"mini-miracles" in my life since stepping forward to honor Our Lady through PUBLIC rosary rallies...

For all those who couldn't gather for the highly successful September rosary rally on Huguenot and Buford, there will be another rally on October 10th at 12:00 PM on the corner of Michaels Road and Three Chopt, Richmond.

Landmark site is the Little Sisters of the Poor.

This rosary will be dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima. Please join us and bring your family & friends for prayer and songs.

Contact: Maria Liberatore, rally captain.

Come rain or shine.

PS: I've notice many "mini-miracles" in my life since stepping forward to honor Our Lady through PUBLIC rosary rallies.

Or sign up to be a rally captain in your city at:

http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/rrc-signup.html

Join Rosary Rally 2009!

You can be a 2009 rosary rally captain.  GO HERE:

http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/rrc-signup.html

As blasphemy, same-sex “marriage,” abortion and other moral evils threaten the nation, America Needs Fatima is organizing a spiritual counter-attack: 3,000 public rosary rallies for America.

The rallies are focused on the idea that human efforts to solve America’s problems are failing. America must turn to God for real solutions. This appeal comes in the form of what have come to be known as Public Square Rosaries where the Catholic faithful gather in public places with banners and signs, offering public petition, reparation and witness.

The 2009 rosary rallies are set to begin at twelve noon (local time) on Saturday, October 10.

The Rosary Rally in New York City

Last year there were 3,450 such Public Square Rosaries held all across America rallies to honor the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima.  There were 100,000-120,000 faithful participating in the events.

This year, organizers hope to have over 3,500 rallies from every state representing a cross section of Catholic America.

SIGN UP HERE:

http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/rrc-signup.html

Organizing Already Advanced
As the October 10 deadline approaches, campaign members and volunteers have been quietly and steadily at work to reach their goal. At the campaign’s central office in Kansas, volunteers have been manning the phones to make this year’s rallies a success.

“We could never plan 3,500 rallies without the help of 120 dedicated volunteers who have pledged time to work the phones at our national coordination office in Kansas. Last year we made and took about 35,000 calls,” said Robert Ritchie, executive director of America Needs Fatima.

Through their efforts, they have already recruited well over 2,500 Captains.  Every state is represented and most major cites will be hosting at least one rally. The campaign organizers hope to reach and exceed the goal and perhaps make it to 4,000 such rallies.

A complete listing of the locations can be found here:

 http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Rosary-Rally-Captain-Directory-States/list-of-50-states.html

Just some of the many volunteers.

Becoming a Captain
Anyone can become a Rosary Captain.  All it takes is determination, a rosary, a few friends and devotion to the Blessed Mother.

Any public square, busy intersection or community park can serve as a place. The campaign has a complete organizer’s manual with all the steps on how to put on a rally. It also will provide support materials and special prayer banners to all those that sign up. Downloadable posters, banners and other materials can be accessed here:

Like last year, the campaign is offering a special privilege to all those planning to lead Public Square rosaries by sending a rose to Our Lady’s Fatima shrine in Portugal in the name of each Captain.

A Powerful Spiritual Weapon

“An amazing network is forming to honor the Mother of God and pray for the conversion of America,” said Mr. Ritchie. “Only God can help us stop abortion, pornography, blasphemy and sins against nature that are so widespread,” he said. “If anything can stop the moral crisis in society, it’s the power of the Rosary. There’s nothing more powerful spiritually.”

By praying the Rosary, participants are using the most powerful spiritual weapon of contemporary history. With the Rosary, Saint Dominic defeated Albigensian heresy, Catholic forces were victorious against the Ottoman Turks at the battle of Lepanto in 1571, Communists were expelled from Vienna in the 1955, and many more miracles and victories were won.

For more information, visit www.ANF.org.

Volunteers can also call 866-584-6012 to join the campaign.

The Power of a Single Hail Mary

B Y S A I N T L O U I S D E M O N F O R T

One day, when Saint Mechtilde was praying and trying
to think of some way in which she could express
her love of the Blessed Mother better than she
had done before, she fell into ecstasy.

Our Lady appeared to her with the Angelic Salutation in flaming
letters of gold upon her bosom and said to the saint:

“My daughter, I want you to know that no one can
please me more than by saying the salutation, which
the Most Adorable Trinity sent to me and by which He
raised me to the dignity of Mother of God.

“By the word Ave, which is the name for Eve, I
learned that in His infinite power God had preserved
me from all sin and its attendant misery that Eve had
been subject to.

“The name Mary, which means ‘lady of light,’ shows
that God has filled me with wisdom and light, like a
shining star, to light up heaven and Earth.

“The words full of grace remind me that the Holy
Spirit has showered so many graces upon me that I am
able to give these graces in abundance to those who ask
for them through me as Mediatrix.

“When people say The Lord is with thee, they renew
the indescribable joy that was mine when the Eternal
Word became incarnate in my womb.

“When you say to me blessed art thou among
women, I praise Almighty God’s divine mercy, which
lifted me to this exalted plane of happiness.

“And at the words blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus, the whole of heaven rejoices with me to see my
Son Jesus Christ adored and glorified for having saved
mankind.”

*Adapted from Saint Louis de Montfort’s The Secret of the
Rosary (Montfort Publications, Bay Shore, N.Y., 1954), 44–45.

2009 Public Rosary Grows in Las Vegas

Thanks to dedicated rosary captain Caroline Kuhn, Las Vegas has its own website and news for the  2009 Public Square Rosary.

Please visit here:

http://www.lasvegaspublicrosary.com/

St. Joachim and Confidence

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

When his sacrifice was rejected by God, St. Joachim reached a climax of suffering, but this became also the pinnacle of grace.

The following text is taken from an informal lecture Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave on August 15, 1963.  It has been translated and adapted for publication without his revision. –Ed.

The excerpts about Our Lady’s father, Saint Joachim, are taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Gueranger, OSB.

Joachim’s wealth, like that of the first patriarchs, consisted chiefly in flocks and herds. The holy use he made of it drew down God’s blessing upon it. But the greatest of all his desires heaven seemed to refuse him. His holy spouse Anne was barren. Amongst all the daughters of Israel expecting the Messias, there was no hope for her. One day the victims Joachim presented in the Temple were contemptuously rejected. Those were not the gifts the Lord of the Temple desired of him; later on, instead of lambs from his pastures, he was to present the mother of the Lamb of God, and His offering would not be rejected.

During Old Testament times, the Jews scorned sterile couples. They prided themselves in the possibility that one of their descendents would be the Messias and derided those for whom this was impossible. Thus, Saints Joachim and Anne were looked down upon.

Their disgrace was augmented when they reached the threshold of old age, still childless. It seemed that all their hopes were vain. Nevertheless, Saint Joachim prayed for God’s mercy and they had a daughter…and what a daughter she was!

This day, however, he was filled with sorrow and fled away without returning to his wife.

St. Joachim felt deeply the shame of his sacrifice's rejection and fled into the mountains.

He felt shame since his offering was rejected and despondent since his ardent desire that the Messias come from his lineage, was impossible. Faced with these sufferings, he felt a tremendous sorrow and fled into the mountains without even speaking to Saint Anne.

He hastened to the mountains where his flocks were at pasture; and living in a tent, he fasted continually, for he said: “I will take no food till the Lord my God look mercifully upon me; prayer shall be my nourishment.”

This is a very beautiful way to pray. It is a way of storming Heaven with the certainty of being heard, and forcefully taking the grace one desires. This is the type of violence that, according to scripture, gains the Kingdom of Heaven. We must doggedly refuse to give up, even when God seems to deny our requests.

Once when Saint Catherine of Siena was praying to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, she extended her hand and said: “I will not leave this place, until You extend me Your hand.” Then, Our Lord mercifully opened the tabernacle, extended His Hand and pressed hers in It. What confidence the saints have! This is what makes them saints. This is how they obtain everything from Our Lady.

Meanwhile, Anne was mourning her widowhood and her barrenness.

She thought her husband had died.

She prayed in the garden as Joachim was praying on the mountain. Their prayers ascended at the same time to the Most High, and He granted them their request. An angel of the Lord appeared to each of them and bade them meet at the Golden Gate; and soon Anne could say: “Now I know that the Lord has greatly blessed me. For I was a widow and I am one no longer, and I was barren, and lo! I have conceived!”¹

Our Lord wanted to purify them by culminating their long trial with an extreme suffering. Consider their respective situations. Saint Joachim went into the mountains after his sacrifice was rejected. Saint Anne mourned her presumed widowhood and barrenness in a garden.

When their respective pains reached this climax, the pinnacle of grace and consolation arrived as well. Saint Joachim was still alive and Saint Anne had conceived Our Lady who was to be channel for Our Lord’s coming. This should teach us the eternal lesson of confidence.

Sometimes everything seems lost, we find no way to proceed and Providence treats us in an inexplicable way. These are the times we must confide most of all, because it is when everything is explained. Happy are those, whom the Lord leads in inexplicable ways. These will receive the greatest explanations.

We should ask Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint Joachim that they grant us this confidence that can withstand anything, even the most inexplicable problems and greatest sadnesses.

________________________

Footnotes

1. Abbot Gueranger, The Liturgical Year (Great Falls, Mont.: St. Bonaventure Publications, 2000) vol. 13, p. 396-397. [back]

Human Life International's Statement on the Passing of Senator Edward Kennedy

We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event.

