Mostly it is the personal story of a man deeply immersed in American popular culture whose life takes a much-unexpected turn in response to grace.
Because this book runs in so many different directions and the author freely admits his personal involvement in the subject matter compelled him to throw out the notion of journalistic objectivity, some readers may find the scattershot organization of the book lacking cohesion. I suggest it is a strength; The Miracle Detective is the sprawling output of a well-educated thoroughly organized secular mind reeling from a profound experience of the divine.
November 10, 2018
I'm a bit conflicted about this book. It was incredibly well researched and fair. It was a difficult read, though. Part is due to the nature of the subject - taking place in the countries that were previously Yugoslavia and also taking place, partially, during the Croatia-Bosnian-Serbia War. The names of people and places are very different, the history is tremendously complex (and the author goes into great depths on the history), the Catholic Church nomenclature and organization is convoluted, and the number of people/places/"miracles" that are included in the book is a bit befuddling. It's really hard to keep the who and what straight as the author refers back to people and interviews and actions.
But, as I stated before, it's thorough and, I think, covers both sides of the issue(s) and the author is a good writer. I can't imagine devoting so many years and travels into trying to decide if a group of teenagers really had a miraculous vision (actually, many visions). Therefore, I decided to rate it a 4. It's not a book you'll pick up and "want" to read. It's a bit of a commitment to finish it. It's not fun, it covers a lot of difficult issues, and it's certainly not for everyone.
But, as I stated before, it's thorough and, I think, covers both sides of the issue(s) and the author is a good writer. I can't imagine devoting so many years and travels into trying to decide if a group of teenagers really had a miraculous vision (actually, many visions). Therefore, I decided to rate it a 4. It's not a book you'll pick up and "want" to read. It's a bit of a commitment to finish it. It's not fun, it covers a lot of difficult issues, and it's certainly not for everyone.
April 5, 2017
This book is not about the person who investigates Marian sightings. It is not about the process of how these sightings are investigated. It is one man's search for God with a lot of history of the wars in Bosnia / Croatia. Pass this one up.
September 19, 2019
The author investigates Marian apparitions, mainly those in Medjugorge which started in the 1980s. He gives in-depth, lengthy details of his visits there trying to figure out if these events are miraculous or possibly some form of hysteria. LOTS of details about that area and the complex history of the conflicts between the various ethnic groups. His journey to figure out the causes, etc. ends vaguely with no certain conclusions as to the authentic of these occurrences.
August 24, 2019
This is not at all what I hoped for. I’m a practicing Catholic and was really hoping to see what the Church does for objective analysis of alleged miracles. That’s not what happens here. This is a book about the apparitions in Medjugorje. Of course, as a Catholic I would love this to be real. Unfortunately, it just isn’t. Pope Francis himself has called attention to this as a hoax. The apparitions there as well as the so-called seeds are not real. They just aren’t. It is almost difficult to read about someone, who is not Catholic fall into the web of deceit present in Medjugorje. It is also very unfortunate that “Medjugorje” has become a buzzword for Catholics who have lost all sense of God-given reason. The book is out dated and I do not think worth anyone’s time who wants to read about legitimate investigations into phenomena that could indeed be called miraculous.
November 28, 2018
This book was interesting on so many levels. Randall starts off investigating what seems like a kind of shady apparition that he discovers is surprisingly, possibly real ??? then almost without intending to, commits to investigating the story of what is perhaps the biggest Marian apparition of all times. He is thorough in the history of the region, the politics, the scientific evidence, the back ground of how miracles are approved by the Vatican, etc etc.
As a person who was converted back to the faith through the messages of Medjugorje, I found it pleasantly positive. I almost liked the way he was so reluctant to believe that it could really be happening. I think this is a great book for those who either don't know much about apparitions and possibly are doubters.
As a person who was converted back to the faith through the messages of Medjugorje, I found it pleasantly positive. I almost liked the way he was so reluctant to believe that it could really be happening. I think this is a great book for those who either don't know much about apparitions and possibly are doubters.
