Randall Sullivan - The Miracle Detective

Praise for The Miracle Detective:

The Miracle Detective... is an adventure for any Catholic (new, lifelong, lapsed, born-again) or skeptic alike.... Sullivan speaks to us in two voices: one fully immersed in mystical experiences as an ecstatic convert, the other as the skilled contemporary Rolling Stone journalist. He strikes the highest ground toward the end of the book, culling from the sage and scholarly.

Meredith Rolley, The Santa Fe New Mexican

Certainly the best [book about Medjugorje] I have read... Sullivan brilliantly situates the apparitions within the context of the Balkan war.... The Miracle Detective contains vivid passages, nicely rendered theological history, and suspenseful scenes.

Tim Cavanaugh, The Washington Post Book World

[The Miracle Detective] is a stunning mix of the personal and the historic, interviews and experiences, with Sullivan incredibly nimble at making the worlds overlapin a way, just as visionaries do.... If what [he] writes about is astoundingsightings, healings, possessionthe breadth and depth of his work is rather astonishing as well.... His writing draws readers into his search for answers, and soon we find ourselves sharing his excitement.

Ilene Cooper, Booklist (starred review)

Sullivan is there as both reporter and seeker. He brilliantly interweaves stories of his meetings with remarkable women and men, including the visionaries and the priest who serves as their spiritual director, with incidents from his own spiritual turmoil.

Vernon Peterson, The Oregonian

An intrepid Portland journalist crafts a fascinating exploration of how the Catholic Church investigates purported sightings of the Virgin Mary; a globe-trotting, first-person spiritual odyssey that took him to northeastern Oregon, Arizona, Bosnia, the Vatican and beyond.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[Sullivans] tone here is droll, chatty and appealing, that of a curious skeptic who is willing, or perhaps waiting, to be convinced.

The Arizona Republic

Sullivans journey is a religious one, a Christian one. But what happened on that journey and what it might mean to people of allor nofaiths makes this book unique and valuable.

Dan Hays, Austin-American Statesman Journal

The reporter for Rolling Stone is a skillful writer on a subject that fascinates the faithful and skeptical.... Mr. Sullivan crafts a compelling narrative.

Ira J. Hadnot, The Dallas Morning News

[Offers] a fascinating glimpse at the paradoxes of religious faith.... [Sullivan is] a talented, intelligent writer.... Even before Sullivan gets to Medjugorje, a town transformed by the influx of tens of thousands of pilgrims, the project begins to affect him.

Laura Miller, salon.com

Sullivans account of the six teenagers who witnessed the first of the apparitions in Medjugorje is fascinating, even to a non-believer.

Lois Wadsworth, Eugene Weekly

A remarkable book... A thin lineand a deep abyssseparates believers from the class of unbelievers such as Melville, who could neither believe nor be comfortable in his disbelief, and who, as Hawthorne reported, had pretty much made his mind up to be annihilated. Sullivan straddles this abyss and gazes both ways. This tension is the engine that drives The Miracle Detective.

The Oregonian

When it arrived, I flipped over The Miracle Detective to read the description of the author: Randall Sullivan is a contributing editor at both Rolling Stone and Mens Journal. Oh, great, I thought: some hip, ignorant big city journalist, out to make fun of the Catholic Church. I opened the book to page oneand was still reading hours later... a laudable achievement by an unbeliever who started out investigating apparitions on a cynical whim, and ended up profoundly changed.... The Miracle Detective is exceedingly well-written, deeply involving and oddly inspiring.

Kathy Shaidle, relapsedcatholic.com

Plying his remarkable skills as a reporter and writer, [Sullivan] has written a book that operates and succeeds on a number of levels. It is an intriguing up-close look at the lives of mystics, an insightful study of the postVatican II Catholic Church and its institutional struggles with manifestations of the supernatural, a powerful documentation of the reality of miracles and demons, a detailed history of Marian apparitions and the context of the reported happenings in Medjugorje, and most of all a compelling story of personal conversion.... The result is a book of great scope and balance.

Jay Dunlap, Catholic.net

Anyone fascinated by Catholic miracles and mysticism... will be rewarded by taking this journey in the company of Randall Sullivan.

Catholic Register

This is a truly amazing book, hard to describe and very hard to put down. Gripping, well-observed, and fascinating, full of human portraits as complex as they are interesting, it is also one of the most destabilizing books I have ever read. There are moments when the hair rises on the back of your neck, and your blood runs cold; other times when your heart sings with joy; others when you want to weep. Deeply engrossing, profound, intelligent, it is also the portrayal of the journey of a soul. It does not attempt to proselytize, convince, or hector, though Sullivan makes no secret of his feelings, and his doubts too. This is an unforgettable, unique book, which I most highly and unreservedly recommend.

Renee Artest, Quadrant

The casting couldnt be more varied and colorfulsaints, cardinals, theologians, medical experts, scientists, visionaries, seekers, soldiers, eccentrics, and roguesSullivan encounters them all, in person and in historical records, as he investigates the supernatural and fights through fear, confusion, and doubt on his way to faith.... Its a book youll want to give to skeptical or unbelieving friends.

Angelo Matera, Godspy

THE MIRACLE DETECTIVE

Also by Randall Sullivan

The Price of Experience

LAbyrinth

An Investigative Reporter Sets Out
to Examine How the Catholic Church
Investigates Holy Visions
and Discovers His Own Faith

RANDALL SULLIVAN

Copyright 2004 by Randall Sullivan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Published simultaneously in Canada
Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sullivan, Randall.

The miracle detective : an investigative reporter sets out to examine how the Catholic church investigates holy visions and discovers his own faith/
Randall Sullivan.

p. cm.

eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-5558-4744-9

1. Mary, Blessed Virgin, SaintApparitions and miracles. I. Title.
BT650.S85 2004
232.917dc22 2003063631

Grove Press
An imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
841 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

For Steven Louis High, friend like a brother