Marvin Meyer, Ph.D., Griset Chair in Bible and Christian Studies, is a veteran hand at national television appearances, including documentaries produced by the History, Discovery and National Geographic channels as well as the major broadcast networks.  Now he has been tapped once again to be an expert voice (and face) on a primetime national TV broadcast.  This time he’s appearing on ABC News’ Primetime Nightline, a new series being produced by the network’s news department.  In the episode airing on Wednesday, July 6 at 10 p.m., Dr. Meyer helps the Nightline team and host Bill Weir examine the tradition of apparitions of the Virgin Mary around the world, in a show prompted by the Catholic Church’s recent decree than an 1859 Marian apparition in a small Wisconsin town is authentic.   The show will travel to the Marian shrine in Champion, Wisconsin as well as Medjugorje, Bosnia and other apparition sites.   Dr. Meyer says he appears as “the voice of reason” in the show.  He was filmed in the Leatherby Libraries and walking around the Chapman campus, so hopefully some of that footage will make it into the show!
Here’s ABC’s press release on the episode:
(ABC NEWS) — She’s one of the most famous women of all time – the original pop star.  A woman who has inspired more music & art than hundreds of women combined.  She was a Jewish teenage mother who is now adored by Christians and revered by Muslims around the globe.  She made the term “Let It Be” famous long before The Beatles.  She’s seen on European hill tops, African deserts, American highways, she has even appeared on the face of a grilled cheese sandwich and many believe she brings miracles with her.  She is the Virgin Mary, and she is bigger than ever.
Nightline Co-Anchor Bill Weir takes us on a journey around the globe in search of the Blessed Mother and the mysteries that surround her.  We trace Mary’s steps in the busy streets and markets of Nazareth, where the young mother raised the new Messiah.  We ride the waves off the coast of Southern California with a surfing priest who traded the high of cocaine  for the high of Catholicism because of the Holy Mother.  We visit a remote chapel in Champion, Wisconsin – the only Vatican-approved sighting of Mary in the United States.   It is here that followers believe she has been causing miracles for over a century, and that they continue even today. 
We meet with two women in Michigan who live today as the Blessed Mother lived.  We travel to the small town of Medjugorje, in Bosnia, that has drawn 35 million people from around the world because 6 visionaries there are still seeing Mary.   Weir gets the rare opportunity to sit down with the visionary known as “the healer” and our cameras are there when she lays her famous hands on American pilgrim with stage four cancer who is hoping for a miracle.
Join us on this fascinating and mysterious journey by tuning in to Primetime Nightline’s “Miraculous Mysteries” on Wednesday, July 6, at 10 p.m.