AVALON – Shroud Encounter will be coming to St. Brendan the Navigator Parish located at 5012 Dune Drive in Avalon, NJ, June 28 and June 29, both presentations at 7:00 p.m. Admission is $10.00. Is this shroud, found in a church in the city of Turin, Italy, the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Christ?
Shroud Encounter is a production of the Shroud of Turin Education Project, Inc. and will be presented by international expert Russ Breault. Both presentations will be on the big-screen using over 200 images covering different aspects of Shroud research. A rare museum quality life-size replica will also be on display.
Mr. Breault was a writer for the college newspaper at Columbus State University in Columbus, GA, in 1980, when National Geographic did an article on the shroud. Scientists had gone to Turin in 1978 to study the shroud. Mr. Breault became interested in the shroud at that time, and has continued to be interested in it until the present time, taking his presentation on the road about thirty times a year.
Mr. Breault has been featured in several national documentaries seen on CBS, History Channel and Discovery. He was interviewed last year for Good Morning America to discuss the latest research. He has presented at numerous colleges and universities including Duke, Johns Hopkins, Penn State and many others. See www.ShroudEncounter.com for more information.
The Shroud of Turin is the most analyzed artifact in the world yet remains a mystery. The 14-foot long linen cloth that has been in Turin, Italy for over 400 years and bears the faint front and back image of a 5’10” bearded, crucified man with apparent wounds and bloodstains that match the crucifixion account as recorded in the Bible. Millions believe it be the actual burial shroud of Jesus. The historical trail tracks back through Italy, France, Asia Minor (Turkey) and may have originated in the Middle East according to botanical evidence.
A team of 40 scientists in 1981 concluded it was not the work of an artist. They found no visible trace of artistic substances on the cloth. The blood type is AB with human DNA. Skeptics have mounted numerous attempts to show how a medieval artist could have produced the image but all have been inadequate to fully explain how it was formed. The image is so superficial it effects less than 1% of a single thread. In addition, there is no image under the blood indicating the blood was on the cloth before the image was formed. No attempt at replicating the image has resolved these two key attributes. If the cloth indeed wrapped a corpse, there are no stains of body decomposition.
The Shroud was largely dismissed in 1988 when three carbon dating labs indicated a medieval origin. However chemical research published in a peer reviewed scientific journal in 2005 showed that the single sample cut from the outside corner edge may not have been part of the original Shroud material. In violation of the sampling protocol, only one sample was used for dating and was cut from the most handled area of the cloth, an area that should have been avoided. The sample area may have been repaired sometime during the Middle Ages. Many scientists now believe the carbon dating result is inconclusive.
Adding more doubt to the carbon dating tests, new chemical and mechanical tests published in 2013 by Italian scientists with Padua University indicate a date range of 280 BC to 220 AD putting first century within the margin of error.
The mystery continues. National Geographic called it “One of the most perplexing enigmas of modern times.” Shroud Encounter will cover all aspects of the history, science, art and theories of how the image may have been formed. Mr. Breault himself is 90% sure the shroud is the real thing. He allows for a 10% possibility of another explanation, but cannot say who or how it was done, if it is not genuine. His presentation explores the mystery and lets people come to their own conclusions about it. When people ask “What if it’s not authentic?”, Mr. Breault says that is the wrong question. The proper question is “What if it is authentic, and we did nothing about it.” We should explore the shroud for its phenomenal mystery. If can never be proven absolutely by scientific means, since we do not have Jesus’ DNA. The Popes have attested to the shroud as being a relic. You are invited to come to Maris Stella Church of St. Brendan the Navigator Parish, and decide for yourself, after hearing the evidence presented.