March 19, 2024
I didn't like this book at all, in fact I hated it and didn't finish it because I thought what the author had to say about apparitions by the Virgin in general, Medjugorje, and Balkan history at best banal, at times misrepresentative and honestly at times cliched to the point of being dangerous (that last really being about his remarks about Balkan history) I really wish people who are interested in apparitions by the Virgin Mary would, at the least read Ruth Harris's book on Lourdes (I realise that there may not have been time for the author to read and absorb what she says as his book was probably written though not published when her book came out). Like many who approach the subject of religious phenomena, such as apparitions/visions of the Virgin Mary, Mr. Sullivan spends a lot of time trying to answer the question 'are they apparitions/visions genuine?', 'Are those having the visions honest or telling lies' but these are questions, like 'does God exist?' can't be answered. All you can have is apologetics.
But you can look at apparitions of Mary as events themselves, this is what Ruth Harris has done in her book on Lourdes and William Christian in Visionaries and David Blackbourn in Marpingen (the last two books dealing with apparitions that were not accepted by the Catholic Church as genuine). All of them start from the point when someone claims to have seen the Virgin and then looks at what happened. Because Harris is a historian of France in the 19th and 20th centuries, David Blackbourn of Germany in the same period, and William Christian of Spain over a longer number of years they can bring a wealth of knowledge and insight to these events. It doesn't disprove or prove any of the apparitions but it provides context and understanding. I am sorry to be dismissive but books like Randall Sullivan's are just a waste-of-time because they do not understand anything about Catholicism, the histories of the countries were the apparitions occured and people he observers - in fact his writing is so bogged down by the here and now (the breakup of Yugoslavia and the various civil wars that occurred and tore the country apart) that his judgements are dangerously superficial and one sided and rather then shedding light he only displays his ignorance and lack of understanding. Within the context of the Balkan wars it is all to easy for prejudice to hide as 'eternal historical truths' which are no more then the propaganda of various, often extremely ugly, specialist groups.
I do not want to stop people believing in or visiting various Marian apparitions sites but, if others want to try and understand these events then they not only should, but must read books on the phenomena (there have also been recent excellent books on Fatima and Guadalupe - but I haven't got round to reading them yet) not the sort of tosh Sullivan purveys which is more about him (and honestly had I seen the other books he wrote, never mind the reviews they attracted, before I started this then I wouldn't have bothered). Do yourself a favour and steer well clear of Mr. Sullivan and all his works.
But you can look at apparitions of Mary as events themselves, this is what Ruth Harris has done in her book on Lourdes and William Christian in Visionaries and David Blackbourn in Marpingen (the last two books dealing with apparitions that were not accepted by the Catholic Church as genuine). All of them start from the point when someone claims to have seen the Virgin and then looks at what happened. Because Harris is a historian of France in the 19th and 20th centuries, David Blackbourn of Germany in the same period, and William Christian of Spain over a longer number of years they can bring a wealth of knowledge and insight to these events. It doesn't disprove or prove any of the apparitions but it provides context and understanding. I am sorry to be dismissive but books like Randall Sullivan's are just a waste-of-time because they do not understand anything about Catholicism, the histories of the countries were the apparitions occured and people he observers - in fact his writing is so bogged down by the here and now (the breakup of Yugoslavia and the various civil wars that occurred and tore the country apart) that his judgements are dangerously superficial and one sided and rather then shedding light he only displays his ignorance and lack of understanding. Within the context of the Balkan wars it is all to easy for prejudice to hide as 'eternal historical truths' which are no more then the propaganda of various, often extremely ugly, specialist groups.
I do not want to stop people believing in or visiting various Marian apparitions sites but, if others want to try and understand these events then they not only should, but must read books on the phenomena (there have also been recent excellent books on Fatima and Guadalupe - but I haven't got round to reading them yet) not the sort of tosh Sullivan purveys which is more about him (and honestly had I seen the other books he wrote, never mind the reviews they attracted, before I started this then I wouldn't have bothered). Do yourself a favour and steer well clear of Mr. Sullivan and all his works.
September 22, 2025
What most impressed me about this book was its unflinching honesty. This could not have been easy to write, but Sullivan's integrity makes it worth reading, whether you think the Virgin Mary appeared to modern Slavic children or not. It's not "lectio divina" (as old-school Catholics call purposefully spiritual reading), but it IS the kind of thing that Flannery O'Connor and Graham Greene would have been proud to write, had they thought of it.