There was very little about Ted Kennedy's life that deserves admiration from a spiritual or moral point of view. He was probably the worst example of a Catholic statesman that one can think of. When all is said and done, he has distorted the concept of what it means to be a Catholic in public life more than anyone else in leadership today.

Obviously we don't know the state of Senator Edward Kennedy's soul upon death. We don't pretend to. We are told by the family that he had the opportunity to confess his sins before a priest, and his priest has said publicly he was "at peace" when he died. For that we are grateful. But it is one thing to confess one's sins and for these matters to be kept, rightfully, private. It is another thing entirely for one who so consistently and publicly advocated for the destruction of unborn human beings to depart the stage without a public repudiation of these views, a public confession, as it were.

It is up to God to judge Senator Kennedy's soul. We, as rational persons, must judge his actions, and his actions were not at all in line with one who values and carefully applies Church teaching on weighty matters.

Ted Kennedy's positions on a variety of issues have been a grave scandal for decades, and to honor this "catholic" champion of the culture of death with a Catholic funeral is unjust to those who have actually paid the price of fidelity. We now find out that President Obama will eulogize the Senator at his funeral, an indignity which, following on the heels of the Notre Dame fiasco, leaves faithful Catholics feeling sullied, desecrated and dehumanized by men who seem to look for opportunities to slap the Church in the face and do so with impunity simply because they have positions of power.

It is not enough for Kennedy to have been a "great guy behind the scenes" as we have seen him referred to even by his political opponents. It is also not praiseworthy to put a Catholic rhetorical veneer on his leftist politics that did nothing to advance true justice as the Church sees it or to advance the peace of Christ in this world. Every indication of Senator Kennedy's career, every public appearance, every sound bite showed an acerbic, divisive and partisan political hack for whom party politics were much more infallible than Church doctrines. Whatever one's political affiliation, if one is only "Catholic" to the extent that his faith rhymes with his party line, then his Catholicism is a fraud.

As the Scriptures remind us, there is a time for everything under the sun. This, now, is the time for honesty about our Faith and about those who are called to express it in the public forum. If we do not remind ourselves of the necessity of public confession for public sins such as Senator Kennedy was guilty of, then we are negligent in our embrace of the Faith and we are part of the problem.

As Pope Benedict has reminded us recently, charity without truth can easily become mere sentimentality, and we must not fall into that error. A Catholic show of charity for the family must not eclipse the truth that is required of all with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Senator Kennedy needs to be sent to the afterlife with a private, family-only funeral and the prayers of the Church for the salvation of his immortal soul. He will not be missed by the unborn who he betrayed time and time again, nor by the rest of us who are laboring to undo the scandalous example of Catholicism that he gave to three generations of Americans.
Sincerely,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

Copyright 2009 - Human Life International
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
Human Life International
4 Family Life Lane -- Front Royal, VA 22630 U.S.A.
Phone: (540) 635-7884 Fax: (540) 622-6247
E-mail: hli@hli.org Website: http://www.hli.org/

Heisman Winner Tim Tebow's Virginity Pledge Leaves Reporters Speechless

The Heisman winner in 2007 did it again. Reporters couldn't believe what they heard, and were speechless. University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who engineered his winning the Heisman, and two national championships, actually spoke the “V” word. To the accompanying reporters’ shock, he said he was a “virgin”, and would remain so until marriage.

From, and full story here:

http://www.lifenews.com/state4317.html

Paganism and Witchcraft in Youth Culture

Mrs. Linda Harvey

Mrs. Linda Harvey is the founder of Mission: America, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help in dealing with cultural issues such as feminism, homosexuality, education and New Age influences. She is the author of

Not My Child—Contemporary Paganism and New Spirituality and her articles have appeared in USA Today and Whistleblower. Mrs. Harvey is a frequent guest on radio talk shows and has testified on legislation before the Ohio General Assembly on numerous occasions.

Crusade: How would you define witchcraft?

Mrs. Linda Harvey: A narrow definition of witchcraft would be a series of rituals, spells and actions that attempt, whether they realize it or not, to contact the demonic realm to try to get the evil spirits to cooperate with them with whatever they want to do.

Crusade: How is witchcraft affecting our youth today?

Mrs. Harvey: What’s happening today is that our kids don’t know Scripture or Christian doctrine because so many of them don’t go to church. They don’t have the spiritual armor they need to protect themselves, and they are bombarded by the very anti-Christian nature of the media and public-school education they are getting. In view of this, paganism seems much more charming and fascinating to our children than Christianity and they have rejected Christianity as being outdated, bigoted and unresponsive. So our kids are being lured into this, which makes it much more critical for parents to be very discerning of what  their kids are learning and what effect that is having on their spiritual life.

Crusade: Now, what are the reasons why youth feel attracted to witchcraft in the first place? Is there a vacuum in society that makes this more enticing?

Mrs. Harvey: It is packaged as very charming and fascinating. Harry Potter, for example, is packaged empowerment. Our children have an innate need to develop whatever can help them be stronger and better able to deal with the stresses of ordinary modern life. For example, Harry Potter is an 11-year-old nerd who is shoved under a stairway by his cruel relatives and suddenly his whole world changes when he discovers that he is by inheritance a messiah wizard, and this is the empowering thing for him. What kind of kid doesn’t want to hear that? It says, “I have tremendous supernatural powers already inside of me.” This is an insidious and disturbing message to send to our children.

Crusade: Where is witchcraft promoted most in our American society?

Harry Potter: positive, frank, open
expression of witchcraft and wizardry.

Throughout the entertainment media. The publishing phenomenon of Harry Potter proves for the first time that they got away with a positive, frank, open expression of witchcraft and wizardry as a role model for kids and parents. Conservative parents did not rise up in rebellion and say, “Oh no, you’re not selling that to my kids.”

Parents are clueless. As a follow-up to Harry Potter, there have been a lot of other media that have been tried because Satan is out there prowling about and perfectly willing to use selfish marketeers to package these products. In addition, there is the TV cartoon area. The Japanese publishing industry has influenced manga and anime cartoons, which are full of sorcery and demons. Within video games we have Dungeons and Dragons, which has been around for almost twenty years, World of Warcraft and many other occult-themed offerings. Of course there are the movies, but also the TV shows that have been out for a while. For example, in Charmed, Sabrina was a bubble-gum witch. Then there are soap operas. There was a soap opera called Passion that was canceled last year because it had dolls coming to life and witchcraft. It is just amazing to see how this has penetrated virtually all areas of entertainment and the media.

Crusade: However, many children will claim that it will just stop there. There might be a lot of children who want to dabble in it just a little bit. Do we see youth going from these very common and accessible forms of witchcraft and getting more involved?

Mrs. Harvey: Yes, there was a 2002 survey that showed Harry Potter was creating an interest in witchcraft and wizardry for our kids. Unfortunately, all these children have to do to get information is get on the Internet. Several Web sites have a youth section where kids can go and find covens in their cities and suburbs. Yes, these youth are going right from these books and media to these fora. All it takes is for them to have a little more interest and then going a little further with their interest and looking it up.

One of the things that stimulates this interest is predicting the future because children want to know what’s going to happen. So they start with astrology, using the Ouija board or any other kind of fortune-telling device that is featured throughout all of these occult books, movies or games, which then give children details on how they can learn about the future. This is anti-Christian. There are prophets in the Bible but the prophets did not use these devices. God initiated the contact. People did not initiate the contact. This is a huge distinction that takes us outside the realm of Christianity. It’s not going to be honored by God. God doesn’t want this for us. He wants to protect us and go by His timing.

Crusade: Halloween has become more filled with witchcraft and the occult. Do you think this has a role in getting people more used to the devil?

Mrs. Harvey: Definitely. My family doesn’t celebrate Halloween since I became a Christian. People say, “Well, Christmas was a pagan influence originally.” But the difference is that God is in charge of everything, and I believe the original pagan underpinnings of Christmas and Easter have been co-opted by Christianity. But the Lord has left Halloween alone to test us. For some reason God is allowing the work of Satan in the world today, and the devil has co-opted Halloween. On top of that it is becoming an emphasized holiday. It is right behind Christmas as far as decoration, spending, costumes and all the paraphernalia involved. You see houses decorated for Halloween just like a house would be decorated for Christmas, and it makes me shudder because there is nothing holy, honorable or positive about this date. October 31 is the pagans’ highest holiday and we are helping them celebrate it. What a slap in the face to our wonderful God!

Crusade: Many of our readers are parents. Could you give them some tips on how to protect their children from the influences of witchcraft?

Mrs. Harvey: First of all, your children spend the most amount of time in public schools. So keep them in a good Christian school or home school them. Do not send them to public school. There are too many occult influences in public schools. Some schools assign Harry Potter but others have occult works or ideas in novels that you wouldn’t find unless you read the novels from cover to cover. Furthermore, you have observances of pagan, multicultural events and all kinds of “religions” interacting with demonic pagan entities. Second, read and watch everything your children read and watch. Don’t assume anything your children read or watch is harmless. There are all kinds of accommodations to pagan beliefs and other practices throughout children’s media. So you need to have a discerning eye. You have to decide up front what you’re going to stop and stick with it. You have to decide in advance that this is your child’s future you are worrying about and then think ahead and find substitutes.     

Boys Inspired by Chivalry and Blessed by Our Lady

by Joseph Gallagher

The annual Call to Chivalry summer camp was held again at the St. Louis de Montfort Academy in Herndon, Pennsylvania from August 10-20. The program was attended by dozens of young men from many different states.

