The Seer of Bayside
The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism. Oxford University Press. Available from Amazon.
In 1968, Veronica Lueken, a Catholic housewife in Bayside, Queens, New York, began to experience visions of the Virgin Mary. Over almost three decades, she imparted over 300 messages from Mary, Jesus, and other heavenly personages. These revelations, which were sent all over the world through newsletters, billboards, and local television, severely criticized the liturgical changes of Vatican II and the wickedness of American society. Unless everyone repented, Lueken warned, a "fiery ball" would collide with the Earth, causing death and destruction around the world.
When Catholic Church authorities tried to dismiss, discredit, and even banish her, Lueken declared Pope Paul VI a communist imposter, accused the Church of being in error since Vatican II, and sought new venues in which to communicate her revelations. Since her death in 1995, her followers have continued to gather to promote her messages in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens. Known as "the Baysiders," they believe that St. Robert Bellarmine's Church, from which Lueken was banned from holding vigils, will someday become "the Lourdes of America" and that Lueken will be elevated to sainthood.
Joseph P. Laycock delves into untapped archival materials and a wealth of ethnographic research to unfold the fascinating story of Veronica Lueken and the Baysiders from 1968 to the present. Though scholars have characterized the Baysiders variously as a new religious movement, a form of folk piety, and a traditionalist sect, members of the group regard themselves as loyal Catholics-maybe the last in existence. They are critical of the Church hierarchy, which they believe corrupted by modernism, and reject ultra-traditionalist Catholic groups who believe that the papal see is vacant.
Laycock shows how the Baysiders have deviated significantly from mainstream Catholic culture while keeping in dialogue with Church authorities, and reveals how the persistence of the Baysiders and other Marian groups has contributed to greater amenability toward devotional culture and private revelation on the part of Church authorities. The Seer of Bayside is an invaluable study of the perpetual struggle between lay Catholics and Church authorities over who holds the power to define Catholic culture.
REVIEWS AND PRESS
"Joseph Laycock has given us a compelling and very readable account of the drama surrounding one of America's most significant Marian apparition groups." --David G. Bromley, Director, World Religions and Spirituality Project, and Professor of Religious Studies and Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University
"Joseph Laycock has given us an extraordinarily intimate and insightful picture of one of the most significant contemporary Marian movements, described in a manner that will make it must reading for all students of religion, regardless of discipline." --Michael Barkun, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
"Laycock's treatment of the apocalyptic movement that grew from Lueken's 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." --John C. Seitz, author of No Closure: Catholic Practice and Boston's Parish Shutdowns (2011)
Church History 85:2 (June 2016).
Nova Religio 19:2 (2015).
American Catholic Studies (Fall 2015).
American Religious History Blog (July 31, 2015).
Times Higher Education (April 2, 2015).
Library Journal (December 15, 2014).
First Things (September 8, 2014).
"The Battle of Bayside, Queens: A Q&A," Oxford University Press Blog (March 29, 2015).