February 5, 2018
I really enjoyed following Mr. Sullivan's research and his emotional and spiritual ups an downs. I would definitely recommend it.
May 23, 2024
The Miracle Detective is a haunting account by journalist Randall Sullivan about his investigations into Marian apparitions and the Catholic Church's reactions to them. Sullivan begins the book by traveling to Oregon where many have claimed to see the Virgin Mary appear in a painting hung in a mobile home. He investigates other such appearances and interlocutions, but he spends the majority of the book detailing the apparitions to several children in the Bosnian town of Medugorje. The children, began receiving visions of the Virgin at regular intervals starting in the early 1980s, are each interviewed and questioned by Sullivan, along with other residents of the town and the parish priests. Sullivan's interviews are open, honest, and vulnerable. He openly discusses the feelings that he had in the presence of these now adults along with his own doubts and guilts. Sullivan's highly detailed account of these apparitions, the local reactions to them, the Church's response, and his own personal reckoning with his ebbing faith, are haunting and mesmerizing. It has been a long time since a book challenged and knocked me around as much as this book. Some interviews Sullivan records with individuals claiming to have had prophetic visions are terrifying and unforgettable. Throughout his investigations, Sullivan doesn't try to detach himself, instead he openly communicates how the encounters with the alleged visionaries and the mystical town of Medugorje make him feel. He admits when he can't separate his perceptions from the facts of the cases and he admits when he does and does not want to believe what the visionaries tell him. Sullivan's ferocious reckoning with his own faith and with writing this book add another layer to already complex and emotional accounts.
Sullivan not only investigates the visionaries, but also the role the community and the Church played in the visions of Medugorje. The Catholic Church's process for determining the "legitimacy" of Marian apparitions and other purported miracles is fascinating and multi-faceted. On a human level, the effects that their conclusions can have on a person or a community are often profound.
In the end, Sullivan was as much a detective as he was a pilgrim, and the book is all the better for it. Often hopeful, often terrifying, and entirely fascinating, Sullivan has created a singular work that is both bold and vulnerable. Be prepared: Anyone who encounters this book will be rocked to their core.
Sullivan not only investigates the visionaries, but also the role the community and the Church played in the visions of Medugorje. The Catholic Church's process for determining the "legitimacy" of Marian apparitions and other purported miracles is fascinating and multi-faceted. On a human level, the effects that their conclusions can have on a person or a community are often profound.
In the end, Sullivan was as much a detective as he was a pilgrim, and the book is all the better for it. Often hopeful, often terrifying, and entirely fascinating, Sullivan has created a singular work that is both bold and vulnerable. Be prepared: Anyone who encounters this book will be rocked to their core.
February 19, 2017
I was really hoping to enjoy this book, and a look at Church miracles, but, alas I didn't all that much.
The author starts off by saying he's going to look into miracles and try to see if they are real.
He then goes off telling about "miracles" that happened in Northeastern Oregon, Croatia, Bosnia (Serbs), Scottsdale AZ, Yugoslavia...........what seemed to lots of obscure places and cultures. It got really bogged down in minute details.
Finally, ab out 2/3 of the way through the book, the author interviews a Priest named Groeschel of The Catholic church who is assigned into looking into claimed miracles, and that section was great. He said things like : 1)"Even many truly mystical events were simply personal phenomena, and not intended to result in any sort of broader impact.", 2.)In the vast majority of cases, what you get is a pious expression of moral forms that are more or less within the confines of the Ten Commandments, with nothing that really bears in a unique way on the Church today and the times we live in.". IN other words, few of the things that are touted as miracles are really miracles.
The author starts off by saying he's going to look into miracles and try to see if they are real.
He then goes off telling about "miracles" that happened in Northeastern Oregon, Croatia, Bosnia (Serbs), Scottsdale AZ, Yugoslavia...........what seemed to lots of obscure places and cultures. It got really bogged down in minute details.
