There have been a recent religious gathering in the desert, notable because of the long running nature of the regular events:

[N]early 1,000 others assembled last month at a barren site known as Our Lady of the Rock. On the 13th of every month, they say, the Virgin Mary appears and speaks to a woman named Maria Paula Acuña. Crowds have gathered here, about 10 miles north of California City, for nearly 20 years.

Some visitors photograph the sun, saying they see Mary in the images. Some are just curious, some seek miracles and some say they want to feel closer to God. Each 13th they create a fleeting community of faith in the desert.

...

Scholars who have studied the phenomenon see a pattern: Publicity draws the curious and faithful, but the excitement quickly fizzles. Rarely is a lasting community forged, said Lisa Bitel, a professor of history and religion at USC who is co-writing a book on Our Lady of the Rock.

In 1990, Acuña said, she had a vision of the Virgin Mary in Lopez Canyon near her home in Pacoima. Her 3-year-old daughter, the youngest of six children, had leukemia, and the Virgin cured her, she said. Acuña returned to the site, and as word spread of her vision, bigger and bigger crowds joined her until the property owners complained, and the gathering soon moved to its current location.

...

Thirteen years ago, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese disavowed the reported apparitions, saying followers were "in danger of being misled" and that the archdiocese found doctrinal, canonical and financial irregularities among organizers of the ceremonies in the desert. The archdiocese has not changed its position on the desert gatherings.

Bitel said people who report apparitions are on the fringes of organized religion. Some of those drawn to these seers, as they are known, say they attend church regularly but are looking for a connection that eludes them inside the parish. Others have eschewed organized Christian denominations but still believe in the Virgin Mary.

Seers are often women or children, often poor or working class, Bitel said. They're "people who are disenfranchised from the traditional leadership of the church, people who couldn't be priests or bishops or popes but who obviously have some spiritual influence," she said.

...

Acuña, for her part, is reclusive, saying she cannot speak about her past without the permission of a "spiritual father," whom she refuses to name. Information about her past is scarce. She was born in Sonora, Mexico, and came to the United States 38 years ago "for the same reason everyone comes, to look for a better life for my children," she said.

Acuña says she lives in a trailer in California City, in Kern County, with four women, whom she calls "sisters," though they do not appear to be recognized by any church. They manage a nonprofit known as the Marian Movement of Southern California that reports tens of thousands of dollars in donations every year.

The group passes its days praying the rosary, making embroidered textiles for donations and preaching to inmates at the nearby jail, Acuña said.

"I am poor, but I am happy," she said.

Like others, Acuña's messages can tilt toward the apocalyptic. In one of her sermons a few years ago, she said the world would end in four years, Bitel said. But the majority of her followers seem not to dwell on these points.

"One feels closer to God here," said Alberto Ramos, 51, of Los Angeles, who has been coming to the site with his four brothers for nearly a year.

"I've seen the body of Christ. I've seen angels. I've seen the Virgin," Ramos said, flipping through a stack of Polaroid pictures. In one, dark rings appeared around the sun. In another, the silhouette of a woman seemed to shade the sun.

Others say they feel closer to Mary or even the Catholic Church by coming here.

Source

Hat tip

This case, and other examples (one which we touched on in passing the other day), clearly show there is a real need amongst some for a more direct connection with the divine than the Church provides and this seems to spin-off a lot of (usually unapproved) Marian cults.

Another interesting thing, for me anyway, is that this isn't the only "entity" encounter in the area. Read on below the fold.

I'm sure most parents find themselves wondering if their children aren't actually sleeping at all (in my family it was my brother, I was a sweet-natured child who slept through), but, of course, for the vast majority that isn't technically true - even if some nights it just feels like that.

However, for at least one little boy it does appear to be the case and, it is claimed, he hasn't slept in the three years since his birth (before that all bets are off):

A 3-year-old Florida boy with a rare condition has not slept in three years.

Doctors said Rhett Lamb of St. Petersburg apparently has a condition called chiari malformation that puts pressure on his brain.

Rhett has never taken a nap or gone to sleep at night, forcing his parents to keep watch day and night.

