Searching for Mary

Thousands of pilgrims flock annually to sites around the world where the Blessed Virgin is purported to have appeared. Garvey, a Catholic, is both skeptical of and fascinated by the reports of these various appearances. In a journalistic travelogue, he reports the words of the various Marys according to their visionaries as well as the words and actions of their devotees. As Garvey reports it, the Blessed Mother is often creative in her manifestations as she appears on water towers in Ohio and corn barns in Georgia. According to Garvey, most Marian apparitions bear little or no resemblance to the Mary of the New Testament. For example, in one of her manifestations, Mary barely manages to restrain her Son's wrath at humankind. From his experience, Garvey concludes: ""Like plenty of other religious ideas, fervor for private revelation seems to be less about faith than about control."" Because Garvey approaches these apparitions with an evenhanded critical approach, his book is one of the best of the many recently published books on Marian apparitions. (Apr.)