The Seer of Bayside

Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism

Joseph P. Laycock

First definitive study of Veronica Lueken and the Baysiders
Offers insight into the ongoing struggle between lay Catholics and Catholic authority

The Seer of Bayside

Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism

Joseph P. Laycock

Description

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 more than 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 in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to promote her message. Known as "the Baysiders," they believe that St. Robert Bellarmine's Church, where Lueken held vigils until they were banned, will someday become "the Lourdes of America" and that Lueken will be elevated to sainthood. Joseph P. Laycock draws on untapped archival materials and a wealth of ethnographic research to unfold the fascinating story of Veronica Lueken and the Baysiders. Scholars have characterized the Baysiders variously as a new religious movement, a form of folk piety, and a traditionalist sect, but members of the group regard themselves as loyal Catholics-maybe the last in existence. They are critical of the hierarchy, which they see as corrupted by modernism, but also spurn those 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; the persistence of the Baysiders and other Marian groups, he argues, has helped bring about greater amenability toward devotional culture and private revelation on the part of the hierarchy. The Seer of Bayside is an invaluable study of the perpetual struggle between lay Catholics and the institutional church over who holds the power to define Catholic culture.

The Seer of Bayside

Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism

Joseph P. Laycock

The Seer of Bayside

Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism

Joseph P. Laycock

Author Information

Joseph P. Laycock, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Texas State University

Joseph P. Laycock is an assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University. He has published over a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles and is currently working on a project about the moral panic over role-playing games during the 1980s.

The Seer of Bayside

Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism

Joseph P. Laycock

Reviews and Awards

"The Seer of Bayside is an excellent book, and I recommend it highly. Laycock's study has much to offer beyond its obvious contributions to scholarship on American Catholicism and post-Vatican II devotional cultures, however. Indeed, students and scholars alike will find in The Seer of Bayside an exemplary model for engaging with subjugated discourses" - Grant Shoffstall, International Journal for the Study of New Religions

"Laycock has written a compelling and perceptive book on the Baysiders' devotional life and their relationship to institutional Roman Catholicism, for which he is to be commended." - Jane Shaw, Times Higher Education

"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

"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." - ohn C. Seitz, author of No Closure: Catholic Practice and Boston's Parish Shutdowns

The Seer of Bayside

Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism

Joseph P. Laycock

From Our Blog

The Battle of Bayside, Queens: a Q&A

From 1970 to 1975, Bayside Hills'a pleasant and prosperous neighborhood in Northeastern Queens, a borough of New York City'was embroiled in controversy when a local woman named Veronica Lueken announced that the Virgin Mary was appearing to her at St. Robert Bellarmine's Church. At first Lueken was regarded as a 'local kook.' Then, in 1973, a traditionalist Catholic group from Canada called The Pilgrims of St. Michael declared her 'the seer of the age' and pilgrims started to flock to Bayside Hills.

Posted on March 29, 2015

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Prophecy, demonology, and the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family

From 5-19 October 2014, Pope Francis held the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family in Rome. The purpose of the synod was to discuss the Church's stance on such issues as divorce, birth control, and especially, the legalization of gay marriage.

Posted on December 4, 2014

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