ROCKFORD—Michael O’Neill has spoken at several parishes in the Rockford Diocese over the past few years.

 

We know him as the Miracle Hunter through the projects he has produced, most of which have been about apparitions of the Blessed Mother and other miracles. 

 

He brings to his work a solid sense of the value of the Church’s approach to claims of miraculous happenings and how such events are verified as miracles or not.

 

O’Neill now will be working exclusively with the EWTN Global Catholic Network of services. At EWTN, he will be titled “Host and Producer” and will continue working in television, radio, books and writing for the National Catholic Register newspaper.

 

“I’m hoping for a very long and successful future with EWTN,” O’Neill says. “I’m excited to be working for them fulltime and be under their umbrella.” 

 

Up to this point, O’Neill’s various productions had been spread among various Catholic media groups. Doing all his work with EWTN, O’Neill says, “will unify the (Miracle Hunter) brand and make it more accessible.”

 

On Oct. 3, his new radio show, “The Miracle Hunter,” will begin in the same format as a show he formerly brought to Relevant Radio. 

 

In general, O’Neill says, “it will be a continuation of that past work,” a one-hour show on Saturday evenings at 6 p.m. Central Time.

 

One of O’Neill’s most recent projects looks at men and women whose sainthood causes are in progress. He hints at more episodes of “They Might Be Saints” coming in the near future, and says he is excited about a project that is an offshoot of an earlier episode about Bishop Frederic Baraga, the “Snowshoe Priest” from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. 

 

The story of the uncovering of the Baraga documents required for his cause to be introduced in Rome, O’Neill says, is “very interesting and a (mystery-adventure) story in itself.”

 

He also will be filming Father Michael McGivney’s October beatification as a springboard for an episode on that American priest and founder of the Knights of Columbus.

 

O’Neill will continue to travel around the world for various projects. He is leading a pilgrimage in May 2021 to Poland and Lithuania to celebrate the feast day of Pope St. John Paul II in the centennial of his birth. A film crew will accompany him to capture footage for a future project. 

 

O’Neill’s most recent book, “Virgin, Mother and Queen,” won a Catholic Media Association (formerly Catholic Press Association) award this year, and is planning future books. 

 

“I’m sort of an artist at heart,” he says as he notes the EWTN catalog’s Marian religious articles, seeing an opportunity to explore his artistic side in the future.

 

All in all, O’Neill is happy about the opportunities available to his work through EWTN.

 

“The idea of getting to search for miracles and tell people the story of miracles through television, radio and books ...” he says, “this is truly my dream job.”