"The increase in reports of apparitions may suggest that there is
a spiritual hunger today that goes beyond institutional
churches," says the Rev. Johann Roten, a Marianist priest who
directs the Marian Library-International Marian Research
Institute at the University of Dayton. "There's a need for the
mystery to be put back in people's lives. Apparitions may be one
of God's many answers to these needs."
"Apparitions remind us that Christianity is a religious tradition based on mediation," says Roten, a "cautious believer" in apparitions. "God is not immediately present, but he gives himself to be understood and shared. He entrusts himself or his message to Mary, who in turn entrusts this same message to the visionary who passes it on to a multitude of people. These again share the message with others."