The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to by Joseph P. Laycock

In 1968, Veronica Lueken, a Catholic housewife in Bayside, Queens, manhattan, started to event visions of the Virgin Mary. Over nearly 3 many years, she imparted over three hundred messages from Mary, Jesus, and different heavenly personages. those revelations, that have been despatched around the globe via newsletters, billboards, and native tv, significantly criticized the liturgical alterations of Vatican II and the wickedness of yank society. until every body repented, Lueken warned, a "fiery ball" could collide with the Earth, inflicting demise and destruction round the world.

When Catholic Church gurus attempted to brush aside, discredit, or even banish her, Lueken declared Pope Paul VI a communist imposter, accused the Church of being in errors because Vatican II, and sought new venues within which to speak her revelations. considering that her demise in 1995, her fans have endured to assemble to advertise her messages in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens. referred to as "the Baysiders," they think that St. Robert Bellarmine's Church, from which Lueken used to be banned from protecting vigils, will sometime develop into "the Lourdes of the USA" and that Lueken might be increased to sainthood.

Joseph P. Laycock delves into untapped archival fabrics and a wealth of ethnographic learn to spread the attention-grabbing tale of Veronica Lueken and the Baysiders from 1968 to the current. even though students have characterised the Baysiders variously as a brand new non secular circulation, a kind of folks piety, and a traditionalist sect, individuals of the crowd regard themselves as dependable Catholics-maybe the final in lifestyles. they're severe of the Church hierarchy, which they think corrupted via modernism, and reject ultra-traditionalist Catholic teams who think that the papal see is vacant.

Laycock indicates how the Baysiders have deviated considerably from mainstream Catholic tradition whereas conserving in discussion with Church professionals, and divulges how the endurance of the Baysiders and different Marian teams has contributed to bigger amenability towards devotional tradition and personal revelation at the a part of Church professionals. The Seer of Bayside is a useful learn of the perpetual fight among lay Catholics and Church specialists over who holds the ability to outline Catholic culture.