"Our Lady of America"

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Have you any knowledge of “Our Lady of America?” See HERE

I became aware of this devotion sometime ago and today I received in their newsletter a quote from the approved visionary Sr. Ephrem (now deceased):
“My child, I entrust you with this message that you must make known to my children in America. I wish it to be the country dedicated to my purity. The wonders I will work will be the wonders of the Soul. They must have faith and believe firmly in my love for them. I desire that they be the children of my Pure Heart. I desire, through my children of America, to further the cause of faith and purity among peoples and nations. Let them come to me with confidence and simplicity, and I, their Mother, will teach them to become pure like to my Heart that their own hearts may be more pleasing to the Heart of my Son." (Our Lady of America to Sr. Mary Ephrem, September 26, 1956)
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I stressed the words that jumped off the page for me. The USA has the Immaculate Conception for our Patroness, and Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness for all of the Americas. Truly Pope Francis is following the Holy Spirit in declaring the Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church to be celebrated the Monday after Pentecost starting this May 21. God willing, let us continue to pray and do whatever we can by God’s Grace to help all to know and love our Mother more!
 
Yes, I found out about this about a year ago, because another Marian shrine in USA was selling “Our Lady of America” prayer cards.

The morning prayer group at one of my regular churches also always invokes “Our Lady of America, pray for us” in their regular list of saints they ask to pray for us at the end of the Rosary (along with St. Joseph, the titular saint of the parish church, etc.)

As I understand it, there is some controversy about the statue being placed in the National Shrine.
i am afraid that at this point in our nation’s history, an “Our Lady of America” statue might be regarded with alarm as being too “nationalistic”, which is vexing. Some people really have a problem with patriotism even though it is what built our country and, in and of itself (not taken to nationalistic extremes), it is fine.
In any event, we can all pray to “Our Lady of America” ourselves and hope that in the future she might receive more public devotion.
 
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I didn’t know of this particular evocation of Our Lady. I will read up on it.

Some folks might be fooled into thinking the USA doesn’t have a rich catholic heritage like some older countries do. But I get ever more impressed by the importance and vitality of the US faithful in the Catholic church.
 
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Is that the part where Our Lady requested a solemn procession (with the bishops)? We were a little late with her request at Fatima…what’s the holdup now? When she asks something, it’s for a very, very good reason, and for our own good.

It’s not like the statue will be placed in the White House (although I would not object to a copy being placed there) — it will be at a Catholic basilica.

Let’s get it done!
 
I read about these apparitions and found them worthy of faith. I do realize that they are not approved (yet) by the Church.
When I see the condition of our country, however, it makes me think we missed the boat here.
 
Arbovirus said:
Is that the part where Our Lady requested a solemn procession (with the bishops)? We were a little late with her request at Fatima…what’s the holdup now?
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I think there’s been some processions.
There was this giant intellectual property rights lawsuit going on until the end of 2015 or thereabouts over who owned the rights to Sister Mary Ephrem’s diary, the statue, the websites associated with Our Lady of America, etc. and that would have kept the statue from being placed in the National Shrine - they wouldn’t want to be in the middle of a legal action.

Apparently Sister Mary Ephrem (later Sr. Mary Mildred Neuzil) left all her property, including the copyrights to the diary of revelations, to one of her fellow sisters who later left her order, taking all the property with her, and then entered into some agreement with two guys from Indiana who were going to help her promote the devotion, then they all got into a big legal fight over whether the sister who left still owned everything, or whether it was all public domain. The court ruled it was public domain in Dec. 2015. But it doesn’t look like too much has been happening with the devotion since then, so I don’t know what’s up with it.

At least we can read Sister Mary Ephrem’s diary online at ourladyofamerica.org .
 
I especially am drawn to the apparitions of St. Joseph in this and the Brazil apparitions. My devotion to him has increased a lot after learning about these (I do the Wednesday devotions to St. Joseph as much as I can):


I live pretty close to Our Lady of Good Help and (frustratingly) haven’t yet been able to get there. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Keep waiting to find a pilgrimage from here that I can join.
I do know a youth group walking there on pilgrimage this summer, but I’m not into that degree of torture at my age.
 
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Which also has the shrine right on the apparition site.

Unfortunately, Sister Mary Ephrem’s order sold the alleged apparition site in Indiana to a Protestant group. :roll_eyes:
 
There’s also the Rhoda Wise House and Grotto in Canton, OH. Jesus and St. Therese allegedly appeared to Servant of God Rhoda Wise in the house. The apparitions have not been officially approved, but the House and Grotto have been approved by the bishop for devotions, and Rhoda has an active cause for sainthood.

rhodawise.com
 
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Thanks for your reply, Tis_bearself!

I spent some time on the website today and I agree with you that “patriotism” is a good when the intention is good. When it descends into something other than the “true good” which God teaches, then we can sink into many errors.

This is America and there seems no reason not to have her statue enthroned in our National Cathedral. There are other Countries represented with statues of Our Lady which are precious to those countries. I’m sad that the Bishops have not yet agreed to do this procession in her honor and enthrone her statue. I downloaded the booklet and began to read it. It reminded me in some ways of Sister Faustina’s Diary.

Yes let us continue to pray to Mary, entrusting our country and all the countries of the World to her Immaculate Heart.
 
