Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993 TAG: 9305020069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANNE GEARAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LAKE RIDGE LENGTH: Medium
Bruse is the 37-year-old Roman Catholic priest who revealed a year ago that his wrists bore unexplained bleeding wounds and that religious statues sometimes cried in his presence.
To the faithful the wounds are the marks of the cross, stigmata in religious terminology. And believers say the weeping statues are crying for man's sins, a tangible talisman of God's presence.
To skeptics, the events at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton are a hoax, or at best some unexplained physical phenomena that people are willing to vest with religious meaning.
Long lines form outside the tidy wooden church every other Sunday, when Bruse says Mass. Visitors have come from across the country, drawn by media reports and a word-of-mouth network of Catholic believers.
"People are looking for signs and wonders," said Jo Baker, a 20-year church member. "Their faith is weak and they want some sign God is really moving here."
Could there be a miracle among the trim lawns and 1960s split-levels of a suburb 35 miles south of Washington?
The Catholic Church isn't willing to say one way or the other. The Diocese of Arlington will only say that religious authorities are looking at the events. At some point, perhaps years down the road, the church could officially sanction the events as miracles.
The events themselves defy dispassionate description.
Churchgoers swear they witnessed tears streaming from a statue of Mary and the baby Jesus and from other religious icons. Witnesses that include newspaper reporters and other outsiders say they saw the blood on Bruse's wrists.
And churchgoers say Bruse has miraculously healed people, although details of these events are sketchy. Church members refer to an 11-year-old girl cured of blindness, but the child's family will not release medical records or discuss the case.
Although a 4-foot fiberglass statue that was the focus of most of the attention last April apparently has quit crying, other statuettes periodically weep when Bruse is near, church members said.
". . . If I personally wanted to create these effects there are at least a half-dozen things I might try," said Chip Denman, a scientist, amateur magician and president of the National Capital Area Skeptics.
The group is devoted to debunking claims of paranormal events. The group's vice president, physicist Joe Himes, offered to examine the statues, but was rebuffed by church officials, Denman said.
"It's a shame, because without investigation we will never be able to say for sure what happened."
Denman and other doubters say they are not accusing Bruse of trickery. "But I prefer to think that this is explainable, or maybe that there are things we cannot explain, rather than rushing to label it a miracle," Denman said.
The church will not allow interviews with Bruse, who has led a mostly shuttered life since his public statements a year ago.
If the suburbs seem to be an unlikely place for miracles, Bruse seems an equally unlikely miracle-worker.
With his longish pompadour, thick mustache and fondness for black leather motorcycle boots, he doesn't look the part of a studious man of God.
Bruse often mumbles in the pulpit and appears ill-at-ease. Teachers have said Bruse was an unremarkable student in high school and at the seminary.
The pastor at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton also refused a request for an interview.
"I don't talk to anyone who's press," the Rev. Daniel Hamilton said. Hamilton said he has been told by the local bishop not to talk, and also said he feels burned by a skeptical press.
The year has been trying for Hamilton and other church officials and has left its mark on the congregation.
"The church has really changed, I think for the good," Baker said. "There has been an awakening here," agreed her husband, Hank.
Another church member who asked not to be identified said the crowds and constant questions from outsiders have left some members cold.
"They want to believe it, but it can be hard," she said. "I think that what Father Jim says is right, that it's a sign from God and Mary and that it can bring people back to the church."
by CNB