Are Journalists Willing To Investigate The Miraculous?
For several decades, when speaking to students and journalists, I have shared a religion-news anecdote from the late Peter Jennings of ABC News about a schism between many (not all) media professionals and ordinary news consumers.
There are big worldview questions involved: Is there life beyond the material world? Is there a God who hears prayers? Can God respond with healing and miracles? What happens when these questions affect the news? Yes, these topics surfaced during this week’s “Crossroads” podcast, in which we discussed this New York Post story: “NJ teen set on priesthood had vision of Virgin Mary before his tumor miraculously shrank.”
I met Jennings in 1993 during a “Religion and the News” conference at the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York City. He was gathering information for newsroom debates about why his team, according to Jennings, offer serious coverage of religious issues and events. He won some battles but, alas, no lasting changes were made. Here is a part of my “On Religion” column on this subject:
The anchorman tried to blend in, but a circle formed around him during a break. It was easy to explain why he was there, he said. There is a chasm of faith between most journalists and the people they cover day after day. Six months later, I called him and asked to continue to conversation.
Anyone who has watched television, said Jennings, has seen camera crews descend after disasters. Inevitably, a reporter confronts a survivor and asks: “How did you get through this terrible experience?” As often as not, a survivor replies: “I don’t know. I just prayed. Without God’s help, I don’t think I could have made it.”
What follows, explained Jennings, is an awkward silence. “Then reporters ask another question that, even if they don’t come right out and say it, goes something like this: ‘Now that’s very nice. But what REALLY got you through this?’”
That tense pause, he added, represents a reality in elite news media. Yes, journalists truly want to cover the “facts” that shape news. What many journalists struggle to grasp is that it’s a “fact” that religious faith shapes the decisions and actions of millions, even billions, of religious believers around the world.
Yes, on one level, it’s true that faith is a matter of “belief,” as opposed to the kinds of authoritative, government-endorsed and often scientific “facts” that journalists trust. Thus, it is a “belief” when people say that God answered their prayers, and that miracles are real. For many journalists, that’s feeling, not fact.
However, claims about the origins of COVID-19, along with medical claims and legal policies linked to vaccines, were based on scientific facts — until complex new facts eventually emerged (without the help of most newsrooms). It would have helped if journalists had covered the fierce, behind-the-scenes debates among scientists who disagreed about some of the crucial doctrines that shaped pandemic life.
As it turned out, some of the “facts” that guided scientists, politicos and journalists turned out to be “beliefs” that could have used some candid, on-the-record debate. You know — journalism.
The same thing is true of many issues in religious life and practice. The Vatican, when investigating whether someone can be declared a “saint,” gathers shelves full of official documents and factual information — often medical and scientific — testing questions about miracle claims.
Truth is, questions about healing and miracles often produce factual information that is worthy of serious debate. At several points in my religion-beat career I did lots of reading — even before the Internet — using library search terms such as “Harvard,” “medical,” journal, reports and healing. The results are complex and far from simplistic.
Or what about this online search — “near-death experience,” science, research and visions? OK, I will ask: How do people who are clinically dead, then are returned to life, offer accurate visions (looking down) of objects, individuals, statements and events in the operating room and elsewhere in the hospital?
Now, what about that New York Post story?
In this case, a journalists in “conservative” newsroom chose to listen to a young man, Dominic Auricchio, after what members of his family agreed was some kind of miracle, combining healing and a heavenly vision. Here is the key material in this story, including the first of many quotes from his mother, Maria. I added some bold type for emphasis:
Dominic began suffering from headaches in December 2022, and an MRI revealed a large mass on his brain.
“He went on medications and we were debating on what we were going to do. We didn’t want obviously to do surgery if we didn’t have to . . . because of where it was, they would have had to cut into bone,” Maria said.
Months later, in May 2023, Dominic said the Virgin Mary appeared in his bedroom to assure him he’d recover.
“She was dressed just like we imagine her . . . and she told me that everything would be OK,” said Dominic.
That June Dominic had a CAT scan, and “they called me and said, ‘There’s no reason to move forward with the surgery,’ and now it’s like nothing,” Maria said.
“Now, when he has an MRI, it appears as just a very small blip.”
Oh, this section is important, as well, describing the experiences that this teen had when he was younger:
“I had a dream and God came to me,” the now 13-year-old recalled to The Post. “He told me to be a priest, and then I went into my mom’s bedroom . . . it was the middle of the night . . . and ever since then I’ve wanted to become a priest,” he said.
The rising eighth-grader at Holy Trinity School in Westfield, NJ, has kept his commitment to the cloth — alongside other aspirations.
“He came home one day and said, ‘I think I’m gonna be the first priest astronaut,’” his mom Maria recalled.
The interesting thing about this report is that it offers a kind of mirror, reverse image of most mainstream press coverage of issues of this kind — if newsroom leaders are willing to green-light coverage of this kind of story. The Post totally accepted the faith-language used by these believers and never paused to offer other points of view.
Host Todd Wilken asked me how I thought the New York Times would have handled this specific story. I said that I didn’t think Times editors would want it covered, since it isn’t really “news” that matters in real life.
The irony is that both the Post and the Times would could have found, in nearby academic and Catholic institutions, more than a few experts, scientists, theologians and historians — liberal and traditional — with experience dealing with issues of faith and healing.
The bottom line: Medical experts often find themselves — when dealing with claims of healing — discussing MRIs, CAT scans, X-rays, blood tests and other pieces of “factual” information that are highly relevant. Is there a “factual” explanation for what happened? Maybe, maybe not. Often, they face what religious authorities consider a great mystery, or even a Mystery.
The key is that, in most cases, journalists who are willing to click a computer mouse will find experts that they can call to help readers understand that these cases are real and that it’s often hard to explain them away. For example: Has anyone in the New York City area — priests or doctors — played a role in Vatican investigations of alleged miracles connected to prayers seeking a potential saint’s intercessions for divine healing? Make those calls.
Yes, debates about mysteries of this kind can be complex. At the very least, journalists need to ask if doctors, clergy, counselors and others are willing to discuss cases of this kind. Family members may have copies of medical records and test results they can share. Ask them.
In other words, journalists can do what journalists are supposed to do. Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Ask more questions, based on those answers. Ask for other sources of information. Call some “experts” who have heard these questions before and have searched for answers. Keep making calls.
Give it a try. Sometimes the best stories in life are mysteries.