I'll put this here as it involves church politics, well, sort of.How does the Catholic Church sort out the various sightings of the Virgin Mary reported each year? Well, very slowly, it seems. 151 years after a Wisconsin woman reported seeing the Virgin, the Church has now declared her sighting "worthy of belief." This is the first sighting in the US to receive this level of approval.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-virgin-mary-20101215,0,3640315,full.story
The woman was so taken with this apparition that she became a nun and devoted her life to following the instructions given to her at the time by the Virgin. The Church acknowledges that many, if not most, Catholics are skeptical of such apparitions, which lose value when someone claims to have seen her on a cheese sandwich, that the bureaucracy runs slowly. This affirmation was moved along when the Pope was a cardinal and had supported the approval.
The question is left as to why the Virgin appearances always seem to be in remote situations before rather simple people, not that this is a bad thing. But I'm sure Oprah would be happy to host her on her last show. Could it happen, especially now that Oprah has denied being a lesbian?