Finally, ab out 2/3 of the way through the book, the author interviews a Priest named Groeschel of The Catholic church who is assigned into looking into claimed miracles, and that section was great. He said things like : 1)"Even many truly mystical events were simply personal phenomena, and not intended to result in any sort of broader impact.", 2.)In the vast majority of cases, what you get is a pious expression of moral forms that are more or less within the confines of the Ten Commandments, with nothing that really bears in a unique way on the Church today and the times we live in.". IN other words, few of the things that are touted as miracles are really miracles.
November 2, 2023
Took my time with this book, revisiting it time and again for probably a year before I actually finished it. It was really interesting. Randall Sullivan does a fantastic job at providing the documentation, the investigations done by higher authorities and just the core proof of the cases he writes about. Also does a great job of making you feel as if you’re there amongst the ppl in the parts of the world these miracles took place…the environments. This is one book that I’ll always keep close and re-read. To me it’s just more proof that there IS “something” supernatural at work around us and to me that translates into my belief of God. It’s almost comical how He gives us little tastes here and there over time. God must have a sense of humor. :)
July 12, 2022
a very personal account
Excellent book. Gave great insights into the visionaries, the locals, the pilgrims, and the politics around this place. The Catholic Church itself has not made any final judgment on the authenticity of the visions. He does admit some very personal spiritual experiences he had, but leaves a final judgment open. I remember when I made a visit to San Giovanni Rotundo, home of Padre Pio. I left with the thought that, whatever a final judgment might be, something very special and very spiritual is going on there. I think both skeptics and believers can get a lot out of this book.
Excellent book. Gave great insights into the visionaries, the locals, the pilgrims, and the politics around this place. The Catholic Church itself has not made any final judgment on the authenticity of the visions. He does admit some very personal spiritual experiences he had, but leaves a final judgment open. I remember when I made a visit to San Giovanni Rotundo, home of Padre Pio. I left with the thought that, whatever a final judgment might be, something very special and very spiritual is going on there. I think both skeptics and believers can get a lot out of this book.
September 25, 2017
This Book is the kind of book, that once you are finish there is a melancholy that it is finished, at the beginning, I thought oh gosh, here we go another secular book .... but the honesty which the writer is describing his journey and encounters are so vivid and real ...
This book, is the kind of book you need to read in breaks because once you put it down you have to digest what you just read... I loved it
This book, is the kind of book you need to read in breaks because once you put it down you have to digest what you just read... I loved it
July 14, 2020
Randall Sullivan’s book describes his years researching Marian apparitions, mainly in Medjugorje. The content left me feeling troubled, and I.wrestled over three stars or four, but decided that the depth of research and balanced reporting of a confusing subject, should win out over my own difficulty following a myriad of interview subjects and historical complexities. I love the author’s words: “faith is no more the absence of doubt, than courage is the absence of fear.”
June 30, 2021
I didn't want this book to end. Randall Sullivan's exploration of purported Marian apparitions reads like a mystery novel with all sorts of red herrings and fascinating characters. The book is well-researched, and I learned much, especially about the atrocities of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The book left me wanting more, and I hope Randall Sullivan, or someone with his talent as a reporter and writer, will continue to explore this topic.
August 6, 2011
Author Randall Sullivan investigates modern day Marian apparitions in this long but surprisingly gripping book. The word "apparitions" had, for me,a pejorative feel to it prior to reading "The Miracle Detective" but I don't mean it that way. I just mean appearances that may or may not be objective, that at the very least have a mystical element to them.
He starts, of all places, in Boardman, Oregon where in 1994 it was reported that the Virgin Mary was appearing in a gaudy painting hanging in a dilapidated trailer, home to a Mexican-American woman and her parents. His visit there is brief, but he leaves a core group of people, transformed by the event, dedicated to somehow building a shrine to Mary, a place of prayer and peace, right next door to a dangerous military weapons installation.
Sullivan spends the bulk of his time dealing with the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje in the former Yugoslavia, which began in 1981 and had continued ever since. However, he is no longer a neutral observer there, and finds himself dragged, unwillingly, into the exhilaration and turmoil of it, at an intensely personal level. The highs he experiences in his first visit there are followed by serious lows that a subsequent visit several years later does nothing to quell. These lows are exacerbated by his investigations of a similar, ongoing group Marian experience in Scottsdale, Arizona that had begun in 1988. Though they cannot be disproven, there is much more internal dissension among those at the center of it, and the investigation leaves him exhausted.
