Lourdes, Daft Comments, and Thinking of Something to Say

Noted, in FatherTF's The hermeneutic of continuity:

"Bomb scare at Lourdes and silly comments"
The hermeneutic of continuity (August 18, 2010)

"It was sad to hear that there was a bomb scare at Lourdes on Sunday, the feast of the Assumption. Everyone had to be evacuated from the Domaine for three hours while the army searched the place. Not pleasant for the people there, but I suppose it is good for Lourdes to have a dry-run evacuation. With the amount of anti-Catholic hatred being whipped up in Europe it is not impossible that places like Lourdes will become real targets.

"Given that danger, I was irritated by the silly bits at the end of the Telegraph report Bomb scare at Lourdes. Here they are:

"Around 200 million people have visited the shrine since 1860, and the Roman Catholic Church has recognised 67 miracle healings, the last in November 2005.

"Despite this, the Lourdes (sic) has built up enemies over the years among those who criticise its commercialism. It makes millions from tourism and souvenir selling every year.

"Others, including members of the Catholic Church, are deeply sceptical of its alleged healing powers, attributing them to superstition.

"Why would Lourdes build up 'enemies' because it engages in commerce? Why don't the enemies moan about Oxford Street or Bluewater shopping centre instead? They are a lot more commercial than Lourdes. If a town has a religious shrine in it, are all the people of that town supposed to live in some kind of monastic super-community without owning anything?

"On the second point, it is true that many people are sceptical about the miracles of Lourdes, but in reports such as this, the one thing that you never hear of is the Lourdes Medical Bureau...."

First, I recommend that you read the rest of that post. Father Timothy Finigan makes a good point about the Catholic position on miracles.

Second, there's the matter of the 'proper' attitudes toward the Catholic Church. But I've written about that before. (August 17, 2010)

Then, there's miracles. Oh, wait: I've written about that, too. Fairly recently. (June 7, 2010)

Wealth? (February 4, 2010)

Looks like I'll have to think about something else meaningful to write about today. Or, here's a thought: pray about it.

Sort-of-related posts:

• " 'Army of Oppression,' Unmentionables, and Being Catholic in America"
  (August 17, 2010)
• "Miracles, Mass, Bread and Wine
  (June 7, 2010)
• "Reason, Faith and 'What Folks Know, that Just Ain't So' "
  (June 4, 2010)