A group shot of the boys with Our Lady of Fatima.

Cristero Martyrs
The theme of the 2009 camp focused on the heroic deeds of the Cristeros, Catholic Mexicans who resisted Communist persecution under the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles.  Camp participants learned about Blessed Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest who traveled throughout Mexico in disguise, secretly administering the Sacraments and celebrating Holy Mass.  He was eventually caught and martyred, expiring with the cry “Viva Cristo Rey!” on his lips.   The boys also learned about another valiant martyr, the 14-year-old Blessed José Sanchez del Rio.

Activities during the Camp
Each day began with a wake up call of bagpipes and drums. The boys lined up outside their rooms to start the day with a prayer to St. Michael, followed shortly after by a detailed bedroom inspection. Next on the schedule was the singing of the Creed, the raising of the TFP standard and a procession to breakfast while singing “We Want God,” composed by the great Marian devotee St. Louis de Montfort.

After a hearty breakfast, illustrated talks on the virtues of Chivalry were given.  The next activity: spirited sets of outdoor field games, stressing respect, courage, teamwork and leadership.  There were excursions too.  During a trip to Washington D.C., camp participants enjoyed a special exhibit on Imperial Spain at the National Gallery of Art, featuring medieval plate armor. Walking to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History a few blocks away, they admired the famed Hope Diamond.

At the Arlington National Cemetery, they watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The impeccable discipline of the Army Honor Guards, who, on entering the unit, promise to never use foul language or drink alcohol on or off duty for the rest of their lives, impressed the boys.  The trip included a visit to the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and concluded at to the Iwo Jima Memorial for the Sunset Parade of the US Marine Corps and its Silent Drill Team.

The boys talking with a Marine in Washington, DC.

On other occasions, participants enjoyed canoeing, a trip to the paintballing field where they spent hours engrossed in strategies, leadership lessons, courage, and thousands of paintballs.

Honored by Our Lady of Fatima
The most significant event of the camp was the arrival of the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima.  In 1972, the statue wept miraculously several times in New Orleans, and her presence makes a profound impression on all who pray before her.   During her visit to the Academy, camp participants organized an all night prayer vigil before the statue and a relic of the True Cross, a custom reminiscent of the Vigil of Arms in the Age of Faith when knights prepared themselves to enter the orders of Chivalry.  Each boy gladly accepted his time shift.

The camp ended with Medieval games and a grueling obstacle course, followed by a beautiful rosary procession with Our Lady of Fatima’s statue and a fine dinner, featuring a whole roasted pig.  

The boys all returned home happily taking with them not only good memories of a great time with friends but also the awareness of the need to stand up for the faith and a profound gratitude for receiving the grace to receive the historic miraculous statue of Our Lady of Fatima. We hope that these boys will always strive to have more devotion to Our Lady and a fervent love for the Holy Catholic Church.

Praying in front of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

Same miraculous statue; different expressions -- amazing!

I'd like to share these pictures of the miraculous International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima taken by my friend, Michael Gorre.

See how the expressions are slightly different.

 

Fatima statue in home -- "most beautiful experience we have ever had."

The below is a note from a family that received a Fatima visit from Auxiliary Custodians, Mr. and Mrs. Miller, last night in Brooklyn, NY. 

"Dear Michael and Jenny:

"I hope you had a safe and pleasant ride back home last night.  

"We were all deeply moved by last night's rosary session.  Having Our Lady in our home is the most beautiful experience we have ever had.

"Mary is resting comfortably, today.  Our wish is that Our Lady will take her peacefully home to her rightful place in Heaven.  She was a great lady, herself and deserves nothing less.

"I'm sure that your lives will be rich in blessings from all the work you do, in bringing peace and happiness into so many households.  We will never forget your kindness in making the necessary last minute arrangements, to bring Our Lady to our mom.  You can be assured that Mary will ask Our Lady to watch over you and your family, when she meets her face to face.

"I will speak with you next week.  May God bless you and your family always!

Sincerely,

N.F. & Family

Novena of Masses offered for rosary rally volunteers

Today we received confirmation of a novena of Masses to be offered for the intentions of all of the generous volunteers who have helped and who will help enlist captains for the public square rosary. 

    This novena of Masses will end on October 13th, the anniversary of the miracle of the sun at Fatima.

    These Holy Masses will be offered by the Benedictine Fathers at Our Lady of the Annunciation Monastery in Clear Creek, Oklahoma. 

    We wanted to do something special for the dedicated volunteers who travel so far, to meet people they do not know, to make hundreds of phone calls each and every day.

    It was decided that the greatest act of gratitude that we could offer to our dear volunteers would be the Perfect, Holy and Eternal Sacrifice of the Mass for their intentions.  Such a gift is really an eternal gift.  This gift can save souls from hell, diminish time in purgatory, bring about conversions as well as obtain an abundance of spiritual and temporal blessings. 

    Our Divine Lord and Our Lady know the intentions and needs of our volunteers that reside in the depths of their souls.  We ask Our Lord and Our Lady to bless these volunteers and grant their good intentions for the greater honor and glory to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

    This gift comes with our sincere and heartfelt gratitude for accomplishing so much for Our Lady!

The True Role of Guardian Angels

by Plinio Correa de Oliveira

While the role of Guardian Angels is to guard men, institutions, cities and nations, we often have a distorted image of the functions of these angels. Many see them as beings that are good just to obtain advantages for us. However, this is not their only role.

They exist above all to help us in spiritual difficulties. God accompanies us through the action of the angels and they participate in our struggles to help us fulfill our vocation.
Indeed, Guardian Angels run contrary to the Hollywood vision of life.

According to that mentality, there is a great propensity to think there are no struggles, difficulties or dangers and everything will have a happy ending. The Church teaches us the contrary. Life is full of struggles and dangers, both material and spiritual. Because of this, Divine Providence has placed an angel to watch over each and every one of us.

God has done this with such magnificence, that in addition to one angel for every person, there is also an angel for every city and every nation. There is an angel to watch over the Holy Catholic Church: St. Michael the Archangel. There are angels to watch over groups, families of souls, societies and other institutions, so that everything that exists is guarded by angels. This, incidentally, is part of the role of the angels, for they maintain the whole material universe executing all of the decrees of God.

Therefore, since life is an intense struggle with dangers and difficulties, each of us has an angel to guide him because we would otherwise not be able to make it on our own.

Dom Chautard

The first lesson to draw from the fact we have Guardian Angels is one must have a supernatural spirit or outlook. The Cistercian abbot Dom Chautard condemned the erroneous attitude of one who thinks: I am very capable, very intelligent, resourceful, and, above all, very proud. I can fend for myself with my great qualities, as long as God keeps away from me those very large obstacles.

I do not need God’s help in my spiritual or material life. I can take care of myself and accomplish what I need to do by myself.

There is something fundamentally wrong in this attitude. God Himself delegated an angel to accompany and protect each of us precisely because we are not capable of taking care of ourselves.

The fact that we are given an angel is a proof that we need God’s help at every moment, in everything, even those small things, that we do.

On the other hand, the Guardian Angel is usually presented as the protector of little children. Sentimentality has distorted all devotions, holy cards and pictures showing the angel watching over a small child. What is implicitly conveyed is that, first, only toddlers need angels; and second, only little children believe in angels.

Those with a more developed, freethinking or liberated mindset neither need nor believe in angels.Such characterizations of the holy angels convey another message. These sentimental holy cards often show a very beautiful little brook with a fat, rosy-cheeked little toddler walking over a bridge. The child is crossing the bridge with a broken board, and about to step in the hole with his little foot. We see the Guardian Angel is watching over him.

One has the impression that this is a child’s imaginary world, and with this mentality, the little child crosses the bridge. At best, we could imagine that the Guardian Angel does the same with adults.

Thus, comes the idea that we need to pray to our Guardian Angels to avoid car crashes, illnesses, and small accidents since they specialize in preventing us from such sufferings.

No doubt, Guardian Angels do help us with such material needs, but that is not their only task. No one speaks of Guardian Angels helping with spiritual needs.

Sentimentality has distorted all
depictions of Guardian Angels.

This attitude is consistent with a certain festive piety that many people exhibit when going on pilgrimage to special sanctuaries.

What do they ask for? The healing of a sore throat or some wound. The testimonials and petitions compiled in these places of pilgrimage show requests for help for all kinds of strange symptoms, wounds and material requests. Naturally, the pilgrims also ask for money, reconciliation in families, avoiding bad luck and many other things of the same nature yet with little to no reference to spiritual needs.

It’s evident that many have little notion that Guardian Angels are given to us to help with the most important matters: the needs of our soul. The greatest function of our Guardian Angel is to watch over our soul and to obtain graces for us so we can overcome our spiritual difficulties.

What a great a comfort we would have in the hours of tribulation and temptation, those times when we feel all alone weighed down with the problems of our spiritual life, if we would have the certainty that our Guardian Angel is right next to us. Though we cannot see or hear him, he does not leave us even for a second.

He is waiting for our prayers to go into action for us. He often acts without our asking, but will act much more if we ask. He is well within our reach.

