Knock Shrine
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Clergy in Ireland are "alarmed" over the level of support for alleged Marian sightings claimed by a self-proclaimed Dublin visionary, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
The newspaper said a standoff between Catholic Church authorities and Joe Coleman, who is reportedly a clairvoyant, threatens to escalate into a major showdown next month during the feast of the Immaculate Conception, during which he has predicted a third apparition, the report said.
He claims the Virgin Mary appeared for a second time in three weeks at Knock Shrine on Saturday. Around 15,000 followers gathered expectantly in the hope of witnessing a vision, with claims that the sun once again "danced in the sky".
The Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary has deplored the proclaimed phenomenon as unhealthy and argued that it brings the Mayo Shrine into disrepute.
An apparition had been predicted for 3pm on Saturday and up to 4,000 people expectantly waited outside the Apparition Chapel, the spot of the original reported Knock apparition in August 1879.
By 3.20pm on Saturday, anticlimax was stirring among the crowd, most of whom looked constantly upwards at the sky with their cameras and mobile camera phones in active service.
Hundreds were leaving disappointed. One man, a native of Knock, scoffed at what he said resembled "the pagan art of sun worship". But suddenly, there were shouts that the sun had been seen dancing close to the Basilica, and men, women and children rushed towards it to get a glimpse.
There were some claims later that people saw something "small and round" in the sky, the news report adds.
FULL STORY
Row is brewing with Catholic Church over visionary claims at shrine (Belfast Telegraph)
ARCHIVE
Irish Bishop rejects shrine "apparition"
LINK
National Marian Shrine, Knock, Ireland