Dear Readers,
I presume you know what I mean by the “Lepanto moment.” The Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571 is one of the most significant dates in Catholic history. It marks the decisive defeat of the Islamic Turkish empire threatening to overrun the Catholic West. Had the Holy League, raised by Pope Pius V to defend Christendom, suffered defeat many of us would be worshiping Allah today. The hero of Lepanto was Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and half-brother to Phillip II of Spain. When he faced the mighty fleet of Ali Pasha, he was only twenty-four years old. Every Catholic should study Lepanto. Every boy would revel in the valor and courage of the gallant warrior, Don John! A devout son of the Church, he knelt in prayer before the battle then danced a lively galliard on the deck of his flagship Real as they faced the Turks. The banner of the crucified Lord on a field of blue, a gift from the pope, unfurled in the breeze. Read Chris Check’s description of the battle at the Catholic Culture website and G.K. Chesterton’s poem Lepanto. Inhale the Spirit that fills the heart with zeal for the house of God!
Today we face another Lepanto moment, one that sees the threat to Christendom coming from the very heart of the Church. Sadly, Pope Francis is not the man to form a new Holy League as Pope St. Pius V did in the 16th century. In the age of the laity, the duty may fall to us with the guidance and leadership of faithful shepherds who continue to defend the deposit of the faith against the wolves. As Pope Paul VI said in 1972, "Satan's smoke has made its way into the temple of God through some crack." What started as a smoldering fire is now a conflagration filling the Church as the Amazon Synod revealed all too clearly. Idol worship enabled by bishops and clergy, and even the pope, is an abomination. True Catholics must respond!
I’m suggesting two things for the vanguard of the fight. First, let us beg our bishops to make reparation for the demonic idolatry that took place at the synod. Second, promote devotion to Our Lady of America and ask our bishops to enthrone her in their diocesan cathedrals and at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. I recently sent a letter to Bishop Michael Burbidge, asking him for those two things in my own diocese of Arlington. I beg you to send similar letters to your bishops and to beg your parish priests to offer Masses of reparation even if the bishops fail to respond. Here is my letter. Feel free to use it as a model.
Your Excellency: I’m writing this letter on the Feast of Blessed Miguel Pro, a day that reminds us that we are called to the battlefield of the Church Militant to fight for Christ the King. “Viva Cristo Rey” is our battle cry and the Mass and the rosary are our weapons. At the recent bishops’ meeting in Baltimore, the Catholic Media Coalition co-sponsored with Defend Life, two rosary processions begging our Blessed Mother’s intercession for our Church and her leaders, especially under her title of Our Lady of America. The Church, as you are well aware, is besieged and the recent Amazon Synod showed that the fight is very much within the Church.
Sin makes man a coward; but a life in the Truth of Christ makes Him bold.
St. John Chrysostom
I am writing as president of the Catholic Media Coalition and also as a member of your flock to beg you to respond to the call of many clerics and laity (including four exorcists) asking for reparation for the sin of idolatry at the Vatican during the Amazon Synod. Please, Your Excellency, offer a Mass of reparation at the diocesan cathedral and announce it in the Catholic Herald. Please ask every priest in the diocese and every deanery to offer Masses of reparation as well. The exorcists recommended December 6th, First Friday, as a particular day of atonement. What a blessing if every parish in the diocese offered a Mass of reparation that day with the prayers recommended by the exorcists which are available at LifeSiteNews: lifesitenews.com/news/exorcists-call-for-day-of-reparation-after-pachamama-rituals
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, during the synod and its aftermath, the readings at Mass focused on the abominations that occurred during the reign of Antiochus IV. We are living that time again. We saw the Pachamama fertility goddess venerated and worshiped on the very ground where Catholic martyrs lie. What a desecration! We saw groups of synod participants bow down to the idols in front of the tabernacle. What an insult to Jesus! We saw Pachamama, “Mother Earth” in a bowl, placed on the very altar during the synod closing Mass, a sacrilege and blasphemy. Your Excellency, we must make reparation!
I also beg you to enthrone Our Lady of America in the cathedral. Her request to be enthroned at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception by the bishops is yet unfulfilled, but every bishop in the country could prepare for that by giving her honor in his own diocesan cathedral. Our lustful age desperately needs her call for purity. She warned us through Sr. Mary Ephrem that:
The hour grows late. My Son’s patience will not last forever. Help me hold back His anger, which is about to descend on sinful and ungrateful men. Suffering and anguish, such as never before experienced, is about to overtake mankind. It is the darkest hour. But if men will come to me, my Immaculate Heart will make it bright again with the mercy which my Son will rain down through my hands. Help me save those who will not save themselves. Help me bring once again the sunshine of God’s peace upon the world.
The hour is very late. It is our shepherds like you, Your Excellency, who have the power to call the flock to listen to Mary’s call of repentance and answer with a resounding “Yes!” to her questions:
Will my children in America listen to my pleadings and console my Immaculate Heart? Will my loyal sons carry out my desires and thus help me bring the peace of Christ once again to mankind?
Please, Your Excellency, we need your leadership. I will be offering my daily Mass and rosary for you and will be making a daily act of penance for your intentions.
Sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Mary Ann Kreitzer, President, Catholic Media Coalition