What a joy it would be to have this in mind when we are involved in the apostolate with others. When we suffer with spiritual problems, annoyances, struggles, abandonment, and difficulties of all kinds, we would know that this solitude is an illusion. Our Guardian Angel is right beside us. Even if we have the impression that the distance between our Guardian Angels and us is greater than between Heaven and Earth, the truth is that they are extremely close to us. As we pray to them and ask for their help, they will watch over and protect us.

Having this present in our thoughts at every moment should encourage us in our spiritual life. We should feel a great satisfaction and sense God’s hand accompanying us at each step in our spiritual and material life. This illustrates the affirmation of Our Lord in the Gospel that not a hair falls from our head, not a bird dies, or a leaf falls without God willing it.

Such a perspective about the angels corresponds to Church teaching on Divine Providence. Because our Guardian Angel is providing and asking for everything we need, we can practice better the virtue of confidence.

The assistance the angel provides for us in the hours of danger and trial is not the only assistance he renders. He also prays for us. There is, for example, the famous vision of Daniel in which he sees angels from the ancient empires as if fighting for their respective people before God’s throne.

Our angel is our intercessor, advocate and our mediator. He is continuously praying for us. Therefore, the most appropriate thing for us to do is to ask continuously that our Guardian Angel fulfill this function of intercessor to obtain graces for us and drive away temptations and chastisements. This is something we should be doing constantly.

Thus, we have made some considerations that should help us to increase our love for our Guardian Angels, and thus invoke their patronage with greater devotion.

July 25, St. Louis IX Crusader & Statesman

August 25 is the feast of Saint Louis IX, king, confessor of the Faith, Crusader and model of a Catholic head of state. There are two different ways people picture Saint Louis IX. One is as he truly was, the other is a soft, effeminate distortion of his person.

This dichotomy is similar to the one that exists between many artists’ renditions of Saint Pius X and pictures of him. On the one hand, the photographs portray a giant of a man, strong soul and spiritual king, conscious of his dignity.

On the other hand, many artists depict a feeble old grandfather, whose face begs pardon for being pope and regrets that he is not a simple priest. There is an abyss between this limp-wristed portrayal and the historic Saint Pius X, who was the hero against Modernism.

Many artists' renditions of Saint Pius X portray a limp-wristed distortion of his person as seen in photographs.

The same holds true with Saint Louis IX. On one hand, he is portrayed distributing justice under the famous oak tree in Vincennes, like a king that lived under the trees and preferred to sit around rather than lead the life of the castle, administrate the affairs of state and wage wars amid the pomp and ceremonial incumbent on the first kingdom of Christendom.

In these portrayals, he softly sits in judgment, certainly pardoning everyone and only dealing with simple things that do not require shrewdness, ingenuity or force of will. This has become the preponderant image of Saint Louis IX. The peasants who surround him are infected with the same softness. By association, the whole medieval world is portrayed in a clownish way, consisting of soft kings, surrounded by mountains of softness.

Likewise, many paintings of Saint Louis IX show a soft weakling that contradicts the historic reality of who he was and are in sharp contrast to other more realistic portrayals.

The enemies of Christian civilization skillfully use this representation to denigrate the kings who succeeded Saint Louis. “He was good because he was simple,” they say, “he just sat under his tree and judged.” Thus, they present Louis XIV in his glory at Versailles, surrounded by beauty and pomp, as something intrinsically wrong.

To repel this false image, it is good to remember the real Saint Louis IX, who was both a statesman and Crusader.

Saint Louis: The Statesman
Saint Louis IX was king of an organic monarchy. He was not a hands-off ruler who abandoned state affairs to his vassals, but rather one who knew his rights and responsibilities, and was protective of them. When his vassals sought to confront or diminish his authority, he resisted them to maintain royal power.

Nevertheless, he was also a great defender of the feudal lord’s autonomy in his fiefs. Once, while visiting a church, noisy patrons of a nearby pub began a ruckus that disturbed his prayer. When asked to give orders that the commotion stop, he responded: “Tell my men to find the lord of this fief and ask him to restore order.”

Although it would have been easier for him to give the command directly as king, his respect for feudal customs and all degrees of hierarchy would not allow him to interfere with the local governance. Out of love for the organic nature of society, he scrupulously maintained the feudal structure. In this, he was very different from later French kings, like Louis XVI, Louis XIII, Henry IV and even Louis XI, who systematically destroyed that same structure.

Saint Louis also protected the guilds and made them assent to a rule drafted from custom-based directives. This gave structure to these autonomous organizations. Thus, while supporting every legitimate independent power in his kingdom, he remained its gravitational center.

Saint Louis even defended his royal power against the Holy See. He confronted the Vatican for interfering in the strictly temporal affairs of France, pressing the issue until it retreated. When this was studied during the process for his canonization, he was vindicated.

Saint Louis: The Crusader
As a warrior, Saint Louis fought on two Crusades and died of pestilence in Tunis. Sick and bedridden, he died defeated and tearful, while the whole world had pity on him. This sad story is historic, but not complete.

Saint Louis was also the king described by Joinville, who departed for the Crusades in all his magnificence, dominating his whole army and vested from head to foot in brilliant golden armor. When his boat first approached the Egyptian coast, his enthusiasm was such that he could not wait for the vessel to touch land. He threw himself, fully armed, into the sea and ran ashore to press the attack, before his men reached land.

This and other actions have immortalized him as a perfect warrior. This image must be considered together with the image of the wounded soldier, sick and suffering, who became venerable by imitating the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Only the combination of all these aspects can give an adequate image of King Saint Louis IX.

A King Beloved by His People
As a model statesman and Crusader, Saint Louis was loved and even venerated by his people. There is touching evidence of this.

Though medieval coins are rare, the most common of all are those minted during the reign of Saint Louis. Since his effigy was on these coins, his people kept them as a medallion and remembrance of his reign. They guarded these coins so carefully, that many have survived. These outnumber all other coins of the epoch.

This demonstrates how a truly virtuous leader lifts his people up with him.

There is a beautiful prayer written to Saint Louis by Constable Du Guesclin, one of Saint Joan of Arc’s companions-in-arms. Though written years after Saint Louis’ death, it gives an idea of how great he was.

Keep me pure as the lily engraved on your coat of arms, O thou who kept thy word even when given to the Infidel. Never allow a lie to pass my lips, even should frankness cost me my life. Man of prowess, incapable of retreat, burn the bridges that lead to my excuses, so that I will always advance towards the most arduous part of the battle.

Persistence and prayer pays off for rosary rally volunteer

One of our volunteers from the state of Kentucky was discouraged the other day.  She had called all morning and hadn't enlisted a single rosary rally captain.

    She got up from her chair, went to another room and prayed to Our Lady with persistence and confidence. 

    When she returned to her desk she signed up five rally captains right away!

    I encourage our readers who have not yet signed up to become rally captains to pray to Our Lady to ask her to give them the courage to enlist in her army.

    Our Lady really doesn't ask that much of us.  A rally is incredibly easy to put on.  All that you need is:

1. A public location of your choosing such as a busy intersection or a park, or in front of a public building.

2.  Some family and friends that you bring along with you.

3. The free banner and program that America Needs Fatima will provide for you.

4.  Your rosary!

    If you have the courage and devotion to do this for Our Lady please call us toll free at (866) 584 - 6012!  Time is getting short.

Vote NOW! Keep "In God We Trust" on our currency...

Here's your chance to let the media know where you stand on our faith in God in our nation.

NBC is presently taking a poll on "In God We Trust" to stay on our American currency.

Please send this to everyone you know so they can vote on this important subject.  Please do it right away, before NBC takes this off their web page.

Poll is still open so you can vote.  Use the link below:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

Modesty of Dress and the Love of God: An Effective Way to Defend the Family

by Luiz Sergio Solimeo

The face of modesty.

“I love vulgarity. Good taste is death, vulgarity is life." These words by English fashion designer Mary Quant, who took credit for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants, reveal one of the most important, though rarely pointed out, aspects of the “fashion revolution” that started in the sixties: vulgarity.

Indeed, fashions have increasingly tended toward vulgarity. It is a vulgarity that tramples upon not only good taste and decorum but which reflects a mentality opposed to all order and discipline and to every kind of restraint, be it esthetic, moral or social, and which ultimately suggests a completely “liberated” standard of behavior.

Are Comfort and Practicality Supreme Criteria?

The rationale for introducing ever shorter skirts was “to be practical and liberating, allowing women the ability to run for a bus.” The notion that comfort, practicality and freedom of movement must be the only criteria for dress has led to a breakdown in the general standard of sobriety and elegance, not to speak of the norms of modesty.

Thus, casual dress, being more comfortable and practical, increasingly becomes the norm regardless of people’s sex, age and circumstances. Jeans and the T-shirt (formerly a piece of underwear) became part of common attire.

Though one can wear less formal clothes at times of leisure, these clothes should not convey the impression that one is abandoning one’s dignity and seriousness. They should not give the idea that one is actually on vacation from one's principles.

In the past, even leisure dress, though more comfortable, maintained the dignity that one should never abandon.

It is curious to note that many companies require employees to wear business suits to convey an image of seriousness and responsibility. This is proof that clothes do transmit a message. They can express seriousness and responsibility or on the other hand, immaturity and a carelessness.

Unisex Garb

The premise that comfort and practicality must preside over the choice of clothes had yet another consequence: clothes no longer reflect one's identity. In other words, they no longer indicate a person’s social position, profession, or even more fundamental characteristics such as sex and age.

Thus, unisex garb has become widespread: jeans and shorts have come to be worn by people of both sexes and all generations.