His journey brings him full circle and at the end he finds himself back in Boardman, Oregon, some seven years after he had initially visited there. It turns out that the dream of a permanent shrine to Mary had come to naught as doors had closed and efforts failed. The principal individual, Irma, had moved away and started a new life in Texas. It is a bittersweet ending, but Irma was still grateful for that chapter in her life, and considered herself a changed person. Sullivan, too, seems to have arrived at peace with the mysterious nature of these appearances. There may well be a mixture of the divine and the human in them, and in the end that is enough for him. Beginning his investigation as one who didn't give God a second thought, he concludes it with the realization that after all this effort, "all I had demonstrated to myself was that I could not live without God's love, and that the only way I knew to get it was to love Him back" (p. 442).
It is impossible to give an adequate reader response to all this in two or three sentences, but as the nature of discernment is central to the subject matter, a brief comment is in order. On page 344, one of the subjects of the Scottsdale appearances, Annie Ross, reports that "Satan has tried to trick me at various times by pretending to be Jesus or Mary, and it's hard to tell the difference, except by the feeling you have inside. It's the feeling you have to trust." But I would counter that feelings are a notoriously unreliable guide in matters of truth. Anyone who has become convinced that God has spoken to us in the pages of the Bible would do well to turn there in order to discern truth from error. Indeed, in Acts 17:11 we read of the residents of Berea who heard the gospel message for the first time. They did not look to their feelings for guidance, but instead turned to the Scriptures they had, the Old Testament, to learn if what they were hearing was in accord with what had already been revealed.
Even in the Roman Catholic community, where you would expect Marian apparitions to be positively received, there is still a whole of lot of caution, controversy, and skepticism, depending on who you talk to. How much more, then, are those who are not Catholics going to exercise caution when treading in these waters. I think it might be prudent to heed the words of the apostle Paul, who, knowing his own death was imminent, wanted to sum up for Timothy what was to be his focus. He doesn't tell Timothy to be on the lookout for new manifestations of the Spirit, or new revelations from God, but to look back to what God had already revealed. 2 Timothy 3:14 directs him as follows: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ."
Christians, like Timothy, have already been given their marching orders, and it's a pretty good bet they haven't fulfilled them yet. Maybe those of us who call ourselves Christians would be wise to focus on what directions we have already been given, rather than searching for additional revelations in the present or in the future. I personally am impressed by some of the Marian apparitions which Sullivan describes. But discernment is a tricky business, and it seems to me it's too easy to be led astray.
He starts, of all places, in Boardman, Oregon where in 1994 it was reported that the Virgin Mary was appearing in a gaudy painting hanging in a dilapidated trailer, home to a Mexican-American woman and her parents. His visit there is brief, but he leaves a core group of people, transformed by the event, dedicated to somehow building a shrine to Mary, a place of prayer and peace, right next door to a dangerous military weapons installation.
Sullivan spends the bulk of his time dealing with the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje in the former Yugoslavia, which began in 1981 and had continued ever since. However, he is no longer a neutral observer there, and finds himself dragged, unwillingly, into the exhilaration and turmoil of it, at an intensely personal level. The highs he experiences in his first visit there are followed by serious lows that a subsequent visit several years later does nothing to quell. These lows are exacerbated by his investigations of a similar, ongoing group Marian experience in Scottsdale, Arizona that had begun in 1988. Though they cannot be disproven, there is much more internal dissension among those at the center of it, and the investigation leaves him exhausted.
His journey brings him full circle and at the end he finds himself back in Boardman, Oregon, some seven years after he had initially visited there. It turns out that the dream of a permanent shrine to Mary had come to naught as doors had closed and efforts failed. The principal individual, Irma, had moved away and started a new life in Texas. It is a bittersweet ending, but Irma was still grateful for that chapter in her life, and considered herself a changed person. Sullivan, too, seems to have arrived at peace with the mysterious nature of these appearances. There may well be a mixture of the divine and the human in them, and in the end that is enough for him. Beginning his investigation as one who didn't give God a second thought, he concludes it with the realization that after all this effort, "all I had demonstrated to myself was that I could not live without God's love, and that the only way I knew to get it was to love Him back" (p. 442).
