Therefore, the last people one would expect to find writing accurate, faithful books about Marian apparitions and pilgrimages would be an agnostic and an atheist. However, that is exactly what is found in these two books.
THE MIRACLE DETECTIVE: An Investigation of Holy Visions by Randall Sullivan
Agnostic Randall Sullivan became fascinated with religious apparitions when he was sent to report for a local newspaper on a story about a family that began seeing the Virgin Mary appear in a painting hanging in their trailer. He thought that Marian apparitions would be an interesting subject for a book and began a journey that would take him to Rome, Medjugorje, Scottsdale (AZ) and New York City. Along the way, he unexpectedly began a personal, spiritual journey of discovery. In the process, Sullivan uses an even handed approach to give a lot of information including describing the Catholic Church's process for investigating and approving miracles; detailing the apparitions at a variety of places including Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje; and giving an in depth history of Bosnia including the fighting that was going on while he was there. The step by step look at discovery of apparitions at various holy sites was fascinating and more detailed than anything found elsewhere.
Sulllivan's interspersing of factual reporting and personal story of discovery worked very well. Because Sullivan is sorting out what he thinks of all this, as well as coming to terms with God personally, we see all sides. Especially welcome is the reminder that most priests are not welcoming of apparitions as they can come from a variety of things: the person is faking, the person is crazy, the apparitions are demonic, or they are true.
"If you no more than dismiss these things, you're simple an obscurantist. If you mindlessly embrace them, you're just a dope. We have to resist the obsessive-compulsive demand for a clear, definitive answer to these questions. This is a field for people who don't have to have it all figured out, who don't need it cast in black and white. There's a lotta gray mist around this stuff, and you have to be prepared to deal with that. Once in a while a bright, shining light comes through, and we should be grateful for it. Because the rest of the time we have to feel our way through the twilight.” Father Benedict Groeschel
Groeschel appears the end of the book where Sullivan emphasizes that the Church depends on time to help reveal whether apparitions are truly from God. Not only does it help calm the attendant public hysteria that may accompany revelations, it gives enough time to properly evaluate the theology of any messages and other evidence.
The most endearing part of the book was that the author's personal revelations of God always were accompanied by hilarity, as if God and he were laughing at a huge joke together when Sullivan would suddenly "get it." This perfectly supported another person in the book who said that she had found Jesus has a great sense of humor and always was making jokes. Although the personal aspect of Sullivan's book is not the reason he begins his quest, nothing in the book is quite as satisfying is watching Sulllivan discover his faith through the long journey.
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