This should help all realize the power of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She is Mother of the Church and she cares about all her children.
Below is a summary of significant dates to  the Fatima Family Apostolate of only some of the events of recent years.  They will serve as signs of Marian interventions in Church and world history.  These events remind us Mary does not forget her children.

May 13 to October 13, 1917 – The Mother of God appears to three little shepherd children near
Fatima, Portugal on the 13th of six consecutive months. Our Lady gives a message
of hope and warning of dangers to humanity and the faith of people of the
Church. She comes as Our Lady of Light and of the Holy Eucharist. She speaks of
the errors of Russia to spread to all nations. She tells of great persecutions
to the Church, the Holy Father, the danger of souls falling into hell.

She appears holding her Immaculate Heart in her hand
and says: God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.
… I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart,
and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays.

If my wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted
and there will be peace. If not, Russia will spread her errors throughout the
world, promoting wars, and persecution of the Church. The good will be martyred,
the Holy Father will have much to suffer …. Our Lady says that Francisco and
Jacinta will die soon and go to heaven but Lucia must remain many years in the
world to promote devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sr. Lucia is still
living at the end of the second millennium.

During the same six months, Our Lady is appearing in
Portugal. Lenin is in Russia organizing the Bolshevik Revolution which takes
over the government of Russia with the goal of conquering the world for
atheism.

December 10, 1925 -
Our Lady of Fatima appears to Sr. Lucia now in the convent in Pontevedra, Spain
and asks for sacramental reparation of Confession and Holy Communion on First
Saturdays, plus praying the Rosary with meditation on its mysteries.