"(My husband) has the day shift and I kind of have the afternoon shift," mother Shannon Lamb said. "We share the night shift because no one can sleep in the house when he is up anyway."

...

According to the May Clinic, chiari malformation is a rare abnormality where brain tissue protrudes in the spinal canal.

Part of the skull is abnormally small and puts pressure on the brain.

Rhett checked into a hospital for an experimental surgery Thursday.

Source

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It sounds like it is a real strain on the parents and hopefully the doctors will find a way to make life easier for everyone.

We have looked at what happens When Resurrection Fails and the outcome is usually smelly and insanitary rather than glorious. However, this doesn't seem to stop people from giving it a go anyway. Perhaps this time it will work. Perhaps.

Two children and their mother lived for about two months with the decaying body of a 90-year-old woman on the toilet of their home's only bathroom, on the advice of a religious "superior" who claimed the corpse would come back to life, authorities said Friday.

The children -- a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy -- cried hysterically Wednesday after a deputy who came to their Necedah home looking for Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth ordered them out because of the stench from her body.

The children were in foster care Friday. Their mother, Tammy Lewis, and self-described "bishop" Alan Bushey remained in custody on felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child.

...

When Deputy Leigh Neville-Neil arrived at the house, she encountered Lewis, also known as Sister Mary Bernadett, the complaint said. Lewis, 35, initially refused to allow the deputy to check on Middlesworth, telling her that Middlesworth was on vacation and saying she had to check with her "superior" first.

But she eventually let the deputy in. The house smelled of incense and burned wood, and had religious materials everywhere and hymns playing on the stereo, according to the complaint.

When the deputy opened the last closed door, she smelled "decaying matter" and noticed something piled on what appeared to be a toilet. Lewis told her it was Middlesworth's body, the complaint said.

Lewis told the deputy that Middlesworth had died about two months earlier, but that God told her Middlesworth would come to life if she prayed hard enough.

She said she couldn't say anything more until she spoke with her "superior" -- Bushey, 57, also known as Bishop John Peter Bushey.

When Bushey (pronounced "boo-SHAY") arrived, Lewis told the deputy that Middlesworth had appeared to pass out as Lewis helped her into her underwear.

She said she propped Middlesworth on the toilet and left the room to call Bushey, who told her to leave the woman alone and pray for her, the complaint said. He said he had received signs that God would raise her from the dead with a miracle.

Lewis went on to say she thought Middlesworth was still breathing when she put her on the toilet and called Bushey, instead of an ambulance.

...

The boy at the house told a detective he had considered running away because he was uncomfortable with the situation. He said Bushey told him that demons were trying to make it look as if Middlesworth wouldn't come back to life, and that if she were to be discovered he and the girl would have to go to public school and get jobs because Middlesworth paid the bills.

Source

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This all seems rather serious. As well as the impact on the children there is the possibility that Middlesworth could have been helped if emergency services were called. I suspect we'll never know now, but it does look like there could be more to this story and a trail might bring out more details of their religious beliefs - things never look good when your religious authority figure is a "so-called" anything (just in case you are wondering I am fully ordained so need to worry on that front). However, it could just be a cover for a cruder for of crime - here is another report:

Milwaukee Archdiocese Archbishop Timothy Dolan spoke about the dangers of cults on Sunday, after news broke of a self-proclaimed bishop and nun allegedly keeping a deceased 90-year-old woman's body in their house and cashing her Social Security checks. The District Attorney in Juneau County called the couple a cult. They're accused of using religion to commit fraud. Alan Bushey and Tammy Lewis allegedly kept the body of a 90-year-old woman sitting on the toilet for two months, claiming God would bring her back to life. Archbishop Dolan says he isn't familiar with the group, but he was saddened to hear what they're accused of. "That's not even religion, that's a terrible distortion and corruption of religion to even call that part of the patrimony and tradition of the church," Dolan said. Bushey's children, a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, were living in the house with the body of a 90-year-old Magdalene Middlesworth. Bushey calls himself a bishop, and Tammy Lewis calls herself "Sister Mary Burnadette." But their so-called Catholic church isn't recognized by Rome. "Periodically throughout the church you'll get these crackpots who claim to be bishops or claim to be priests or even claim to be part of the church, and they're not, of course," Dolan said.