Young men and women, the youth and the aged, single and married, teachers and students, children and adults, all mix together and wear one and the same clothing which no longer expresses that which they are, think or desire.

The Habit Does Not Make the Monk but Identifies Him

One could object that “the habit does not make the monk.” The fact that a person dresses with distinction and elegance does not mean, of itself, that he has good principles and good behavior.

Likewise, the fact that a person always wears casual dress does not necessarily indicate that he has bad principles or a reprehensible conduct. At first sight, the argument appears logical and even obvious.

However, analyzed in depth, it does not stand.

True, the habit does not make the monk. Nevertheless, it is a strong element that identifies him. Furthermore, it influences not only the way people look at the monk but the way he looks at himself.

No one will deny that the loss of identity by many nuns and monks that took place over the last forty years was largely due to their shedding the traditional habits, which adequately expressed the spirit of poverty, chastity and obedience, as well as an ascetic lifestyle proper to consecrated persons.

The Need for Coherence Between Dress and Convictions

Given the unity that exists in our tendencies, principles, convictions and behavior, the way we dress cannot fail to influence our mentality.

Wearing a certain type of clothing constitutes a form of behavior; and when clothing no longer adequately reflect our tendencies, principles and convictions, one’s mentality begins to undergo an imperceptible change to remain ‘in sync’ with the way one presents oneself. This is because human reason, by the force of logic inherent in it, naturally seeks to establish consistency between thought and behavior.

This rule is magnificently summed up in the famous phrase of French writer Paul Bourget: "One must live as one thinks, under pain of sooner or later ending up thinking as one has lived."

The process of transformation or erosion of principles can be slowed down or impeded by a person’s religious fervor, deeply rooted tendencies or ideas, and other factors. However, if inconsistency between behavior - reflected in the way one dresses - and one’s principles and convictions is not eliminated, the process of erosion, no matter how slow, becomes inexorable.

The beautiful, simple, and modest dress of the Belle Epoque.

Living Faith, Inadequate Clothing

This subtle erosion is often manifested by a loss of sensitivity regarding the fundamental points of one’s mentality. One example would be the respect one must have for the sacred.

In some way, concessions to the principle that comfort must be the only rule of dress have ended up by giving a casual note to more serious and holy activities. How can one explain, for example, that persons who have true faith in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and who make admirable sacrifices to frequent perpetual adoration, nevertheless see no contradiction in presenting themselves before the Blessed Sacrament wearing shorts as if they were on a picnic?

The same person who shows up thus dressed for perpetual adoration would never don those clothes for an audience, say, with Queen Elizabeth II. This contradiction shows how, though the person has maintained his faith, to a certain degree the notion of the majesty of the Sacrament of the Altar -- the Real Presence -- has vanished from his soul.

Egalitarianism...

There is a general tendency in our times to establish a most radical egalitarianism at all levels of culture and social relations between the sexes, and even, in the tendency of egalitarianianism, between men and animals.

In dress, this egalitarianism is manifested by the growing proletarianization, the establishment of unisex fashions and the abolition of differences between generations. The same garb can be worn by anybody no matter his position, age or circumstance (e.g. in a trip, a religious or civil ceremony).

Chaos reigns in the domains of fashion today. It is often difficult to distinguish, by their clothes, men from women, parents from children, a religious ceremony from a picnic. Haircuts and hairstyles follow the same tendency to confound age and sex and to break down standards of elegance and good taste.

...That Leads to Infantilization

One of the aspects that stand out the most in the modern dictates of fashion is the desire to create an illusion of eternal youth, even perpetual adolescence with no responsibility, a phenomenon that has been called the “Peter Pan Syndrome."¹

Modern fashion shows a tendency to infantilize people. A Brazilian fashion critic thus expressed herself: “For a long time now, we have seen on catwalks, both international and domestic, fashions that should be displayed at the Children’s Expo, such is the level of infantilization they suggest. Stylists over 25 years old were designing (and wearing) clothes that could be worn by children in a day care center.”

Modesty is Essential to Chastity

In addition to the extravagant, egalitarian and infantilizing tendency of modern fashion, one needs to consider the attack on virtue and the complete lack of modesty.

The human body has its beauty, and this beauty attracts us. Due to the disorder which Original Sin left in man, the disorder of concupiscence, the delight in contemplating bodily beauty, and particularly of the feminine body can lead to temptation and sin.

That is not to say that some parts of the body are good and can be shown and others are bad and must be covered. Such a statement is absurd and was never part of Church doctrine. All parts of the body are good, for the body is good as a whole, having been created by God. However, not all body parts are equal, and some excite the sexual appetite more than others. Thus, exposing those parts through semi-nudity or risqué low cut dresses or wearing clothes so tight as to accentuate one’s anatomy poses a grave risk of causing excitation, particularly in men in relation to women.

Therefore, clothes must cover that which must be covered and make stand out that which can be emphasized. To cover a woman’s face, like Muslims do, shows well the lack of equilibrium of a religion that does not understand true human dignity. The face, the noblest part of the body because it more perfectly reflects the spiritual soul, is precisely the part that stands out the most in the traditional habits of nuns.

Just as masculine clothes should emphasize the manly aspect proper to man, feminine fashion should manifest grace and delicacy. And in this sense, having longer hair is a natural adornment to frame a woman’s face.

Immorality in Fashions and Destruction of the Family

Garb that does not show a person’s self-respect as an intelligent and free being (and, through baptism, as a son or daughter of God and a temple of the Holy Ghost), contributes to a large extent to the present destruction of the family. It does this by favoring temptations against purity. It also does this by its vulgarity and childishness that corrodes the notion of the seriousness of life and the need for ascesis (self-discipline), all of which are fundamental elements that maintain family cohesion and stability.

The struggle for the restoration of the family by opposing abortion, contraception, and homosexuality will be much more effective if done together with efforts to restore sobriety, modesty and elegance in dress.

Dress and the Love of God

The role of clothing is not only to protect the body from the elements but also to serve as adornment and symbolize someone’s functions, characteristics and mentality. Garb must be not only dignified and decent but also as beautiful and elegant as possible (which requires more good taste than money).

If the “way of beauty” leads us to God by seeing Him as the exemplary cause of Creation, the “way of ugliness” turns us away from the Creator and places us on the slippery slope of sin. That is why ugliness is the very symbol of sin and is so well expressed by the expression “ugly as sin.”
_____________________

Footnotes:

1. Mary Quant talks to Alison Adburgham, Tuesday, October 10, 1967, http://century.guardian.co.uk/1960-1969/Story/0,6051,106475,00.html.
2. Cf., http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/mary-quant/
3. Fortunately, for some time now there has been a wholesome reaction against the abandonment of the traditional habit, a fact that has brought an increase in the number of vocations. According to a recently published book, “communities of sisters whose members wear an identifiable religious habit” are the most flourishing and attract young women the most. (Book says young women attracted to orders whose members wear habits, CNS, http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20090526.htm).
4. Cf. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Revolution and Counter-Revolution, http://www.tfp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=691&Itemid=107.
5. Cf. Dr. Dan Kiley, The Peter Pan Syndrome - Men Who Have Never Grown Up, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1983.
6. Gloria Kalil, Os kidults e a moda Alô Chics! http://chic.ig.com.br/site/secao.php?secao_id=1&materia_id=867.

Rain holds off until Richmond rosary rally is finished

by Danniel Pribble

(Be a rosary rally captain today.)

The forecast for August 22, 2009 at noon did not look inviting for a public square rosary rally. There was a chance of rain all day, and the sky was very overcast.

Undaunted by this, 21 America Needs Fatima members and friends gathered to pray the rosary at the corner of Buford and Huguenot Roads in Richmond, Virginia.

This was a good location that provided a high amount of visibility.

We started with the joyful mysteries while we waited for everyone to show up. The rest of the rally consisted of the intentions, songs, two more rosaries, consecration to Our Lady, and litanies. The entire time the rain held off. As we finished the last prayer (we had been praying for about 1.5 hours), I was internally asking Our Lady whether we should continue.

Just then, I felt a rain drop, and rain started coming down fast. I realized that this was clearly Our Lady's answer, and we closed the rally.

(Be a rosary rally captain today.)

Praying the Consecration to Our Lady at the rally.

Stories, graces, ideas: Best from the Rosary Rallies

The amazing things you learn putting on a rosary rally!

                             

Well, thanks to Our Lady, we’ve already signed up more than 2,000 rally captains!

And in the process of recruiting these wonderful people, I’ve heard some truly marvelous stories, graces and ideas that I’d like to share with you.

They will surely inspire you to be a rosary rally captain for the Blessed Mother, if you have not yet signed up.

GO HERE to become a rally captain.

Marvelous story: how Our Lady answers our prayers

Bill is a volunteer at our rosary rally center in Kansas. He is a convert from Alabama. He told us this beautiful story.

He had just called a lady on the phone, and asked her to become a rosary rally captain. She answered that her husband had recently died. 

And that she had just been writing her thoughts on paper to her deceased husband telling him that without him she was looking for some kind of work to serve Our Lady.  As she was writing this, Bill, our volunteer called and she answered. 

She happily signed up to become a rally captain.  Our Lady responded so fast to her earnest desire that she didn't even have to finish her letter, before America Needs Fatima called on behalf of Our Lady.