Dear adgloriam,

Thanks for your reply! Hope you will read more from the website HERE. Truly, the United States has an important, and rich Catholic heritage! You’ll read some of it if you click on the link. 🙂
 
Dear Arborvirus,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, Mary did ask the Bishops to process into our National Shrine, in Washington and enthrone the statue of Our Lady of America. You can read much more at the website HERE.

You are not alone in wanting this to be done, but I liked the man on the website who has persevered in promoting this devotion for some 13 years, when he said that it is not the Bishops alone who have not responded to Our Lady’s requests. He is right. How many Catholics pray a daily Rosary? How many observe First Saturdays?

Let’s get it done in ourselves first – maybe enthrone Jesus and Mary as King and Queen in our hearts and in the hearts of our family members. Perhaps we need a groundswell of Pure Hearts after Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Clergy, Religious and Lay men women and Children – all need to remember Mary is our Mother and Model for the Church. How much are we like Mary our Model?

Thanks again for your reply. Yes. I agree “Let’s get it done!” 🙂
 
Dear Limoncello402,

Thanks so much for the article in The Catholic Register. I want to go back to it, since I did not have time to read it all.

If the Lord wants you to get to Our Lady of Good Hope, He will provide a way for you. Keep asking Him. Adding to your request: “if it be Your Will, Lord”, is often a safeguard for us. God may want something other than a pilgrimage or a trip to Our Lady of Good Help. St. Joseph and Mary – like Jesus, sought the Will of the Father first.

I’m really happy to read of your devotion to St. Joseph. He is the Universal Patron of the Church. We need to pray to Him. Thanks again for you reply.
 
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Yeah, I have a strong sense, given all that has happened recently in these and other apparitions, that St. Joseph is gaining in prominence in these “last days.” Makes sense to me.
 
Dear limoncello,

Yes, Sister Lucia said that the last battle satan would wage against Mary and her children would be against the human family! From the opening of Vatican II by St. John XXIII on the Feast of Mary’s Maternity, the evil one has been working to deceive many into thinking any true devotion to Mary in some way lessens devotion to God – notice I specify “True Devotion”! St. Louis de Montfort writes about false devotees in his treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

The Holy Spirit prevails, however, and while many have sought to lessen devotion to Mary, remove her statues, and neglect teaching children to love her, God continues to raise up those who love Him through her and with her in this world! Likewise in the closing of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI, soon to be canonized gave Mary the title “Mother of the Church”, and Pope Francis has announced a new Memorial to be celebrated by the Universal Church on the Monday after Pentecost to honor Mary as Mother of the Church.

It seems fitting that there be also an increase in devotion to St. Joseph, to help in the ongoing battle with satan to protect the Family as he protected Mary and the Child Jesus. It “makes sense” as you said. 🙂
 
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I would note that there is another website, ourladyofamerica.com , that appears to be operated by the sister to whom Sister Mildred Neuzil (formerly Sister Mary Ephrem) left her estate and is selling (at a low price) the original Our Lady of America medal and prayer leaflet and claiming they will be selling statues soon.

According to the court documents I spent some time reading, this sister, formerly Sister Joseph Therese, was formerly a cloistered nun along with Sister Mildred Neuzil, and was her caregiver. Sister Joseph Therese requested and was granted 2 years exclaustration, ostensibly to promote this devotion, but at the end of the second year was told no extension would be granted. She failed to return to the cloister or otherwise respond, so the Holy See removed her and stated to the court she’s no longer a sister. Now she’s known as Patricia Fuller.

The history of the devotion on that website only goes up to 2005 because at that point she got involved with Langsenkamp Family Associates who run the other Our Lady of America website at ourladyofamerica.org , and Dan Lynch who has another website promoting this and other devotions, and the whole thing ended up in the big ongoing lawsuit over the rights that lasted years.

It appears that Fuller and the dot com site still have the rights to the original Our Lady of America medal and pamphlet, as the dot org website is selling something very different (and much costlier).

I’m not even sure if the Contemplative Sisters of the Indwelling Trinity still exist given that they did not have many members and several seem to have died off based on obituaries.

“Our Lady of America Center” seems to be a PO box in Fostoria, Ohio for now…if it were a real place I would go visit because it’s not all that far from where I grew up (it’s near Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics, a beautiful shrine where I have been).

Typical of USA to have all of this end up in a legal confusion. We should all pray to Our Lady of America to sort it out soon.
 
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Thanks for the clarification and update. I was always confused about the status and who to “listen to” and who’s the “legitimate” promoter of the devotion.

What an unfortunate hurdle with the lawsuit…
 
Dear Arbovirus and Tis_Bearself,

It is sad to see the extent of “lawsuits” in the USA and especially when they involve religious matters. Nevertheless, I agree that Our Lady’s intercession by the power of the Holy Spirit can help all to discern what is true from what is false.

I’ve only begun to read the words of Sister Ephem in the download I received at the website, but her words reminded me of St. Faustina and I hope to continue reading her words prayerfully, trusting God will give the Church wisdom through these apparitions. Though not yet fully approved by Rome, they have the local Bishop’s approval, and the approval of Cardinal Burke. I believe there may be others who’ve approved but I’ve not read any other names yet.

Certainly in what I have read I’ve found nothing “contrary” to Catholic Faith, but on the contrary have been blessed and encouraged. Thank you both for your devotion to Mary in giving your time to this thread. May we make these nine days before Pentecost a novena with Mary for the interior renewal of the Church in America and the whole world.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful, kindle in us the Fire of Your Love!
Jesus, we trust in You!
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
 
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