PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Catholics are gathering at a church in Subang Jaya to witness claims that a statue of Virgin Mary is growing taller, smiling, and at times, shedding tears.

Parishioners who turned up at the Church of St Thomas More were awed by the phenomenon that has become the talk of the community.

According to a WhatsApp message that has been circulating, the church had a grotto built with the statue of the Virgin Mary who is the mother of Jesus Christ.

However, for some of the parishioners, the statue was too small for the grotto. It was then placed into a box.

When it was due to be blessed last Wednesday, they said a parish priest noticed an unusual occurrence - the statue made of polyresin had turned to porcelain and grew taller by 3 inches (7.2cm).

In a three-minute video clip believed to be taken during Sunday Mass at the church, a parishioner was seen addressing the congregation where he claimed to have witnessed the "miracle".

"Her eyes were moving very slowly, all of us were there and we saw it," he said.

"The father (the priest) was saying, 'look at her, she's looking at us. She was full of life, she had a lot of tears in her eyes.'

"When we started singing Ave Maria, she started smiling and her lips were moving.

"It has touched all of us," the man said, adding that parishioners started taking photographs of the statue during the incident.

"The father had told us that he actually spoke to her. She will come more often, she also told father that she wants all of us to pray to her," he claimed in the video.

Father Raymond Pereira was unavailable for comment.