It is impossible to give an adequate reader response to all this in two or three sentences, but as the nature of discernment is central to the subject matter, a brief comment is in order. On page 344, one of the subjects of the Scottsdale appearances, Annie Ross, reports that "Satan has tried to trick me at various times by pretending to be Jesus or Mary, and it's hard to tell the difference, except by the feeling you have inside. It's the feeling you have to trust." But I would counter that feelings are a notoriously unreliable guide in matters of truth. Anyone who has become convinced that God has spoken to us in the pages of the Bible would do well to turn there in order to discern truth from error. Indeed, in Acts 17:11 we read of the residents of Berea who heard the gospel message for the first time. They did not look to their feelings for guidance, but instead turned to the Scriptures they had, the Old Testament, to learn if what they were hearing was in accord with what had already been revealed.
Even in the Roman Catholic community, where you would expect Marian apparitions to be positively received, there is still a whole of lot of caution, controversy, and skepticism, depending on who you talk to. How much more, then, are those who are not Catholics going to exercise caution when treading in these waters. I think it might be prudent to heed the words of the apostle Paul, who, knowing his own death was imminent, wanted to sum up for Timothy what was to be his focus. He doesn't tell Timothy to be on the lookout for new manifestations of the Spirit, or new revelations from God, but to look back to what God had already revealed. 2 Timothy 3:14 directs him as follows: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ."
Christians, like Timothy, have already been given their marching orders, and it's a pretty good bet they haven't fulfilled them yet. Maybe those of us who call ourselves Christians would be wise to focus on what directions we have already been given, rather than searching for additional revelations in the present or in the future. I personally am impressed by some of the Marian apparitions which Sullivan describes. But discernment is a tricky business, and it seems to me it's too easy to be led astray.
July 2, 2024
this book could have been interesting!
The subject matter had the potential to be very interesting. He seems to taken his research and interviews and just dumped them into a book without any effort to structure or organize the story.
The subject matter had the potential to be very interesting. He seems to taken his research and interviews and just dumped them into a book without any effort to structure or organize the story.
July 13, 2018
I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the parts where Sullivan grapples with his own doubts and belief. He gives a great chronicle of the apparitions at Medjugorje. And he does a good job detailing the break-up of Yugoslavia and how it relates to the people who live around Medjugorje. Sometimes, the historical stuff seemed to go on for too long, but overall, I thought the book was informative and insightful.
November 20, 2018
Not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it as not this....lots of history, some of which was relevant but for the most part not necessary.
November 3, 2023
“My Lord, what a sorry document you have sent throughout the world!”
December 4, 2023
4.5. Such an amazing read but the way the author discusses the attractiveness of every woman he meets (e.g. “she is pretty for being 40lbs overweight” or “she is obese and aggressively unattractive”) was not it for me.
September 20, 2024
Lacked an index, from what I remember. Otherwise, fascinating if read with discernment.
November 7, 2024
Dude this mf doesn't know how to write a book hahahaha. Ok I've read 3 books by him now and I'm done. 3 strikes you're out!
Read
December 28, 2025D N F
February 16, 2016
This is an excellent introduction into the process and politics of how the Catholic Church declares something "miraculous" and finds certain people to be "saints". It also delves into the whole field of alleged apparitions. The book started with a Mexican farm worker in a broken-down trailer in Oregon, who suddenly sees the figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a cheap landscape painting decorating her bedroom. Sullivan read a newspaper article about the incident, and from that, spun the book idea to his editor. He would research these apparitions and investigate them, in effect becoming "a Miracle Detective." And so began his trip down the rabbit hole.
His subjects include American parish priests (such as in Scottsdale, AZ) who are torn between welcoming the religious devotions these events bring and trying to keep their parishioners from dashing off to follow the latest and greatest spectacular apparitions. How DO you deal with a group of people who claim to have seen the Virgin Mary when they want to start a rosary group?
