At Chimayo, a pastor begs to differ with his flock on miracles

Erik Eckholm in the New York Times: “It’s not the dirt that makes the miracles!” the Rev. Casimiro Roca said with exasperation. True, discarded crutches line a wall inside the Santuario de Chimayo, a small adobe church in this village of northern New Mexico known as the Lourdes of America. Scores of people visit every day, many hoping to cure diseases or disabilities with prayer, holy water and, most famously, the healing dirt, which visitors collect from a hole in the floor inside the church. Some 50 years ago, Roca took over the abandoned, nearly ruined site of the church, which was first constructed in 1816. He oversaw the rebuilding of the sanctuary — holy hole included — into the spotless place it is today. | Read more...