"Taking Fatima seriously"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In less than 2 weeks the 100th Anniversary Year of Mary’s Apparitions at Fatima will come to an end. Pope Francis set the dates for the Centennial to begin on Nov. 27, 2016 and end Nov. 26, 2017. How significant that it ends on “Thanksgiving Day” in the USA!!!

Sadly, however, it seems very few (comparatively speaking) have thought much about Fatima and Mary’s 6 apparitions to the three little shepherd children. I do not think there were many parishioners (again comparatively speaking) at the special devotions we had from May through October in honor of Our Lady of Fatima’s apparitions. Possibly we saw 30 from approx a 1300 member-parish at Fatima devotions.

Hopefully, other places saw more devotion. I read of several Bishops who encouraged their priests and people, by consecrating their dioceses to Our Lady. It seems so important to me that clergy take the lead on devotion to Mary, but laity can also make their voices known as was the case in Europe where bishops had been requested several times before the Bishops Conference of England finally decided to consecrate their country as “Mary’s Dowry” due to the repeated requests of their people.

In responding to someone on another thread about Pope St. John Paul II’s Act of Consecration in 1984, I gave a link to an excellent article and I encourage all on this thread to read it as well. It explains why Sister Lucia said that his 1984 Consecration was as Our Lady requested and was accepted by God. I took the title of this thread from the article because I think it expresses my conviction that most Catholics have either never heard or have forgotten about Mary’s Apparitions at Fatima, her Message, and its importance. The majority of clergy and people perhaps are just not “Taking Fatima seriously” or seriously enough! I hope you’ll read this article. I’d be grateful for comments, but please if you wish to debate, start another thread. Thanks so much. HERE

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The Fatima devotions in my area were well attended, but they included a number of people who came from outside the parishes and make a point of doing Fatima devotions each year when the traveling Pilgrim statue tours around to different area churches (A different church each month). Of course this means you have to have transportation and, in this area, be willing to fight significant traffic at rush hour to get to the devotion on a week night.

I get the impression that unless you either have an old-school priest or go to a specific Marian shrine (those also had huge crowds for the monthly devotions; I went to two of them during two of the months) then the priests will shy away from discussing anything but the Gospel and maybe the Rosary. Perhaps this is out of fear of alienating people who do not want to believe in apparitions or have some other “problem” with Fatima or devotions. It makes no sense to me either, but those of us who love Our Lady will just keep up what we are doing and if others don’t want to get on the bus it is truly their own loss.

Fr. Richard Heilman is certainly doing his part to spread devotion to Our Lady including Fatima through his online blogs and groups for USA as well.

I don’t know who these “most Catholics” are who have never heard of Fatima, though. Maybe they are the ones who also don’t go to church much or don’t know anything about their faith in general. Every Catholic I know has at least heard of it, whether or not they know all the details, believe in it, or try to do what Mary asked.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Tis_Bearself,

Thanks so much for your encouraging reply. I am grateful to know some Fatima devotions were well attended. I believe you are correct in thinking that unless Priests have a devotion to Mary and encourage this in their parishes or if Fatima devotions are held at a Marian shrine, attendance is not as good as it might be. There seems to be a growing number of clergy who seem reluctant to preach on Mary. Is it “political correctness”, or fear of alienating some Catholics married to non Catholics, or fear of offending the non Catholic churches in the area, or what?? I do not know and make no judgment but merely am observing the present culture.

Catholics who may not have heard about Fatima would include children and teens who were baptized but have parents who send them to public schools and do not take them to Mass or Religious Instruction at their parish. There are also many young adults who are choosing to belong to the “nones” i.e. when asked what religion they profess, they reply “none”. This group may include those who were baptized but have little or no knowledge of the Catholic faith nor do they care to learn. It is sad to read some staggering statistics on Catholics, in general, who do not know or practice their Catholic Faith. No wonder Mary asked the children to pray and make sacrifices for poor sinners. Let us please, pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy.