‘Miracle’ tree stump - Let them believe

In times of recession, trouble and strife, people tend to turn to religion and spirituality. In the 1980s the Cork village of Ballinspittle was the focus of mass hysteria. Thousands visited the Marian shrine there in the belief the statue of the Virgin Mary was seen moving.

Now people are contending that an image of the Virgin Mary can be seen in the stump of a tree in Rathkeale, Co Limerick. Just how anyone would recognise the Virgin Mary is another matter.

“There is nothing there, it’s just a tree,” local priest Fr Willie Russell said. “You can’t worship a tree.”