Written by Michael H. Brown. Highlights of a Interview with Fr. Melvin Doucette.

Reported in [Spirit Daily.com] online newspaper - [Father Melvin Doucette] of Tignish on Prince Edward Island tells Spirit Daily that he has been experiencing the full suffering of Jesus since a visit to Israel in 1990. What he has is not stigmata but a re-experiencing of Christ's entire Passion "from the Agony in the Garden right through to His Death on the cross and His Resurrection." He says it occurs and ensues every time he goes into prayer. "I feel in my body as though I am right there with Jesus, experiencing everything He's experiencing. Every Holy Week I experience the same thing. At times I scream from the pain. There is nobody physically beating me but I feel as if I am going through the whole scourging. It is like I am united with Him in a very special way. The thorns in the crown of thorns are two inches long and they are driven into the head. The crowning with thorns is very painful, but the most painful of all is the crucifixion itself--the nails going through the body, the time on the cross, the pain across the abdomen, and the terrible feeling of not being able to breathe. It is absolutely terrible; it is horrible. It lasts for about three hours. Death comes as a great silence. Everything stops at that moment. But right up to the moment of death there is great suffering."

Father Doucette who is now back in Canada to look after his ailing mother, has been experiencing visions of the Blessed Mother. (Father Doucette is in good standing with both his bishop in Africa and the local bishop on Prince Edward Island. We have asked both of them to contact us if they have any problems with him.) "The Virgin Mary has appeared to me three times in the last six months. The first time was in December, the second time was at the end of January and the third time was on April 21, 2001. The Virgin comes as a human being, dressed in a long white dress, a blue veil over Her head, and holding Jesus in Her right arm. Jesus is about two years old and He has His hand up. The Blessed Mother stands on a piece of ground in the shape of Prince Edward Island and She speaks to me. She says She wants a shrine built somewhere in the center of Prince Edward Island and She is calling the people of the Island to come to the shrine to receive the many graces She is going to give to them. There are going to be many miracles, especially conversions. Many will return to the Church."

This request is strikingly similar to requests made to a nun in the United States, [Sister Mildred Mary Ephrem Neuzil], for a statue of Our Lady of America to be situated in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. It is as though the Blessed Mother is establishing beachheads in North America, shrines that are going to join with the famous one in Guadalupe, Mexico where She is venerated as Empress of the Americas (Our Lady of Guadalupe had been especially invoked last autumn during the election controversy which had culminated in the victory of George W. Bush on December 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.).

Father Doucette notes, "The United States, Europe, and Canada are materially well off but spiritually very poor. Many people are materialistic. They pursue material things. As a result, their faith weakens and they abandon God.Thinking that they are God and that heaven is here on earth they continue to build their heaven here on earth. But we know that heaven is not here on earth. The Blessed Virgin Mary sees faith getting weaker and weaker, people falling into sin and following the evil one instead of God. As a mother She can never forget Her children. She has an immense love for all Her children, especially for those on this Island, and She is calling all Her children to return to Jesus and God."

Our Lady of Prince Edward Island Palmer Road North RR 2 Tignish, PE C0B 2B0 Canada.