{"id":88,"date":"2010-10-15T16:49:52","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T16:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/10\/the-chilean-miners-and-the-butterfly-the-search-for-steven-mayer-continues.html"},"modified":"2010-10-15T16:49:52","modified_gmt":"2010-10-15T16:49:52","slug":"the-chilean-miners-and-the-butterfly-the-search-for-steven-mayer-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/10\/the-chilean-miners-and-the-butterfly-the-search-for-steven-mayer-continues.html","title":{"rendered":"The Chilean miners and the butterfly; The search for Steven Mayer continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

When they make the movie about the this week’s awe-inspiring rescue of 33 Chilean miners,  we can only hope the role their Catholic faith played<\/a> in seeing them through the literal darkness will receive its due.<\/p>\n

While a certain amount of discussion<\/a> has ensued over whether the event qualifies as an actual miracle, there can be little doubt that faith sustained not only the miners but their families and rescuers as well.<\/p>\n

Those maintaining the case for calling the event a “miracle” will cite the mysterious white butterfly<\/a> credited with saving the lives of two of the miners. Here’s that part of the story, as reported by CNN<\/a> in September, prior to the miners’ rescue: <\/p>\n

It was early afternoon on August 5, and (Jorge) Galeguillos was heading back down
\ninto the mine aboard a Nissan Terrano pick-up truck. His friend, former soccer
\nstar Franklin Lobos, was at the wheel.<\/i><\/p>\n

“We had been up to the workshop and as we were driving back down, a slab of
\nrock caved in just behind us. It crashed down only a few seconds after we drove
\npast. Just ahead I saw a white butterfly,” Galeguillos wrote in the two-page
\nletter to his brother Eleodoro, also a miner.<\/i><\/p>\n

“After that, we were caught in an avalanche of dirt and dust. I couldn’t see
\nmy hand in front of my face. The tunnel was collapsing and the rocks buried a
\nbackhoe. A water tank lower down was almost completely buried too,” he
\ncontinued.<\/i><\/p>\n

A huge slab of rock collapsed behind them, totally blocking the mineshaft
\nbetween Level 190 (the level corresponds to the height above sea level measured
\nin meters) and Level 335, a level higher up the mine closer to the entrance.<\/i><\/p>\n

In turn, that collapse triggered a series of smaller cave-ins and rockfalls
\nfurther down the mineshaft, according to rescue workers.<\/i><\/p>\n

As the dust cleared, Lobos and Galeguillos began driving again and managed to
\nnegotiate their way around the other rockfalls that had partially blocked the
\nlower reaches of the 4-meter-wide tunnel. They were eventually able to reach 31
\nfellow miners, who were, by then, huddled for safety in the 50-square-meter
\nrefuge on Level 100.<\/i><\/p>\n

Galeguillos’ brother says he has no rational explanation about how a tiny
\nwhite butterfly could have flown more than 500 meters deep into the mine.<\/i><\/p>\n

The butterfly apparently caused them to slow down just enough to avoid being directly under the falling rocks triggered by the first cave-in.  <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The same article quotes mining consultant Miguel Fortt as speculating that the butterfly could have been caught in a downdraft generated by the first collapse that pulled the insect through the mine’s ventilation system, noting that “People who are religious would call this a miracle. From a scientific
\nperspective, the butterfly may have flown into the mine on air currents. You can
\ndraw your own conclusions but that butterfly saved their lives.”<\/i> <\/p>\n

The Lord, as they say, moves in mysterious ways.<\/p>\n

                                                                    ***<\/p>\n

Note: The timeline<\/a> shows the Chilean cave-in occurred on August 5th. Contact with the miners was not established until17 long days later on August 22 when hope had already begun to fade. Perhaps the happy ending in the case of the miners offers some hope to the family of Steven Mayer.<\/p>\n

As the search for Steven
\nMayer of Great Neck extends well into its second heartbreaking week, police are
\nlooking for his car, a 2010 silver Nissan Sentra (Plate # EWN 4035), in the hope
\nthat locating it will provide the necessary clue that leads to his whereabouts.
\nAlso sought is his missing cell phone.<\/p>\n

His wife and son appeared on
\nWPIX-TV to ask the public for its vigilance and help in locating the
\n65-year-old scrap metal trader who works in Huntington, Long Island.  Click here<\/a>
\nto see the video and learn more details.<\/p>\n

Steven Mayer is described as
\nbeing 5′ 8″, 190 lbs. with brown hair and glasses. Anyone with information is
\nurged to call the Mayer family at 1-516-847-5005, or police at 911.<\/p>\n

Let’s
\ncontinue to pray that he is found safe and is reunited with his loving family. <\/p>\n

\"Steven <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font>
            
\nSteven Mayer<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When they make the movie about the this week’s awe-inspiring rescue of 33 Chilean miners,  we can only hope the role their Catholic faith played in seeing them through the literal darkness will receive its due. 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Kennedy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","caption":"John W. Kennedy"},"description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}