Cricklewood visionary: the real thing, or a fraud?

IT IS absolutely amazing to read that there are still men and women who in today's cluttered secular landscape can find signs of the Divine. One such person seems to be the Cricklewood visionary, Sophia Richmond, described by Edward Fox in your pages (Catholic Herald, 19 March).
Ms Richmond's "vision" may or may not be real. Indeed, as Mr Fox points out in his excellent piece, the underlying themes of money, advertising and secrecy would seem to point to the selfstyled visionary being rather less of a true prophet and rather more of a canny self-publicist.
But what is most interesting about the Cricklewood phenomenon, as Mr Fox describes it, is the chord it seems to have struck in endless men and women in this country. The book in which Ms Richmond describes her "visions" sold out, and the BBC had their switchboard "light up like a Christmas tree" when Ms Richmond spoke on the Sunday Programme: whatever we make of
Ms Richmond we must recognise that she has tapped into a spiritual hunger felt by many.
Andrew O'Brien London I FOUND the tone of Edward Fox's article on the Cricklewood visionary Sophia Richmond unnecessarily sneering.
Mr Fox seems to think the notion, of seeing a vision of Our Lady is something to scoff about.
I do not know if Sophia Richmond has really seen a vision of the Blessed Virgin but I do know that when Our Lady appears to those honoured to be chosen, she does so with the purpose of warning mankind that they need to look at the state of the world.
We ignore these messages at our peril. Everyone now realises that England is in a state of moral crisis: mockers like Edward Fox should consider the influence that their cynical writing may have on the those who can still be swerved from moral degradation.
Kathleen Poszcinsky London