This is an example of the importance of the work of the Public Square Rosary.  Our Lady desires that we offer prayer and reparation to Her Immaculate Heart.  She desires this so much, that sometimes She acts in marvelous ways as with the above rally captain. 

GO HERE to become a rally captain.

Graces: A rally captain overcomes human respect

   A rally captain from two years ago was contacted by one of our volunteers.  She was not a rally captain last year.  Let me tell you about the grace she received this year.

    During her rally in 2007 a man approached her who was quite aggressive in his opposition to the Rosary Rally.  The rally captain, who was a lady, felt very intimidated by his words.  As a result, she declined becoming a rally captain in 2008.  Sometime after the 2008 Public Rosary, she saw one of the pictures of Our Lady of Fatima, and she was filled with remorse for declining out of human respect.

    She then vowed, that she would never again refuse Our Lady's request!  She was so happy to have the opportunity to publicly stand for Our Lady this year.

GO HERE to become a rally captain.

Ideas: Ways to get more people to your rosary rally

    As every experienced rally captain knows, not everyone who is invited to participate in our public rosary shows up.      

    Two of our volunteers at our local Public Square Rosary campaign office shared some wonderful ideas as to how they enlist participants for their public rosary, and how they help to ensure that they show up. I thought I would share this idea with you.

    They ask each participant days ahead of time to lead a decade of the rosary at the rally.  If there are more than 15, they ask several to lead a decade together. Once they commit days ahead of the rally, obviously they are more likely to have the courage to attend and participate.

    What a wonderful way to encourage other Catholics to join in with the public square rosary.  I am sure that they leave at the end very happy to have participated.

* * *

Please God, I pray – may the stories, graces and ideas in this progress report inspire you to be a rally captain too.

GO HERE to become a rally captain.

And in gratitude, I will have a red rose placed in your name at the very spot where our Lady appeared in Fatima, Portugal.

The sooner you start, the better your rally will be. And if you have questions, you can visit our rally captain sign up page at:

GO HERE to become a rally captain.

Or you can call 866-584-6012, or write to ANFRosaryRally@aol.com.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Know that Our Lady will help you to do a great job with your rally. And I am already praying every night that many others join your rally and pray the rosary with you on October 10, 2009, at noon local time.

GO HERE to become a rally captain.

Make a difference in the eternal destinies of your relatives and neighbors -- be a rosary rally captain!

  Here is a story from one Our Lady's volunteers.

    She was born during the depression. Due to the depression, at that time, there were homeless people because there was so little work.  Her father owned a store and periodically he would hire this particular homeless man to do some odd jobs.  He would also give the man food.

    When our volunteer was one year old she contracted pneumonia, which at that time was most serious.  The homeless man came and knelt in front of her crib for hours on end praying the rosary.  The nurse complained to the parents about his being there, but they insisted that he be allowed to remain there.

    When she became older sometimes he would take her and some of her siblings to Mass and pray afterwards in the Church. 

    It is beautiful to see how that homeless man of the 1930's provided so many prayers for our volunteer, that, I am sure helped with her recovery, but also earned many graces for her which have assisted her even today.

    The relating of this story can help us understand the unimaginable importance of the Public Square Rosary.  Who knows how many are helped temporally and more importantly, spiritually, because of the Public Square Rosary? 

    I invite you to make a difference in the lives and eternal destinies of your relatives, friends, neighbors and fellow Americans by becoming a rally for the Public Square Rosary in your community!

    Please call at (866) 584 - 6012.

Story - when the devil discourages, go into "fast forward" mode for Our Lady

My friend Sergio De Paz called me yesterday with great news. 

The devil had tried to put obstacles in his path to stop him from helping America Needs Fatima to recruit more rosary rally captains for the 2009 Public Square Rosary Crusade.

But Sergio didn't give in.   Yesterday morning and early afternoon, he made calls to prospective rally captains and signed up 50% of all the people he spoke to.  

He told me on the phone, "send me more names to call because I've already finished the stack you sent me."

He then went out a did a rosary rally amid a heavy rain storm.  I haven't spoken to him after the rally, but he sent me the picture above via email and I bet he recruited a few more rally captains at the event - despite the rain!

That's what I mean when I say that we must answer the devil's discouragement by going into "fast forward" mode for Our Lady.

Otherwise, the devil wins and Our Lady work doesn't get done.

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real piety aims to give glory to God and lead man to virtue. To achieve both ends, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a true gift of Divine Providence to this unfortunate century.

Our Lady is the Mediatrix of all grace. To try to pray without her intercession is the same as trying to fly without wings, says Dante.

If we want our acts of love, praise, thanksgiving and reparation to reach the throne of God, we must place them into the hands of Mary Most Holy. It would be ridiculous to imagine that devotion to Our Lady would be a deviation and that we could reach God more directly by not addressing ourselves to her. The opposite is true. We can only reach God through her.

To try to reach Jesus Christ, without Our Lady, on the false pretext that Our Lady is an obstacle between us and her Divine Son is as stupid as trying to analyze the stars thinking that the telescope’s lenses are an obstacle between us and the stars.

Let us look for grace from the fountain from which it really springs forth and, with its help, become fortified for all the austerity that the Holy Ghost demands of us. Undoubtedly, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary holds a most relevant place among these sources of grace.

In the Apocalypse, chapter 3, verse 8, we find: “I know thy works. Behold, I have given before thee a door opened, which no man can shut: because thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” This door, open to the weakness of contemporary man, is the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Summer Camp Echoes to ‘¡Viva Cristo Rey!’

I thought you'd like to read the report in Crusade magazine about the annual TFP Call to Chivalry Summer Camp that is held in Norwood, Louisiana.  The camp is the innovation of TFP Louisiana President Thomas Drake, who shares his thoughts and insights behind this endeavor.

Crusade: What motivated you to organize the TFP Call to Chivalry Summer Camp?

Mr. Thomas Drake

Ever since Louisiana became my adopted home, I could not help but notice how the same moral and spiritual crisis afflicting the rest of the world was at work here. This social and family reality is very disturbing and certainly beyond any one person’s capacity to solve.

So I took this before Our Blessed Mother and, after much reflection and prayer, I felt the strength to act on an inspiration.

That inspiration was to organize something that would help form young Catholic lay leaders in order to send them out on campuses throughout the South. Why not take something the TFP is already doing quite well and build upon it? The American TFP has been putting together student summer programs since the early 1970s, so I thought, “Why not bring this educational experience to Louisiana?”

When I began preparing for the first Call to Chivalry camp in Louisiana for 2002, Divine Providence provided Mr. Richard Lyon, a former headmaster at St. Louis de Montfort Academy and veteran TFP member.

Mr. Lyon was well versed in Saint John Bosco’s methods in youth formation, which is very valuable for putting this together. Later on, Mr. John Ritchie of TFP Student Action and Mr. Matthew Shibler gave, and continue to give, dedicated and valuable help to the Call to Chivalry Summer Camp.

Crusade: Why a Call to Chivalry?

Mr. Drake: Within the various TFP organizations throughout the world, we strive to live the spirit of chivalry that is rooted in the Catholic Faith. This spirit conflicts with today’s culture that is immersed in what the late Pope John Paul II called the “culture of death.”

We need to restore to America those ideals of honor, faith, generosity, self-abnegation and courage. Our country desperately needs a restoration of these ideals that are the foundation of a Christian civilization and culture.

Crusade: What is a typical day like at the TFP Summer Camp?

Mr. Drake: There is a basic daily schedule and then a broad range of activities that fits within that schedule. During these 11 days of camp, we have many outdoor activities. There is also an annual Treasure Hunt for a 200-pound treasure chest, which demands superb map-reading skills and teamwork, and there is a tough hike on a trail in the Tunica Hills area with its waterfalls. Some years there will be field trips to Civil War battlefields or museums in the area.

Now these vigorous physical activities are mixed with an equal dose of mind- and soul-stimulating lectures, debates, and talks on Catholic history and the heroes of the Faith. There is also time for prayer, reflection, Rosary processions and other Catholic devotions.

Furthermore, one cannot forget the annual Fourth of July fireworks on the Mississippi River, which we watch from the U.S.S. Kidd where American sailors gave their lives for our freedoms.

Crusade: Do you stress involvement from the fathers?

TFP Call to Chivalry Summer Camp, Louisiana, 2009

Mr. Drake: Yes. Owing to the pressures of our postmodern lifestyle, most fathers spend too little time with their sons. I want the fathers to participate as much as they possibly can, and I do everything I can to make this happen. It does good for a son to see his father praying the Rosary with other men, and the fathers too benefit from the camp.

Crusade: Are the rest of the family included?

Mr. Drake: As our name suggests—Tradition, Family, Property—we strive very hard to defend the institution of the family. The family, based on the sacrament of marriage, is under relentless attack in modern society, and one of the reasons for this TFP summer camp is to help strengthen Catholic families in Louisiana and the South.

Our Faith teaches us that we are united through the Catholic Church as one large family in the Mystical Body of Christ. With this in mind, I think the most important weekly event for any Catholic family is to attend Sunday Mass together. So I always extend an invitation to the families of our campers to meet us in Baton Rouge for the Sunday morning Mass at St. Agnes Church.

Crusade: I understand you also invite parents to the final day of camp for the Medieval Games and, the grand finale, the Medieval Banquet. What are the Medieval Games and the Medieval Banquet like?

The final rosary.

