This article, while providing hope, does not conclusively prove that ADCs, let alone apparitions are factual communication with those who have died or other significant figures the Church holds in high esteem...
Science does not have proof of an afterlife, but research shows that After-Death Communications (ADCs)—spontaneous sensory, emotional, or intuitive experiences of a deceased person—are a widely common, psychologically normal part of the human experience.
Prevalence and Common Experiences
• High Frequency: Studies estimate that 31% to 82% of people across different cultures, education levels, and belief systems experience an ADC in their lifetime.
• Sensory Types: Experiences include hearing a voice or footsteps, seeing a visual apparition, feeling a touch or a hug, smelling a familiar scent (like perfume or tobacco), or having vivid, distinct dreams.
• Not Just Grieving: While many ADCs happen during acute bereavement, research notes that roughly 27% occur outside of active grief, challenging the idea that they are purely a psychological coping mechanism for loss.
Psychological and Clinical Perspectives
• Not Pathological: Mainstream psychology and psychiatry view ADCs as a normal human response to loss rather than a mental illness or hallucination.
• Grief and Healing: Studies (including systematic reviews published in journals like Death Studies) show that the vast majority of people find ADCs comforting (81% to 84%) and helpful for processing grief, reducing fear of death, and finding meaning.
• Continuing Bonds Theory: Modern grief science recognizes that maintaining an internal psychological connection to a loved one who has passed away is a healthy part of mourning, rather than an "unresolved" attachment that needs to be broken.
The Scientific Debate
• The Materialist/Psychological View: Mainstream scientists and skeptics argue that ADCs are subjective experiences driven by memory recall, emotional longing, grief-induced hallucinations, fatigue, or confirmation bias. From this view, there is no reproducible, physical evidence that consciousness survives bodily death.
• The Survival/Consciousness Hypothesis: Parapsychological researchers—such as those at the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS)—investigate ADCs, near-death experiences, and related phenomena to test whether human consciousness can exist independently of the physical brain. However, these findings remain outside mainstream scientific consensus.
This article, while providing hope, does not conclusively prove that ADCs, let alone apparitions are factual communication with those who have died or other significant figures the Church holds in high esteem...
Since you brought up science, let us see what the science says...
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/navigating-the-serpentine-path/202407/what-we-know-about-after-death-communication-experiences
As well as a simple Google summary...
Science does not have proof of an afterlife, but research shows that After-Death Communications (ADCs)—spontaneous sensory, emotional, or intuitive experiences of a deceased person—are a widely common, psychologically normal part of the human experience.
Prevalence and Common Experiences
• High Frequency: Studies estimate that 31% to 82% of people across different cultures, education levels, and belief systems experience an ADC in their lifetime.
• Sensory Types: Experiences include hearing a voice or footsteps, seeing a visual apparition, feeling a touch or a hug, smelling a familiar scent (like perfume or tobacco), or having vivid, distinct dreams.
• Not Just Grieving: While many ADCs happen during acute bereavement, research notes that roughly 27% occur outside of active grief, challenging the idea that they are purely a psychological coping mechanism for loss.
Psychological and Clinical Perspectives
• Not Pathological: Mainstream psychology and psychiatry view ADCs as a normal human response to loss rather than a mental illness or hallucination.
• Grief and Healing: Studies (including systematic reviews published in journals like Death Studies) show that the vast majority of people find ADCs comforting (81% to 84%) and helpful for processing grief, reducing fear of death, and finding meaning.
• Continuing Bonds Theory: Modern grief science recognizes that maintaining an internal psychological connection to a loved one who has passed away is a healthy part of mourning, rather than an "unresolved" attachment that needs to be broken.
The Scientific Debate
• The Materialist/Psychological View: Mainstream scientists and skeptics argue that ADCs are subjective experiences driven by memory recall, emotional longing, grief-induced hallucinations, fatigue, or confirmation bias. From this view, there is no reproducible, physical evidence that consciousness survives bodily death.
• The Survival/Consciousness Hypothesis: Parapsychological researchers—such as those at the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS)—investigate ADCs, near-death experiences, and related phenomena to test whether human consciousness can exist independently of the physical brain. However, these findings remain outside mainstream scientific consensus.
There is literally no evidence that ghosts exist...then again, there is no evidence that God, or angels exist...so, there is that...