WHAT HAPPENED AT THE 2015 SYNOD? PART L An Urgent and Disturbing Aside (Continued) The material we considered in the last instalment of these comments/reflections came from The Fatima Crusader movement about which we should be informed because comments like the ones contained in the e-mail about my homily come from Catholics on the right who know little about the Church’s Social Teaching, especially regarding Social Justice matters, but get many elements of their Catholicism from rightist groups like the Fatima Crusaders. What we saw in Doctor Salza’s article in The Fatima Crusader was also echoed in other articles. Below please allow me to walk you quickly through a few other illustrations. One comes from an article title “The Message of Fatima Imposes An Obligation on the Church” by Father Nicholas Gruner, S.T.L., S.T.D. (Cand [=Candidate]), R.I.P., who founded the Fatima Crusade movement. The article deals with the Risen Lord’s message to Saint Margaret Mary for the King of France, a message the king did not heed. “Saint Margaret Mary certainly had a reputation in her lifetime as a saint … France was in its glory days and Louis XIV was the most powerful and, shall we say, the most glorious of the French kings in his power and so they did not listen. One hundred years later, as we know, the French king was stripped of his power by the masonic infiltration of his country and the Masonic lodges took away the king’s right to rule and make legislation – causing the French Revolution … It is interesting how Our Lord makes that some reference [in speaking to Lucia in 1931 about the need to consecrate Russia] when He tells us that what happened to the kings of France – by the same enemies – will happen to the Pope and bishops. Today, of course, they don’t see it, but the signs are there if you’re willing to look at them. My point here is that Our Lord, Himself, says that they will be punished; they will follow the King of France into misfortune for one reason – for not obeying His command [to consecrate Russia].” (Father Nicholas Gruner, “The Message of Fatima Imposes An Obligation on the Church,” The Fatima Crusader, Winter 2015, pages 4 – 12) In another article (“Testimonial to Father Gruner”), we read the following. “On Thursday [September 24, 2015], the Holy Father will address a joint session of Congress [in the United States]. In his speech, the Pope may well touch on some of the issues that bedevil the people of the United States and world. He may even propose certain ideas to address those issues. Father Gruner wanted us to be here [Washington, D.C.] because we know that only one idea will work. We know that only Mary can help us. We know that the crisis in the world and the Church [note!] is too far gone for human solutions. We know that the only thing that will turn the tide against Satan and his legions is the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” (Miriam Gruner, “Testimonial to Father Gruner,” The Fatima Crusader, Winter 2015, pages 37-39) Or again consider the following. “Certainly that element of the Secret that predicts an unparalleled crisis in the Church – I mean the text the Vatican has withheld, wherein the Blessed Virgin explains the meaning of the obscure vision published in 2000 – would have been clearer in 1960. In that year revolution was beginning in both the Church with the calling of the Second Vatican Council, and the world at large, which underwent an accelerated descent into total depravity. [Strong words!] (Anyone who is old enough to remember those days will recall that the Sixties were a time in which it seemed that both the Church and society had crossed over a threshold into a state of affairs the once Christian West had never seen before. “Today, so many large pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place that even the smallest pieces are now readily fitted into the picture. For example, the Synod on the Family, where we see precisely 1 that ‘the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from enemies outside, but arises from sin in the Church.’ Thus it is no surprise that in the message of Akita, which Pope Benedict (then Cardinal Ratzinger) confirmed is ‘an extension of Fatima’ such that ‘these two messages are essentially the same,’ we read what can only be a foretelling of the very thing we see at work in the Synod [the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Akita, Japan, to Sister Agnes Sasagawa took place after the Fatima apparitions and it is to these that the following material is related]: …The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church. One will see Cardinals opposing other Cardinals … and bishops confronting other bishops. The priests who venerate Me will be scorned and condemned by their confreres; churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will tempt many priests and religious to leave the service of the Lord.” (“They Fired Bullets and Arrows at Him,” Christopher A. Ferrara, The Fatima Crusader, Winter 2015, pages 45-48) And “where the Third Secret is concerned, we have long since passed the point where the major pieces of the puzzle reveal the big picture: that the Secret foretells a divine chastisement of both the Church and the world, following an internal attack on the Church by her enemies within. That piece of the puzzle which pertains to the internal enemies of the Church was revealed by Pope Benedict XVI during his pilgrimage to Fatima in May of 2010, when he declared that in the Secret: ‘are indicated future realities of the Church which are little by little developing and revealing themselves … As for the novelty that we can discover today in this message, it is that attacks on the Pope and the Church do not come from the outside, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from sins that exist in the Church. This has always been known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way: that the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from enemies outside, but arises from sin in the Church.’” (ibid.) And the only solution for the Fatima Crusaders is to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary so that Our Lady can use Russia to bless all other nations, bringing peace to all the world. But why is this not being done? “My only conclusion is that some people actually oppose these great benefits. Everyone may want peace, but not on Our Lady’s terms. Peace means different things to different people. The Communists used to say that peace will come when all the world is Communist. All real enemies of the Church want peace on their own terms, not on Our Lady’s. Others want peace, but not yet … or peace but not until … Another reason people might hesitate to accept Our Lady’s peace plan is the fear of returning to a Catholic world. Spoiled by the greater freedom offered by liberalism, some might dread the thought of regressing to a world of obedience, sacrifice, expiation, and self-control.” (“New Light on the Consecration of Russia,” (Suzanne Pearson, The Fatima Crusader, Winter 2015, pages 40-44) The castigation of today’s Church and Its Synods at times is hysterical and so biased that one’s credulity is taxed to the limits! “Even more disturbing [than pushing for environmentalism, homosexuality, and feminism by our secular world], is that certain members of the present-day Vatican, in their Modernist [the heresy that subjugates Faith to modern thought] thrust to allegedly ‘dialogue’ with the world, give the appearance of espousing the same evils promoted by the enemies of Christ. “Documents emanating from Synod 2014, as well as the preparatory documents for the 2015 Synod, unbelievable as it sounds, say we should look for ‘positive elements’ of co-habitation. [The footnote here states ‘See Paragraph 106 in the Instrumentum Laboris, the 2015 Synod Working Document released June 23, 2015; as well as the superb analysis of the Working Document by Voice of the Family, page 10.’] “The 2014 Synod mid-term document spoke of the ‘positive aspects’ of homosexuality. [The footnote here states ‘The October 13, 2014 mid-term report, which scandalized Catholics worldwide, contained this section: “The question of homosexuality was then addressed, with a call to serious 2 reflection. The Synod Fathers noted that homosexual persons have gifts and talents to offer the Christian community and that pastoral outreach to them is an important educative challenge.” This is a far cry from the correct teaching found even in the New Catechism, which is nowhere found in the Synod documents. “Sacred Scripture … presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity (cf. Genesis 19:1-29; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:10). Tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from genuine and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Number 2357)’ “We see Cardinals speaking of the alleged ‘positive aspects’ of ‘stable’ homosexual relationships. [The footnote here states ‘Stable gay relationship is better than a “temporary” one, says Cardinal Schönborn,’ Catholic Herald, September 11, 2015.’] These same men who propound these scandalous proposals maintain their influence of power in the 2015 Synod now underway.