The Medieval Games begin as the young men, wearing their very own livery, join their respective regiments. The heat of competition is intense. Each team has its captain, patron saint and battle cries like “Saint Michael, pray for us!” or “Long live Christ the King!” When the games end, then the obstacle course begins.

This year’s obstacle course was inspired by the U.S. Navy SEALs for teamwork: a four-man team gets its canoe through the obstacles on land and in the water. Then the young men shower and don their finest. Our young participants line up for the final Rosary procession, and take their warrior appetites to the not-to-be-missed Medieval Banquet, which is held in a pavilion decorated with Persian rugs, banners, shields, swords and halberds.

This is a real feast! The mothers, fathers and TFP members spent days planning and preparing the feast. The tables are set with fine china, glasses and candelabra. Meanwhile, the fathers have been working hard to prepare food fit for royalty: a 100-pound couchon de lait roasting for the past nine hours in a Cajun oven, along with deep fried turkeys, Texan briskets, Polish and Italian sausages, and countless side dishes. Finally, a “castle cake” appears for dessert.

The closing of the evening has Monsignor Robert Berggreen blessing the mementos of that year’s Summer Camp, which he then gives to each of the young “knights” as they are called up. There are also the trophies for the chess and other tournaments. There are final speeches, prayers and farewells.

Crusade: What are the mothers saying about the Call to Chivalry summer camp?

Mr. Drake: After the first year, one of the mothers phoned to thank me, and she told me her son not only enjoyed himself but was proudly showing his sisters how to tidy the bedroom. This delighted his mother who insisted emphatically that TFP should have a monthly weekend for the boys “to continue the good done by the Summer Camp.”

Another mother, whose college-age son helped out with the 2004 Summer Camp, said she was overwhelmed when her son held the door for her as if he had been doing it all his life. She exclaimed, “Thomas, you have no idea what that means for a mother!  He never did that before!”

These comments are personally rewarding to hear. They demonstrate the abundant graces and blessings Our Lord is bestowing on families touched by these camps. They also show that Catholic culture and civilized manners can make a comeback.

Crusade: Now, each year the Call to Chivalry has an historical theme, does it not?

Mr. Drake: Yes. While the overall theme each year is a Call to Chivalry, each particular camp also highlights a particular theme. Each year, I choose an historic episode that illustrates virtues of courage and leadership in situations of “impossible odds.” Our youth need examples in order to help them develop their character, expand their horizons, and inspire their minds and souls with noble deeds.

This year, our historic theme was the Mexican Cristero martyrs who gave their lives to preserve the Catholic Faith against the Mexican Communists during the 1920s and 1930s.

Crusade: Give us an idea of how you were able to bring the Cristeros theme to life for the boys during this year’s summer camp.

Mr. Drake: We try to recreate the atmosphere of rural Mexico so our campers can feel what it must have really been like to live the life of Father Miguel Pro and the Cristeros during the 1920s and what it must have been like to hear the Cristeros shout their famous battle cry, “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”)

You’ve heard it said that a picture says a thousand words. So we hung in the conference hall two life-sized posters of Father Miguel Pro and Luis Segura Vilchis at the hour of their martyrdom. There was also a wonderful talk on the Kingship of Christ, which explains why our heroes’ last words were “Long live Christ the King.”

All this climaxes toward a special “Cristero Night,” when we eat Mexican food and sing Cristero songs and songs to Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Guadalupana. Later that night, the torchbearers and those leading the Rosary procession wear ponchos emblazoned with the image of our Lady of Guadalupe.

Our Lady calls you to become a rosary rally captain

Our Lady is calling you to become a rosary rally captain in the 2009 Public Square Rosary Rally.

Sign up to become a Rosary Rally Captain today!

See the amazing report below from the captains who did rallies in 2008.  It's so rewarding!

At intersections, town halls, city parks and other public places, Catholics came in the tens of thousands to pray Public Square Rosaries on October 11, 2008 at more than 3,400 locations across the nation. Participants from all walks of life and ages made this special effort to be public witnesses to the Fatima message. Their basic message was, “We’re praying that God save America.”

The Rosary Rallies were the crowning achievement of six months of intensive planning. When October 11 arrived, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and its America Needs Fatima (ANF) campaign could announce proudly that—thanks be to God—well over 3,000 Rosary Rallies were held across the United States. At the same time across the ocean in Portugal, volunteers placed 3,400 roses, each representing a Rally Captain, at the sanctuary of Our Lady at Fatima.

Rallies with a Purpose

The Rosary Rallies had a simple purpose: to ask God, through Our Lady’s Rosary, to save America from its current moral, spiritual, financial and political crisis. It is very evident that human solutions will not suffice. Divine assistance is necessary. Thus, the idea of public prayer seems to have captured the imagination of many American Catholics as a solution to the problems the nation faces.

“America is in such a desperate situation, I just know God heard our prayers. The Virgin Mary offered our Rosaries to God on Saturday,” said one Rally Captain from Pennsylvania, “God will not refuse our petitions in our time of suffering and uncertainty.”

A Massive Response

In John Haffert’s book, Meet the Witnesses, he estimated that 70,000 to 100,000 people went to Fatima on October 13, 1917 to see the Miracle of the Sun. On October 11, 2008, an estimated 120,000 Catholics went out to the Public Square Rosary Rallies in America.

With 3,400 Rosary Captains organizing these events, the mere scope of these Rosary Rallies was incredible. With the help of the campaign’s central office near Topeka, Kan., Rally Captains received all that was necessary to organize their own events. Posters and programs were placed on the Internet for downloads. News of the rallies spread quickly and to such an extent that there were rallies in every major city and all fifty states.

Rally locations were published on America Needs Fatima’s Web site so participants could find the one nearest to them. An impressive network was formed in which local organizers would meet nearby Catholics where they thought none existed. Some rallies were only blocks apart. Participants from last year’s rallies became Rally Captains this year, which often increased the number of rallies in a single city. There were, for example, six rallies in the city of Hazleton, Pa. In York, Pa., there were two rallies, one with more than 50 participants. In Topeka, Kan., there were four rallies within blocks of each other. It is estimated that there were 70 rallies just in the Miami metropolitan area alone.

In this respect, one Rally Captain in Miami wrote, “On Saturday, October 11, 2008, 30 people prayed the Rosary publicly at Bird Road. Our rally was one of five on Bird Road, one of 50 in Dade County, and one of 3,400 prayed at the same time all across America at noon. We prayed to God and to Our Holy Mother for their intercession to put an end to the bad things that are happening in our nation and in the world, politically, economically, the lack of morality, ethics and principles, plus abortions and outright blasphemy.”

Before a Higher Supreme Court

American TFP members gathered in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., for a Rosary Rally. The event was graced with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima with an escort of TFP members in ceremonial garb. The program included the Rosary, hymns, bagpipe music and other prayers.

America Needs Fatima Director Robert Ritchie reminded the participants that the prayers of 3,400 rallies were being presented before a higher court—God’s throne. Mr. Ritchie especially mentioned the need for reparation for the YouTube videos showing Host desecrations which has been the target of a special TFP campaign.

Noteworthy Rallies

While the rally reports are just starting to come in, some already stand out. One of the largest rallies was in Austin, Texas, where according to News 8 Austin, “more than 1,000 Christians participated in a prayer rally at the Capitol Saturday.” There was also a large group at the Capitol Building in Harrisburg, Pa. Another group stationed itself in the middle of Jackson Square in New Orleans, La.

Over 100 people gathered in Cincinnati’s Fountain Square where a local priest led the Rosary while another gave a short homily. The well-organized event also featured a sound system on Fountain Square to play various renderings of Ave Maria and a 60-slide PowerPoint presentation that looped through the entire vigil and displayed on a 20-foot-high screen on top of the building behind the podium and speakers. The event was blessed with wonderful weather as the Rally Captain noted, “Our Lady must truly know the weatherman.”

“We thought our family was going to be the only people there,” said one young participant at the rally in Marysville, Calif. However, in the middle of the first Rosary, another family came who had come last year. Then others arrived, including one mother with her two-month-old baby. Two of the young boys played music like “God Bless America” on their trumpets to add to the rally’s enthusiasm. One man watched from a distance. He said he was a World War II veteran and that he was not a praying man, but the crisis the nation is facing today is the worse crisis it has ever faced and that the only answer is prayer. He said that he was glad that there are Americans all over the country taking to the streets and praying in town squares.

At this same rally, pedestrians came and started praying while others came up and kissed Our Lady’s picture on the banner. During the whole rally, there were honks, waves, and thumbs-up in approval. Many cars slowed down to read our banner, and other cars came back around to re-read it. As the rally ended, a lady and her friends spontaneously began singing traditional Mexican songs of praise to Our Lady.

One of the Rosary Rallies in St. Louis, Mo., had some 50 participants led by the parish pastor. Children as young as one joined seniors assembled at the corner where they began to pray the Rosary. The choir director led the singing of songs to Our Lady and the event ended with a blessing from the pastor. There were numerous honks, thumbs-up and shouts of encouragement.

The Rosary Rally exhilarated all of the attendees and the shared conversations on the sidewalk lasted long after the Rosary Rally was over. The pastor expressed disappointment that this was “only” done annually, and already planned a second rally for November 1.

There were nearly 15 people at the Public Square Rosary Rally in Stockholm, Sweden. The event started at a church in the center of Stockholm where participants lit a candle and prayed before starting on a pilgrimage while walking through the city’s center.

