The real Miracle of Knock

It's a strange story that is well worth telling.

Knock is a small farming village in northwestern Ireland. It's about two hours from anywhere, and before automobiles, it was even more isolated. It's similar to hundreds of other Irish villages except that one day in 1879, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared, along with two saints. It was investigated by the Catholic church, which recognized it as a miracle, and by other churches who called it a fraud.
Our Lady of Knock became a symbol for Irish Catholics in America, who paid more attention to it than the Irish themselves.
As time went by, it faded into the background, and a few thousand people made the trip yearly to worship at the small shrine.
That's the background for this story.

In the late 1950s, Father James Horan had been making a name for himself as an activist priest at a time when that was frowned upon.
Incessant fighting with the bishops saw him exiled to the small parish near Knock in the mid-1960s.
It is said that he cried when he saw the audience for his first Mass. With no work in the area, almost all the working-age men had left for work in Europe or America, and his flock was made up of old folks, families with absentee fathers, and young people preparing to flee for work. The parish and the entire area were blighted and full of despair.
James Horan was a man of vision, so standing before a handful of followers, he announced he would build a new shrine to Our Lady, a 10,000-seat basilica. He had invited the Pope to attend the hundredth anniversary of the Miracle. All this was news to his bishop and the local authorities.
Horan took his case to America and crisscrossed the States on whirlwind tours for three years. He soon had funding for his Church and Shrine. Next, he worked on getting the Pope to come for the Celebration. He pointed out to Irish authorities that the closest airport was four hours away if the Pope did attend and would present logistical nightmares. His one-man campaign paid off, and he was able to obtain funding to build a regional airport. With the airport came multiple hotels, car rental agencies, and restaurants. People no longer had to move to find work, and thousands of newcomers flooded the area. Father Horans vision of multiple charters of American pilgrims each day never panned out, but the airport is among the busiest regional fields in Europe. In 1979, Pope John Paul 11 celebrated the Anniversary with a Mass and presented the parish with a golden rose, the church's highest honor.
Today, the region is thriving, as call and data centers pop up seemingly overnight, and there is full employment.
So, which was the real miracle?

Obviously, there is much more to his story and that of Knock, but when someone asks- What can one person do?- have him google Monsignor James Horan

Quote: billryan

It's a strange story that is well worth telling.

Knock is a small farming village in northwestern Ireland. It's about two hours from anywhere, and before automobiles, it was even more isolated. It's similar to hundreds of other Irish villages except that one day in 1879, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared, along with two saints. It was investigated by the Catholic church, which recognized it as a miracle, and by other churches who called it a fraud.
Our Lady of Knock became a symbol for Irish Catholics in America, who paid more attention to it than the Irish themselves.
As time went by, it faded into the background, and a few thousand people made the trip yearly to worship at the small shrine.
That's the background for this story.

In the late 1950s, Father James Horan had been making a name for himself as an activist priest at a time when that was frowned upon.
Incessant fighting with the bishops saw him exiled to the small parish near Knock in the mid-1960s.
It is said that he cried when he saw the audience for his first Mass. With no work in the area, almost all the working-age men had left for work in Europe or America, and his flock was made up of old folks, families with absentee fathers, and young people preparing to flee for work. The parish and the entire area were blighted and full of despair.
James Horan was a man of vision, so standing before a handful of followers, he announced he would build a new shrine to Our Lady, a 10,000-seat basilica. He had invited the Pope to attend the hundredth anniversary of the Miracle. All this was news to his bishop and the local authorities.
Horan took his case to America and crisscrossed the States on whirlwind tours for three years. He soon had funding for his Church and Shrine. Next, he worked on getting the Pope to come for the Celebration. He pointed out to Irish authorities that the closest airport was four hours away if the Pope did attend and would present logistical nightmares. His one-man campaign paid off, and he was able to obtain funding to build a regional airport. With the airport came multiple hotels, car rental agencies, and restaurants. People no longer had to move to find work, and thousands of newcomers flooded the area. Father Horans vision of multiple charters of American pilgrims each day never panned out, but the airport is among the busiest regional fields in Europe. In 1979, Pope John Paul 11 celebrated the Anniversary with a Mass and presented the parish with a golden rose, the church's highest honor.
Today, the region is thriving, as call and data centers pop up seemingly overnight, and there is full employment.
So, which was the real miracle?

Obviously, there is much more to his story and that of Knock, but when someone asks- What can one person do?- have him google Monsignor James Horan
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Of course the real story would be totally different than this polished and spit shined version that was for public consumption. The real story is always totally different. And there are no miracles, that's just a word for something we don't understand. In the past people were surrounded by miracles because they understood nothing about the world they lived in. The more we understand the more miracles have disappeared.