’60 Minutes’ examines medically unexplainable miracles of Lourdes

[Michie]

Bill Whitaker interviews Sr. Bernadette Moriau, who recalls how it felt when she experienced what has been recognized as a genuine miracle.

A recent episode of 60 Minutes saw correspondent Bill Whitaker visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. The footage offers inspiring views of the popular pilgrimage site, as well as interviews with faithful visitors seeking to be healed and even one nun whose sudden recovery after visiting Lourdes has been deemed miraculous.

Despite the small size of the town of Lourdes, it draws more than three million tourists and pilgrims who wish to visit the shrine each year. The people have been coming to the site in droves since 1858, when St. Bernadette witnessed and interacted with the Blessed Mother in a series of apparitions.

The apparitions

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'60 Minutes' examines medically unexplainable miracles of Lourdes

Bill Whitaker interviews Sr. Bernadette Moriau, who recalls how it felt when she experienced what has been recognized as a genuine miracle.

aleteia.org

 

[Michie]

Back in the 1980s, I wrote a profile of a remarkable Episcopal priest in Colorado who was approaching his 100th birthday. He had been raised in pre-World War II Japan — the son of a samurai.

As a young man he became terribly ill and slipped into a coma. At one point, doctors said he flatlined — but they were able to restart his heart. When he awakened, he reported having a near-death experience in which a man in white robes told him that he would live and that there was much work for him to do.

The young man knew almost nothing about Christianity, other than a brief exposure to the New Testament in an English-language class. Nevertheless, he truly believed that this man was Jesus. This led to his conversion, the priesthood and a journey to America. During the war, the U.S. government put him in an internment camp — a painful episode in a long and amazing life.

Now, here is a question linked to this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (CLICK HERE to tune that in). Was this man’s transformation during his NDE a “miracle”? That was the term he used when he described it.

Actually, his vision took place during a life-and-death medical drama that was unusual — but these things happen. Was there a way to test his claims in a laboratory? No. Near-death experiences happen.

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Podcast: 60 Minutes visits Lourdes and asks (some) very good questions about 'miracles' — GetReligion

Back in the 1980s, I wrote a profile of a remarkable Episcopal priest in Colorado who was approaching his 100th birthday. He had been raised in pre-World War II Japan — the son of a samurai. As a young man he became terribly ill and slipped into a coma. At one point, doctors said he flatlined — but

www.getreligion.org