Source

This clearly is part of an interesting history:

The two, who are also known as Sister Mary Bernadett and Bishop John Peter Bushey, along with the dead woman, Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth, were part of a small Bible-based church led by Bushey, Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson said.

Investigators are trying to determine if they were defrauding Middlesworth, Oleson said, and additional charges against the two are “a very real possibility.” He said there is evidence Middles-worth provided financial support to the church and to Lewis and her family.

Lewis and Middlesworth were not related, he said, but had been living together with Lewis’ 15-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son about 3 1/2 years.

Oleson declined to call the church a cult but said “I guess in my mind I don’t know of any faith that sanctioned his teachings.”

Bushey had been living in the area about 11 years, Oleson said, did not have outside employment and had built a chapel on the back of his home, which is about a half-mile from where Middlesworth and Lewis lived. He said Bushey’s church had few members; only eight were at a Mass about two months ago.

He said Bushey’s church was not affiliated with the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace Shrine, which is less than a mile from Middlesworth’s home. The shrine itself is not a recognized part of the Catholic Church.

Source

This shrine is interesting too:

Documents show the conflict in Necedah dates back nearly sixty years, when a woman named Mary Ann Van Hoof claimed to have seen apparitions of the Blessed Mother at the Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine. News of Van Hoof's visions drew a crowd.

"Those of us that came here really did believe that the Blessed Mother was appearing so we wanted to be here,” said Isabll Rubel.

She believed in Van Hoof's claims for 12 years and she worked closely with her. Rubel says Van Hoof would be sent messages to spread to the people, warning them of the dangers in the world: things like abortion and pornography.

"We thought coming here must be true because we were seeing these things happening,” said Rubel.

But Rubel says she stopped believing in them and rejoined the Catholic Church, which never approved of the messages.

The Diocese of La Crosse sent the Van Hoof's a letter in 1951 saying they do not approve of the shrine or the literature Van Hoof was distributing.

But her visions and claims were drawing people in from all over the nation. A few of them claiming to have a position of authority in the Catholic Church, they too were rejected.

"They are not validly ordained. They are not part of the church,” said Rubel.

One of those being 57-year-old Alan Bushey, who told Tammy Lewis, if she prayed hard enough, God would bring 90-year-old Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth back to life.

Source

So those involved in this were the fringe of a fringe group not accepted by the main church - you couldn't get much more obscure than that and still have enough followers to make it worthwhile.

I'll be keeping an eye out for more on this.

It seems the tens of thousands who died in the recent disaster in Burma (and the mess being made of dealing with it) aren't just fading away but are forming a more spectral reaction to the devastation.

It makes for grim reading:

Bodies still littered the Delta’s landscape on Sunday, more than a week after Cyclone Nargis struck, killing an estimated 100,000 people. To the locals, the unburied represent thousands of restless souls.

...

The fishing communities of the Delta store their modest wealth in gold, and the women put their jewelry on before they tried to flee the storm. In the days that followed fishing nets were clogged with bodies, and some fishermen kept the gold.

A boatman told the story of a haunting. A man from the town had returned to his village, hoping to find some of his relatives alive. As he stepped ashore he heard a young girl screaming “help me! help me!” but when he followed the sound there was no one there.

“I know a foreigner like you won’t believe such stories,” said the boatman, although he clearly had no doubts himself.

He then told of another “haunting”.

Two boys had caught a woman’s body in their net and kept the jewelry. That night their hut was shaken and a voice demanded “give it back!” Terrified, they threw the gold away.

There are other odd aspects to the Burma story as the article explains:

When the junta moved the capital from Rangoon to a malarial town deep in the jungle, it did so because an astrologer employed by General Than Shwe had warned him of an impending catastrophe that could only be averted by moving the seat of government.

Source (the end of the article contains information on how you can help)

What intrigues me is the social function some of these tales have - people robbing corpses will think twice about it, which is good because it could also stop people from handling decomposing corpses. So, hopefully, they will help prevent some people from joining their ranks.