His subjects also include the Franciscan priests serving the parish and alleged seers in Medugorje, in the former Yugoslavia. They have been trying to provide spiritual direction both to the parishioners and the alleged seers while being imprisoned and tortured by the Communist government (when the apparitions began), and dealing with the effects of a bloody and violent civil war. While Medugorje seemed to be protected on all sides from the violence of the war, the war still intruded in the people who came there for spiritual advice and help. Sullivan describes some of the history and evil of that war, if only to emphasize the peace that existed at Medugorje.
The Franciscan priests also had to stand against the local bishop. The local bishop's actions have been so political and egregious (including the involuntary and unlawful laicization of two of the priests involved) that the determination of the Medugorje apparitions has been removed from the local diocese and is under the control of the Vatican at this time. Sullivan covers all of these incidents and more: while Medugorje is the major focus of this book (since the alleged apparitions are still occurring) Sullivan covers a number of other alleged apparitions as well as a large number of the Vatican priests who are responsible for evaluating these events, including any associated "miraculous" healings. His descriptions of these evaluations and of the people involved, show how political this whole "miracle" business is. When a wrong decision or determination could result in the loss of countless souls, sometimes it's better just to remain quiet or to declare against an apparition.
All of these questions, both to his subjects and to himself, led to a spiritual crisis, which he details. It is his dark night of the soul, it lasts through another trip to Medugorje, and is only broken after a public audience with Pope John Paul II.
His investigation started in 1994 and took almost 8 years. He spent 8 years trying to prove something in order to give himself faith. And in the end, his last paragraph sums it up:
"All this time," I thought, "all this effort," and all I had demonstrated to myself was that I could not live without God's love, and that the only way I knew to get it was to love Him back. I looked up at the light sparkling on Oregon pine needles and saw rosebushes blooming in Texas. It was a miracle, I knew, even if I could never prove it. All I had to do was ask.
His subjects include American parish priests (such as in Scottsdale, AZ) who are torn between welcoming the religious devotions these events bring and trying to keep their parishioners from dashing off to follow the latest and greatest spectacular apparitions. How DO you deal with a group of people who claim to have seen the Virgin Mary when they want to start a rosary group?
His subjects also include the Franciscan priests serving the parish and alleged seers in Medugorje, in the former Yugoslavia. They have been trying to provide spiritual direction both to the parishioners and the alleged seers while being imprisoned and tortured by the Communist government (when the apparitions began), and dealing with the effects of a bloody and violent civil war. While Medugorje seemed to be protected on all sides from the violence of the war, the war still intruded in the people who came there for spiritual advice and help. Sullivan describes some of the history and evil of that war, if only to emphasize the peace that existed at Medugorje.
The Franciscan priests also had to stand against the local bishop. The local bishop's actions have been so political and egregious (including the involuntary and unlawful laicization of two of the priests involved) that the determination of the Medugorje apparitions has been removed from the local diocese and is under the control of the Vatican at this time. Sullivan covers all of these incidents and more: while Medugorje is the major focus of this book (since the alleged apparitions are still occurring) Sullivan covers a number of other alleged apparitions as well as a large number of the Vatican priests who are responsible for evaluating these events, including any associated "miraculous" healings. His descriptions of these evaluations and of the people involved, show how political this whole "miracle" business is. When a wrong decision or determination could result in the loss of countless souls, sometimes it's better just to remain quiet or to declare against an apparition.
All of these questions, both to his subjects and to himself, led to a spiritual crisis, which he details. It is his dark night of the soul, it lasts through another trip to Medugorje, and is only broken after a public audience with Pope John Paul II.
His investigation started in 1994 and took almost 8 years. He spent 8 years trying to prove something in order to give himself faith. And in the end, his last paragraph sums it up:
"All this time," I thought, "all this effort," and all I had demonstrated to myself was that I could not live without God's love, and that the only way I knew to get it was to love Him back. I looked up at the light sparkling on Oregon pine needles and saw rosebushes blooming in Texas. It was a miracle, I knew, even if I could never prove it. All I had to do was ask.
January 19, 2011
In the war-torn country of Yugoslavia, late 1980's, a cluster of children (ages up through 16) began seeing the Virgin Mary and reporting her words. Medjugorje, if you've ever heard of the place, appeared protected from the war by the madonna.
