Why Mary wept in Arlignton

The following is an excerpt from a letter to the editor of the June 2005 issue of the New Oxford Review, entitled "Why Mary Wept In the Diocese of Arlington." It was written in response to an article by Michael S. Rose on the plight of Fr. James Haley ("Killing the Messenger" in the March issue of NOR), which ought to be read in full by anyone concerned with the fate of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, long known for its stability and orthodoxy. Rose's article, uncovering a tapestry of philandering, homosexuality, embezzling, and outright strange behavior by priests, "underscores a series of supernatural events," according to the letter, which occurred at a parish (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton) of which he was a member in this same Diocese a dozen years before these scandals were exposed:

From November 1991 until well into 1993, a young Associate Pastor named Fr. James Bruse at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Lake Ridge, just outside the Beltway in northern Virginia, was the center of a series of weeping statues (mostly of the Blessed Mother) that wept openly and profusely in his presence and others. The tears began small and privately. The first event occurred at his parent's home, and then statues in the rectory began to weep until eventually these private tears became full-blown public events.

Fr. Bruse, a shy and timid man by nature, could not have invented a more tortured way to bring attention to himself.... The statues wept profusely during the height of the episodes, warping wooden furniture and sopping carpets.... Fr. Bruse also bore the stigmata on his wrists, side, and feet. The blood that ran down his arms defied gravity and ran up from his wrists to his elbows, just as Christ would have bled while hanging in agony on the Cross.

The author of the letter, which can be read in full (scroll down to "Why Mary Wept in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia"), is Timothy Ehlen, of Petoskey, Michigan. He states that a book on the events has been published, entitled The Seton Miracles . Also see the online account at The Marian Foundation. People are often skeptical and dismissive of such phenomena as traditional Catholic superstition. See for yourself.