An ordinary pilgrim to Medjugorje tells stories of his strange and startling experiences during regular visits to the famous Marian shrine in Bosnia-Hercegovina where many believe Our Lady has been appearing to visionaries since 1981. Irishman Shane Paul O'Doherty examines whether spiritual graces are at work in the meetings with other pilgrims and the tales exchanged between them. Is it possible that miraculous events and healings have regularly occurred in Medjugorje? Is Medjugorje a merciful sign to a sinful world and a call to repentance? Are there spiritual benefits to be gained by going on pilgrimages? As a teenager, the author was involved in Northern Ireland's long-running violent conflict and later had a profound conversion back to his Catholic faith. Here he tells in a number of short stories how Medjugorje has impacted on his continuing repentance.
About the Author: Shane Paul O'Doherty is an Irishman who, in his young teenage years, became an IRA Volunteer in Derry, Northern Ireland, intending to fight for Ireland's freedom. He spent 5 years in the IRA and became a leading bomber whose London letter and parcel bomb attacks in the 1970s made world headlines and eventually resulted in his arrest and imprisonment for over 14 years. During his imprisonment, Shane had a profound conversion back to his Catholic faith and wrote letters of apology to his victims and called publicly upon the IRA to give up its armed struggle and to enter democratic politics, which it later did. After his release from prison, Shane read for an English degree at Trinity College Dublin, later studied computer science at University College, Dublin and then philosophy at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (where he was a seminarian for a number of years), concluding that round of studies with a Masters in Computing from the Dublin Institute of Technology. Shane's autobiography The Volunteer, A Former IRA Man's True Story was initially published by HarperCollins and became an instant bestseller. His play - Belvedere Boy - Kevin Barry, Irish Patriot - recounted the short life and service of the hanged hero, controversially highlighting his repentance of IRA violence prior to his execution. Shane is an experienced public speaker and has given testimonies all over Spain following the publication of his autobiography in Spanish. Shane believes that Padre Pio, the Catholic Saint, was instrumental in his conversion back to his faith and is a regular pilgrim to San Giovanni Rotondo, Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje. Shane has worked in the homeless sector in Dublin for many years. Shane believes that the daily recitation of the Rosary prayer is one of the pillars of his Catholic life.