The Miracle Detective describes Sullivan's trip into the world of miracles and the investigation of these miracles by the Catholic church. By the end of the book, even Sullivan has been deeply affected by his brush with the supernatural, and it is this personal journal by the author that makes the book most interesting.
Nearly all the experts that researched Medjugorje and interviewed (interrogated) the children came to the same conclusion: there was no attempt to deceive, and the children truly experienced the unexplainable. Others around them could not see Mary, yet the children's eyes moved in unison as they tracked her progress through the air; they reported the same message from heaven; and they showed no response to any pain or attention-grabbing administered by the "experts" while in their vision state. Many other visitors to this sacred site experienced supernatural healings. Surely, the madonna herself was to be found in this place!
But what did the Church think? It's still under investigation, 20-25 years later. As one priest explained to Sullivan, the Church does not merely test for the unexplainable; a true miracle from God must pass several tests, such as "theological correctness, usefulness to the Church, and a clear relationship between the messages the person reports and changes in the quality of their own lives." Unquestionably, the experiences rocked the lives of these children and many others who visited (and still visit) Medjugorje, but what is the Church to think when Mary, queen of heaven, arrives with the message that we should respect all religions, even (perhaps especially) Islam?
I found the book interesting, one I'm glad I read, though it was a bit long. But, sorry, I've no opinion yet on the authenticity of the visions. :)
The Miracle Detective describes Sullivan's trip into the world of miracles and the investigation of these miracles by the Catholic church. By the end of the book, even Sullivan has been deeply affected by his brush with the supernatural, and it is this personal journal by the author that makes the book most interesting.
Nearly all the experts that researched Medjugorje and interviewed (interrogated) the children came to the same conclusion: there was no attempt to deceive, and the children truly experienced the unexplainable. Others around them could not see Mary, yet the children's eyes moved in unison as they tracked her progress through the air; they reported the same message from heaven; and they showed no response to any pain or attention-grabbing administered by the "experts" while in their vision state. Many other visitors to this sacred site experienced supernatural healings. Surely, the madonna herself was to be found in this place!
But what did the Church think? It's still under investigation, 20-25 years later. As one priest explained to Sullivan, the Church does not merely test for the unexplainable; a true miracle from God must pass several tests, such as "theological correctness, usefulness to the Church, and a clear relationship between the messages the person reports and changes in the quality of their own lives." Unquestionably, the experiences rocked the lives of these children and many others who visited (and still visit) Medjugorje, but what is the Church to think when Mary, queen of heaven, arrives with the message that we should respect all religions, even (perhaps especially) Islam?
I found the book interesting, one I'm glad I read, though it was a bit long. But, sorry, I've no opinion yet on the authenticity of the visions. :)
February 4, 2016
The Miracle Detective purports to be “an investigation of holy visions.” Although the book contains some information on Lourdes, Fatima, and other past miraculous claims, the bulk of the text is devoted to Medjugorje, the town in Bosnia-Herzegovina where six young people, ages 10-16, began seeing daily apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1981. Author Randall Sullivan, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, begins the book in a brisk reportorial style reminiscent of Jonathan Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. Like Krakauer, Sullivan inserts himself into the narrative. He travels to Medjugorje and spends seven weeks there during the Bosnian War. Ironically, it’s in Medjugorje that Sullivan’s book stumbles. Sullivan abandons his reportorial objectivity, eventually replacing it with a giddy credulity in unseen forces. Of a 1995 trip to Rome, Sullivan writes: “… it seemed to happen on its own, with things falling into place as if planned – though not by me – and a familiar sense that I was being guided …” Sullivan includes extensive details about the war, which, while providing necessary context, are often confusing and slow the book to a turgid pace. Contributing to the book’s confusion is the absence of a sorely needed index. Hundreds of pages intervene between references to obscure historical figures or towns, and it’s impossible for the reader to quickly locate the first description. In addition, the book’s authority could have been enhanced by detailed end notes, rather than the annotated list of sources that Sullivan supplies. Although Sullivan’s exhaustive investigation certainly earns him the “detective” label, the book leaves the question of miracles unsolved.
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