First Saturdays are associated with the spiritual
welfare of Russia. A spiritual bonus is promised to individuals of Marys
intercession to assist at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for
salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, perform the acts of reparation requested. Reparation
on every first Saturday however is encouraged for the good of
mankind.
June 13, 1929 -
Sister Lucia in the Convent at Tuy, Spain receives an appearance of Our Lady of
Fatima to ask the Pope and bishops of the world for the Consecration of Russia
to her Immaculate Heart, promising by this means to prevent the spreading of its
errors and to bring about its conversion.
June 13, 1929 onward to March 25, 1984
- Sister Lucia prays and sacrifices, seeking
practical ways to get the Pope to have the bishops of the world join him in
consecrating the world and Russia in particular to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary.
December 20, 1940 -
Sister Lucia is permitted for the first time to write to the Holy Father, Pope
Pius XII, asking for this Consecration of Russia. Pope Pius XII in subsequent
years consecrates the world and later Russia but does so alone, not with the
worlds bishops as required by Our Lady of Fatima.
October 31, 1942 -
Pope Pius XII consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary
May 13, 1946 - Pius
XII through a legate crowns the image of Our Lady of Fatima and proclaims her
Queen of the World. Popes begin calling Fatima Altar of the
World.
October 13, 1951 -
Closing ceremonies for the Holy Year of the universal Church is held at
Fatima.
July 7, 1952 - Pius
XII consecrates the Russian people to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
November 21, 1964 -
Pope Paul VI renews Pius XII’s consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart,
speaking to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council but still does it alone.
Sister Lucia insists it should be collegial.
May 13, 1965 - Pope
Paul VI sends a Golden Rose to Fatima, confiding the entire Church to our Ladys
protection and gives official Church recognition of Fatimas significance for the
universal Church.
May 13, 1967 - Pope
Paul VI goes to Fatima, as the first Pope to go there as a pilgrim. There he
calls for renewed consecration to the Immaculate Heart.
May 13, 1981 - Pope
John Paul II is shot in St. Peters Square on May 13, anniversary of the first
apparition at Fatima. During the long months of suffering and recuperation in
Gemelli Hospital, the Holy Father requests and studies more deeply documents
relating to Fatima. His determination to consecrate Russia with bishops of the
world grows stronger. In leaving the clinic he remarks: I have come to
understand that the only way to save the world from war, to save it from
atheism, is the conversion of Russia according to the message of
Fatima.
May 12-13, 1982 -
The Pope visits Fatima to thank Our Lady for sparing his life and says: In the
plans of Divine Providence I also saw an appeal and, who knows, a reminder of
the message which came from here 65 years ago. … He conducted a consecration
of the world and Russia at that time but many bishops did not receive the
request to join him in time and Sister Lucia said it did not fulfill all the
requirements.
March 25, 1984 -
Pope John Paul II having sent invitations already in December 1983 to the worlds
bishops, including Orthodox, to join him on March 25, 1984, he had Bishop Amaral
of Fatima bring the Miraculous statue from the Cova da Iria at Fatima to the
Vatican for the Collegial Consecration of the world and Russia to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary. He was joined by a moral totality of the worlds bishops in the
Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart. The words of the cons-ecration make
clear it is a collegial act with worlds bishops and also renews Pius XIIs acts
of 1942 (world) and 1952 (Russia) and the consecration is for all time. [See our
book Documents of Fatima for details on Consecration].
Shortly thereafter, Sister Lucia told the Papal Nuncio
of Lisbon the Collegial Consecration for the conversion of Russia has been
accomplished and God will keep His word. The Nuncio answers, Now we await the
miracle. On the following day, Patriarch Dimitrios of Constantinople, honorary
primate of the Orthodox Churches, writes a letter to the Vatican praising the
consecration as a contribution to the creation of communion between the Catholic
and Orthodox Churches.
May 13, 1984 - The
Holy Father speaks to 50,000 pilgrims in St. Peters Square of his affection and
beatitude for Our Lady of Fatima in protecting him from the bullets three years
earlier. On the same day, the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima announces that the Pope
had given to the Fatima Shrine the bullet which had struck him.
February 1985 -
Pontifical Council of the Laity writes and encourages Fr. Robert J. Fox, who
years previously founded a Fatima Youth Apostolate, now to go independent with a
Fatima Apostolate which becomes the Fatima Family Apostolate and the
Messenger magazine was born, first called Messenger of Our Lady then
Fatima Family Messenger and finally Immaculate Heart Messenger.
March 25, 1987 -
Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical letter, Redemptoris Mater, in
anticipation of the forthcoming Marian Year. In the encyclical, the Pope refers
to the common love shared by Orthodox and Catholics for the Mother of God and
the devotion shown her icons.
June 7, 1987 - The
Marian Year of fourteen months began on this date, Pentecost Sunday, and
extended to the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1988. The timing of the
Marian Year exactly spans the two important religious celebrations in the Soviet
Union, the 600th anniversary of the baptism of Lithuania and the 1000
anniversary of the baptism of St. Vladimir. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz
said the noticeable easing of persecutions against religion in the Soviet Union
and granting of greater religious freedoms began with the Marian Year.
September 20, 1987 -
Approximately 100,000 persons, many carrying Solidarity banners, attend the
annual workers pilgrimage to Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine in Poland. Lech
Walesa, during his years as Solidarity leader, goes repeatedly to Zakopane,
Polands major Fatima Shrine, dedicated to praying for Pope John Paul II. There
he consecrates the Solidarity movement to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical,
Centesimus Annus, credits the Solidarity movement growing and spreading out from Poland with the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.

July 1989 - Sister
Lucia this month began to go public in stating that the Consecration
is accomplished. Previously she talked only to select persons such as the
Papal Nuncio, bishop of Fatima. Now she is anxious to get her word out publicly.
The Messenger is asked to publicize what Sister Lucia is saying about the
Consecration.

