Church awaits Vatican consent on Virgin Mary statue
BY P. DIVAKARAN
Worshippers praying near the statue on Wednesday.
SUBANG JAYA: Confirmation from the Vatican is needed before an official statement can be issued on the "miracle" statue of the Virgin Mary, said Church of St. Thomas More parish priest Father Raymond Pereira.
“We are waiting for confirmation from the Vatican before making an official statement” said Pereira.
Pereira said what happened was a miracle and that people had been arriving at the church in Subang Jaya from all over to witness the phenomenon themselves.
Whatsapp messages had been circulating among the Catholic community of claims that the statue "is growing taller, smiling, and at times, shedding tears."
The polyresin-based statue, which was due to be blessed, had turned to porcelain and grew taller by three inches (7.2cm).
Worshippers were steadily streaming into the church on Wednesday to see the statue. Pereira was present to bless those gathered in front of the statue.
At about 9am, the crowd of 20-odd people grew to about 50 in an hour.
Sarah from Subang, who came with her mother and younger sister, said she learnt of the statue through Facebook.
“We are strong devotees of Mother Mary and wanted to witness the miracle for ourselves so we made it a point to come here” she said.
Michael Chin, who attends St. Ignatius Church in Petaling Jaya, said he wanted to see the "miracle" himself, adding that he felt overwhelmed when he was at the church.
“I heard about the statue getting taller and I wanted to pray. This is much closer and easier for me to get to compared to going to Lourdes in France,” Irene Lee from Kelana Jaya said, referring to annual pilgrimages that were made to the Church of Our Lady Lourdes in France.
Augustine from Puchong said people went to the church out of curiosity and faith. He said he came to the church with the hope that some of his problems would be solved.
The statue was recently purchased by the church from Vietnam.
There was also a three minute video that has been circulating in which a man addressing a congregation claims to have witnessed a ‘miracle’.
“Her eyes were moving very slowly, all of us were there and we saw it.
“The father (the priest) was saying, ‘look at her, she’s looking at us. She was full of life, she had a lot of tears in her eyes.'
“When we started singing ‘Ave Maria’, she started smiling and her lips were moving," the man was saying.
UPDATED 14 October 2015
Unverified Comment by Father Raymond Perera that is being circulated on facebook
Unverified Comment by Father Raymond Perera that is being circulated on facebook
A miracle happened... Forwarding msg From Rev Fr. Raymond Pereira:
Below testimony given by a witness Of STM!
A testimony on Mother Mary.. "Attended St Thomas More mass this morning. At.the end of mass father and this other parishioner gave a sharing. They were . standing in front of the grotto with the man's family, talking about the new statue. Describing about its height and all when suddenly they all saw Mother Mary's head move slowly to the left, then to the right, then her eyes started to well up. They faster started saying the rosary and just as they were singing Ave Maria, she started to smile. All of them that were present saw it. And father said as they were praying, he got a message from her saying that there will be more to come. She will be present more. So he reminded us to keep praying to her and keep her close. "
