At a hotel that is a 9-minute walk from where the World Meeting of Families is being held in Dublin, The Lumen Fidei Institute sponsored “A Conference of Catholic Families” over two days this week.
The conference was clearly designed to present an alternate perspective on some of the issues being covered at the World Meeting of Families. The infamous Father James Martin spoke this morning at the World Meeting of Families on how Catholic parishes can welcome “LGBT” individuals. By contrast, at the Lumen Fidei conference, Lifesitenews editor John-Henry Westen delivered a talk entitled “It’s Hate not to Tell LGBT Catholics Gay Sex Leads to Hell.”
Approximately 400 people attended both days of the Lumen Fidei conference, which featured video talks from Cardinal Raymond Burke and Bishop Anthanasius Schneider, and live talks from Dr. Robert Royal (The Catholic Thing) and Edward Pentin (National Catholic Register) among others. To standing ovations from those in attendance, speakers pointed out many of the heterodox ideas being advanced by Pope Francis and at the World Meeting of Families and called for a “counter-revolution” in Ireland, where the faithful continue to reel from the legalization of “same-sex marriage” in 2015 and to the loss of a referendum on abortion three months ago.
While it is most salutary to point out the errors that are being propagated throughout the Church today and while both the speakers and those in attendance at the Lumen Fidei conference clearly take their faith seriously, certain key points were missed in several talks, which resulted in erroneous conclusions both about the causes of the crisis in the Church today and the only possible solution to it. Perhaps nowhere was this more apparent than when it came to the Message of Fatima.
Bishop Schneider was perhaps the most disappointing when it came to the Fatima Message. His talk was entitled “The Situation in the Church and the Secrets of Fatima,” but he did not mention Fatima even once.
By contrast, John-Henry Westen’s treatment of the Fatima Message would have been at home at a Fatima Center conference. He called attention to Our Lady’s statement to St. Jacinta that “more souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason” before noting that today, more people view pornography on a regular basis than were alive at the time Our Lady made that statement. He recommended to those in attendance that they make the Five First Saturdays of Reparation and consecrate themselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He demonstrated what some of the errors of Russia are and how they have spread throughout the world. He agreed with Cardinal Burke that the consecration of Russia has not been done as Our Lady requested. In respect of the well-known statement of Sister Lucy to Cardinal Caffarra that the “final battle between God and satan will be over marriage and the family,” Westen noted that shortly before his death last summer, Cardinal Caffarra indicated that, in his view, that battle had begun.
To conclude his talk, Westen, with emotion, addressed those who promote heterodoxy and perpetrate scandal and sin in the Church today, saying: “We refuse to stand by in silence while you abuse our children…while you abuse our faith…while you abuse our liturgies and … while you abuse our Eucharistic Lord!” Laudatory sentiments certainly, but is speaking out on such issues more likely to turn the tide than the consecration of Russia?
In his talk, “Have Synods Become Vehicles for Legitimising Heterodoxy?,” Edward Pentin suggested that the Message of Fatima was also part of the solution to the problems that bedevil us. He exhorted the audience to say the Rosary daily, pray, do penance, make the Five First Saturdays and offer up our sufferings. He did not mention the consecration of Russia. Similarly, a pamphlet given to all attending the conference called “The Message of Fatima – Our Lady’s Requests to Mankind” fails to make clear that the consecration of Russia has not been done as requested by Our Lady and doing it will end the turmoil in the Church and prevent greater chastisements.
On the second afternoon of the conference, three members of our Fatima Center team had a friendly but animated discussion with a man who helps run the World Apostolate of Fatima in Ireland. He insisted that the consecration of Russia requested by Our Lady was fulfilled by Pope John Paul II’s 1984 consecration of the world. Other than suggesting that Sister Lucy agreed that consecration fulfilled Our Lady’s request in certain typewritten letters beginning in 1988 – an argument that has been thoroughly debunked (see: http://archive.fatima.org/crusader/cr83/cr83pg20.asp) – he had no evidence or arguments in support of his position and no answer to the host of evidence and arguments advanced to refute his contention.
It is clear that many conservative Catholics have difficulty with the issue of the consecration of Russia. Even those like Cardinal Burke and John-Henry Westen, who admit that the consecration of Russia has not been done, do not appear to regard getting the consecration done as the prime remedy for the crisis in the Church. Most conservative Catholics, however, either continue to believe the consecration has been done or that Fatima is a private revelation and accordingly unimportant. Both such positions are contrary to all evidence and logic.
The general discomfort of conservative Catholics towards Fatima likely relates to the implications of believing the Message. If you come to accept that the Vatican’s party-line, that the consecration of Russia was done in 1984 and that the Third Secret of Fatima was released in its entirety in 2000, does not hang together, you almost certainly have to revisit your conclusions about the Vatican, the Second Vatican Council, the New Mass, and the post-conciliar popes among other things.
Helping as many Catholics as possible get past whatever difficulties they have concerning the Fatima Message, so that they come to know, live and obey the same is crucial if we are to obtain sufficient graces for the Pope and the bishops to consecrate Russia and for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
Please pray and sacrifice for all such Catholics and help us to help them.
World Meeting of Families, Day Three Update
Father Isaac Mary Relyea offered the second of five Masses of reparation for the outrages perpetrated against the Two Hearts by the World Meeting of Families and preached a soon-to-be posted sermon on the Feast of St. Philip Benizi.
The turnout for our procession of reparation with the Pilgrim Virgin statue around the grounds where the conference is being held continues to grow. Several people who saw or read news reports on our procession joined us. One man indicated he wanted to make reparation for the talk being given by Father James Martin, which was going on while we were processing.
The police officer in charge of security at the venue for the World Meeting of Families saw our procession passing and started to follow us. We became concerned he was going to try to shut down our procession, but it turned out he wanted to make sure we didn’t have any problematic interactions with any “LGBT” individuals or groups. One such group staged a protest outside the venue but there were no incidents.