The group walked through the central square of Stockholm’s King’s Garden, passed in front of the Royal Palace, through the quays and finally ended at the cathedral where they celebrated Saint Bridget’s feast day. “This Pilgrims’ Way seems nothing to some,” reported the Rally Captain, “but for those who know Sweden, it is unbelievable. I want to thank you in the name of Sweden!” The group reported that they have been trying for twenty years to do such a Rosary and took courage from the over 3,000 rallies in America.

Facing Obstacles

As reports started flooding in from across the country, it was evident that Rally Captains and participants felt a great joy in praying the Rosary and honoring Our Lady in public. The intensity of their commitment and their willingness to overcome obstacles is extremely edifying.

Like last year, participants in the rallies faced all sorts of obstacles ranging from discouragement from friends to inclement weather.

In South Beach, Fla., for example, over 100 people participated in the Rosary Rally. This beachfront community is known for its large hotels with tourists from all over the world. The Rally Captain reported a large number of these tourists got a different sight on Saturday morning as many stopped to take pictures of the event. She noted that she had been discouraged from organizing the Rosary Rally from those who said she would never get a permit for such a “liberal” area. She got the permit and, full of energy and devotion to Our Lady, held the rally.

In New Mexico, a Rally Captain reported on her successful rally: “The wind was terrible and tore my banner to pieces, sparing Our Lady’s face, for which I was glad.” Twenty-five people were at the Rosary Rally during which the Captain made some very good friends in Christ. She effusively thanked America Needs Fatima for coordinating the event.

One participant from Albuquerque, N.M., found Satan hard at work in preventing her at every turn from coming to the rallies, including a problem reading the Web site with the rally locations. Thankfully she found a very public and original rally on the catwalk over I-40 at Coors. “My best friend and I went and what a blessing! It was windy and spitting drops of rain ‘holy water’ as one lovely lady called it, but just as we finished praying the sun came out. I have no doubt that Our Lady was with us. It was wonderful, to have the cars and trucks honking as they went by. I just know that 2008 will be more successful than 2007, and that 2009 even more.”

At the Roseville, Calif., Rosary Rally, twelve brave souls ventured out in the high winds to pray the Rosary and bear witness to the Fatima message. The high winds made it impossible to attach the banner to any tree or post but they were able to wrap the banner around a large public utility maintenance box that faced the busy intersection. “The winds were high but the prayer warriors were spirited and the incense rose to heaven to honor Our Lord through His Blessed Mother.”

The Public Square Rosary Rally in Butte, Mont., faced an even greater obstacle: it snowed. A severe snowstorm and strong winds, the Rally Captain noted, helped supply the penance part of the Fatima message. Twenty people braved the elements. Last year, some 65 had attended the Rosary Rally in beautiful weather.

One Rosary Rally participant in Hialeah, Fla., did not know that the Rosary Rally location had changed and thus could not make it to the place of the rally in time. As it started to get late, she pulled up at a shopping center, and said to herself, “It’s already 12:20 p.m. and I am not going to miss this.” She then parked her car, unrolled the banner, and started praying the Rosary. “I prayed the Rosary, said the litanies and consecration by myself and as I did this a refreshing breeze cooled the area on this typically hot day. As I prayed, I also felt confident, secured a happy strength, knowing that thousands of Rosaries were being prayed at the same time all over the United States.”

At Oxnard, Calif., the weather was uncooperative for the rally. The wind was blowing harder and harder while the thirteen brave souls were praying the Rosary. Several noticed that a vase of roses was knocked down and then propped up by an unseen hand. Despite everything, the Captain hopes the weather will be better next year.

Being Public

Another aspect of the rallies is the participant’s great joy in going public with the Rosary. They derived a special pleasure in standing up for Our Lady and made special efforts to be visible.

From Mondovi, Wis., came the news of a noontime rally of 25 people on the sidewalk of a busy highway. Motorists passed by and read the banner. The Rally Captain quoted The Secret of the Rosary by Saint Louis de Montfort: “Public prayer is far more powerful than private prayer to appease the anger of God and call down His mercy and Holy Mother Church, guided by the Holy Ghost, has always advocated public prayer in times of public tragedy and suffering.” He reported general excitement in the group and interest in starting other rallies next year in other places since he believed “there is hunger for more of this in the small towns of our area.”

On short notice, one Rally Captain in Woodstock, Ga., arranged the whole event with the help of his parish pastor in just four days. About eighty people started in the center of a local park saying the Consecration prayers before moving to the sidewalk where they could be more visible to the traffic. Many drivers offered their support or questioned what they were praying for. The event was so blessed that the parish priest asked if another Public Square Rosary Rally could be held in early November.

In Tucson, Ariz., the Rosary Rally was held with the local pro-life group in front of an abortion clinic. Many passersby showed support while a few loud people voiced their disapproval. It was a windy day and participants had to hold on tightly to the banner.

In Omaha, Neb., a small group of Catholics felt honored to process down the street. “We must have seen hundreds of cars go by. I loved to see drivers look at us as they passed. Most responses were positive, and we were already conveniently praying for the people who responded negatively.”

More People and More Often

Many Rally Captains reported more participants than last year. Others want to have the rallies more often. Most are looking forward to next year.

The Rally Captain in Pecos, Texas, reported that the Rosary Rally had four times more people than the 2007 Rosary Rally. Sixty participants were at the event in front of a nearby county courthouse with a good exposure to traffic.

In Monticello, N.Y., about 140 people took part in a nearly four-block-long Marian procession led by the local Knights of Columbus Council Color Guard to the steps of the county courthouse where the Rosary was recited in English and in Spanish. The procession was followed by a Holy Hour back at the parish church. Inspired by his parish priest, the Rally Captain reported that all are “so looking forward to next year!”

At the county courthouse in Hays, Kan., twenty-two people gathered to pray the Rosary for America. It began at noon as the church bells were ringing a block away. The banner was tied and taped to the wooden fence in front of the courthouse. People waved as they drove by and read the banner. After the prayer rally, some people asked if this was going to be done more often and that they would attend if more were planned.

“Last year our corner had only four people praying the Rosary, this year there were close to twenty-five!” wrote one veteran Rosary Captain. “Our poor country is in deep trouble and our only hope is going to come from heaven.”

From Mission, Texas, the Rosary Captain reported that his rally had gone well and that the Blessed Mother had touched their hearts because “all felt that this should be done every month instead of yearly to steer this great nation in the right direction.”

“We had a very successful Public Square Rosary Crusade with great attendance compared to last year and by next year I expect to triple the number of attendees,” wrote yet another Rosary Captain. Another Rosary Captain reported forty participants in Kalispell, Mont., up from twelve last year.
Other Repercussions

The reports only give a small sampling of the many graces at the rallies and the intense commitment of those involved to organize this great public effort to call upon God’s blessing for the nation.

One person happened to find the Rosary Rally by chance. He put up this account on his blog: “I looked out the window and saw a group of people setting up statues of Our Lady. I wandered over to the little square . . . and saw that I was just in time to join in America Needs Fatima’s Rosary Rally. . . . Curiously enough, this past week a friend was reminding me that it is times like this in which we must turn to Our Lady with our fears and concerns; she also remarked that we ought to make a conscious effort to consecrate our nation to Our Lady.”

The Rally Captain from Saint John’s, Mich., reported 207 people present at his rally. He said he wished he could have done more to get even more to attend.
On short notice, one Rally Captain in Chambersburg, Pa., did not even have time to receive an organizer’s kit. However, 15 people came to his rally and he is ready to do another one in December.

Press Repercussions

Although the major media remained silent on the Rosary Rallies, local media, church bulletins, blogs and newsletters carried extensive and favorable coverage of the events. A sampling of the stories gives an idea of the coverage.

The Corsicana Daily of Corsicana, Texas, for example, reported that 70 members of Corsicana’s Catholic community joined together for its first Rosary Rally in Community Park. “Deacon Lewis and I were pleased with the turnout at the first rally,” said Angie Sanchez, team captain for the Rosary Rally. “Attendees expressed enthusiasm, whereby a larger rally is planned for next year.”

The Republican Herald of Shenandoah, Pa., reported that a group of over forty people took a prayerful request to the public square in the downtown area to ask God to “return to America.” The report gave a full and accurate report on the Fatima apparitions, including the miracle of the sun, and noted the great interest of passersby and car traffic.

Connecticut’s Milford Mirror reported that about 150 people gathered for a “Public Square Rosary Crusade” to pray to God to save America. Attendees came from many area churches. There were retired people, families, teens and children. “America is mired in problems—problems in leadership, public scandal and sin, bad economy, terrorism,” states literature that teenagers distributed in the church parking lot. “Men cannot resolve them. God can. But He has been cast out. It’s time to beg God to ‘Return to America.’”

Confiding in Providence

The main theme of the Rosary Rallies was “pray for America,” which fit into the headlines of bad news in the economy and elsewhere.

Man’s efforts are insignificant by themselves. However, with the aid of Providence, a simple witness became a massive and beautiful event reinforcing the belief that God can intervene and hear the prayers of the faithful. These prayers and future public prayers may not have immediate consequences, but they might weigh heavily for the future of the nation.

These 3,400 rallies were seen by hundreds of thousands of people, which is good and even necessary to help spread the Fatima message and save souls. Above all, they were a fervent plea made up of hundreds of thousands of Rosaries offered by Our Blessed Mother to beg God to return to America.