Joseph P. Laycock tells the story of Veronica Lueken, a Catholic housewife in Bayside, Queens, New York, who began receiving visions of the Virgin Mary in 1968. Lueken relayed some 300 messages from Mary, Jesus, and other heavenly personages over three decades and inspired followers who continue to promote her message today.
Laycocks treatment of the apocalyptic movement that grew from Luekens visions is sensitive, sophisticated, and evocative. As with all excellent studies of marginal religious groups, The Seer of Bayside sheds as much light on the center as it does on the fringes. The book offers powerful leverage into abiding questions about Catholics relationship with ecstatic religious experience, sacred places, and modern forms of civil and religious authority.