Turns out Necedah, WI was the alleged site of some particularly hysterical "Marian apparitions," that is, personal speaking engagements by what the Catholic Church calls the Virgin Mary.
Reports the J-S, "The man and woman, now facing criminal charges, were the bishop and a nun of an offshoot Catholic church unrecognized by Rome and unaffiliated with the shrine that has drawn worshippers for half a century, authorities say."
More clearly, according to this Wikipedia entry, the Catholic Church doesn't recognize the shrine, either, nor any of the Necedah Marian shenanigans in toto. It considers the visions to have been false (full marks to the Catholic Church for that much). The best part:
Fidelity Magazine, a Roman Catholic periodical, quotes one of [Mary Ann] Van Hoof's messages, in its February, 1989 Issue as detailing that the devotees of the Necedah Shrine would be spared Armageddon when, right before the world's doom, a 1,200 year-old man named Joe will come in a spaceship to save them.At least that last bit is unbiblical, I take it.
The Necedah Shrine has its own oddball website too, Mediatrix are for Kids, operated by a tax-exempt outfit called For My God And My Country, Inc., Jennifer Sparby, Proprietor.
From that site there is a link to this thing, Diamond Star Light Beacon, which is registered to a Kenny Van Hoof, likely a relative of the original "simple and poor farm woman" Mary Ann Van Hoof, the entertainer of the original apparitions (there were a whole bunch).
There is a lot of strange, strange reading at Kenny's website, where wildly imaginative End of Times paranoia and supernatural conspiracy theories abound. Check it out, it's a kick. Get it? Kenny Van Hoof.
There's some crazy peoples up in them thar hills.
I can't put my hands on my copy of Weird Wisconsin at the moment, so I don't know whether this shrine joint is in it. It should be.
Kohler, a Wisconsin company, has several very nice toilets.
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Fidelity Magazine, a Roman Catholic periodical, quotes one of [Mary Ann] Van Hoof's messages, in its February, 1989 Issue as detailing that the devotees of the Necedah Shrine would be spared Armageddon when, right before the world's doom, a 1,200 year-old man named Joe will come in a spaceship to save them.
Yeah, that's nuts. Messages from the 2000 years-dead mother of Jesus, discussing a 1,200 year-old guy from space? Bonkers.
On the other hand, messages from the 2000 years-dead mother of Jesus discussing the schemes and plots of an immaterial evil demon? Well, that makes more sense on its face. The jury's still out on that one:
"Dear children! These days Satan wants to frustrate my plans. Pray that his plan not be realized. I will pray my Son Jesus to give you the grace to experience the victory of Jesus in the temptations of Satan." -- Mary, Mother of Jesus, speaking from her preferred chat spot in Međugorje, Herzegovina.
Joe's spaceship is more likely by several orders of magnitude.
I've always been fascinated by the Mary worship/reverence (depending) that's so prevalent in the Catholic Church. We just can't seem to get all of the goddess/Earth mother-worship out of our system, now can we.
Nope. Even I've got my holy pictures of Salma Hayek.
Even I've got my holy pictures of Salma Hayek.
Just don't ask him about the sacraments.
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