another Weeping Madona

THE mystery of WA's weeping Madonna is being accompanied by new claims that an apparition of the Virgin Mary is appearing regularly at the house where the statue is kept.

Dozens of believers regularly gather at the Rockingham home of statue owner Patty Powell where they say a vision of Mary is appearing nightly at 8 o'clock in the back yard. They claim a 50-year-old Rockingham man, whose identity is being kept from the media, is the only person seeing the apparitions. But Mrs Powell's twin sister Eileen Giles, 51, said she received messages from Mary. The pair said they had recorded about 700 messages.

When The Sunday Times interviewed Mrs Giles this week, the statue was weeping, as it has for several months. Ms Powell and Mrs Giles said the same rose-scented residue as the "tears" now appeared in the area where they claimed the apparitions take place, and some believers who had visited the site had also left with oil-like stains on their clothing. They said the Virgin Mary had left imprints of her feet on a concrete slab near where she appeared. Mrs Giles believed the volatile state of the world was the reason the statue continued to weep and why she had been sent messages. "She speaks to me for about 10 minutes and I write down her message," Mrs Giles said. "The main message is to put God first in your life and to reach out to your neighbour. If you did those things the world would be at peace."

The alleged apparitions are the latest twist in the amazing story, which has attracted pilgrims from all over the world. Two years ago, a Catholic Church inquiry into the weeping statue found the fibreglass figurine, which was bought in Thailand by Mrs Powell in 1994, was weeping vegetable oil. Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey said the case for a "miraculous happening" had not been proved and ordered that the statue could not be displayed on church property.

Yesterday, the Archbishop â€" who according to Ms Powell was made aware of the apparitions months ago but asked for the phenomena not to be made public â€" continued to distance the church from the claims. "I am aware that oil is still coming from the statue and there are claims of weekly visions with associated messages," he said. "Because the earlier investigations did not provide sufficient evidence of supernatural intervention, all matters connected with the statue must be considered to be in the realm of private revelation."

Ms. Powell said more than 100 people a week continued to visit the statue. Many of the international pilgrims had come in search of a miracle to beat life-threatening illnesses.

By JOE SPAGNOLO









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I have been reading about weeping Madonnas and also apparitions of Mary and her family that have appeared thru the years all over the world. I believe it might be UFO related, all the phenomenon seems to have interesting specifics. One thing tho, the theme is for Peace.

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