November 9, 1989 -
the Berlin Wall came down. President Gorbachev of the Soviet Union then meets
with the Pope at the Vatican and promised religious freedom.
October 13, 1989 -
President Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Award – Anniversary date of
Fatima.
December 1, 1989 -
Gorbachev travels to the Vatican and meets with Pope John Paul II in the Popes
private library. The historic meeting, which lasts 70 minutes, is the first
meeting between a Pope and a head of the Soviet state. Departing from his
prepared text, Gorbachev invites the Pope to visit the Soviet Union. The two
immediately experience a sense of mutual affection. The Pope later reported that
Gorbachev expressed gratitude for my prayers and said prayers symbolized the
spiritual order and values which he greatly needed.
December 1991 -
Gorbachev meets the Pope in the Vatican a second time; diplomatic relations were
opened between the Vatican and Russia and Latin-rite churches were
opened.
May 1, 1991 - Feast
of St. Joseph, the Worker – 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIIIs famous
Encyclical Rerum Novarum, On the Condition of Human Labor. May Day ends
as a Communist Holiday for demonstrations to show Soviet might and to win the
working man away from religion.
May 13, 1990 - An
attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican as his message to
pilgrims at Fatima is read. He attributes the sparing of his life to Our
Lady.
August 19, 1991
- 74th Anniversary of Our Ladys fourth apparition
at Fatima – Communist coup attempts overthrow of Gorbachev who contributed
largely to dismantling of Soviet Empire.
August 22, 1991 -
Feast of the Queenship of Mary – the attempt of Communist coup to return to hard
Communism is defeated.
October 12 – 13, 1991 - Fatima Anniversary. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Roman
Catholic Archbishop from Moscow leads first Russian pilgrimage group to Fatima.
It is televised in Russia on 150 stations and 350 radio stations. Director of
Fatima Family Apostolate is asked to be present in Fatima with the Russian
group.
December 8th, 1991 – Feast of the Immaculate Conception. There begins the Commonwealth of
Republics, the end of the USSR. Twelve days later Yeltsin of Russia met with the
Pope at the Vatican.
December 25, 1991 -
the Communist flag is taken down for the last time over the Kremlin in Moscow.
Gorbachev resigned and sent a letter to Pope John Paul II. Fifteen republics
were freed from Communism.
December 30, 1991 -
Sister Lucia is reported saying that the defeat of Communism was through Marys
intercession.
March 8, 1992 -
Mikhail Gorbachev wrote a syndicated column that appears in major newspapers
throughout the world giving a perspective on the Vatican and the freeing of
Eastern Europe. He said that Pope John Paul made the change possible. Much of
what the Pope said was in harmony with the Soviet Unions new political thinking,
with perestroika.
March 14, 1992 -
Pravda, the Communist major newspaper ended.
October 8 – 12, 1992 - the Fatima Sanctuary and the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima in Portugal
hosts together with the Pontifical Council of the Laity the first International
Pastoral Symposium of all recognized major Fatima Apostolates in the world. Fr.
Fox from USA is asked to represent at Fatima the Fatima Family Apostolate in
speaking to delegates from many countries. The Apostolate then becomes known
beyond the USA and quickly spreads to Poland, Australia, etc.
December 25, 1992 -
Communism was declared illegal in Russia.
June 18-20, 1993 – Archbishop Kondrusiewicz came from Moscow to Mid-Americas Fatima
Family Shrine in Alexandria, SD and announces he hopes he can have such a Shrine
to Our Lady of Fatima in Russia some day. Subsequently he authorized the Fatima
Family Apostolate to raise funds for this and the priest director
agrees with the
Archbishop that the Shrine should be located at St. Catherine of Alexandria
Church, once known as the heart and Mother Church of Catholicism in
Russia.
October 13, 1997 -
For the 80th anniversary of the miracle of the sun at Fatima, the Holy Father
wrote to the bishop of Leiria-Fatima a letter in which he referred to Fatima as
one of the greatest signs of the times in this twentieth
century.
October 11, 1998 -
The first Fatima Shrine in Russia is dedicated by Archbishop Tadeusz
Kondrusiewicz. The Shrine is located only a few block from Palace Square where
the Bolshevik Revolution began in 1917 with its goal of world domination for
atheism.

A half block from the new Fatima Shrine is the Kazan Cathedral which the
Bolsheviks had converted into their headquarters for militant atheism. Funds for
the Shrine were raised by the Fatima Family Apostolate. Both Sister Lucia and
Pope John Paul II take note of the dedication of the Shrine with Sister Lucia
having venerated the statue for the Shrine in her Carmelite Monastery before it
was taken to Russia.
During the dedication ceremony, Archbishop
Kondrusiewicz stated that he was presenting the Russian Fatima Shrine as a gift
to Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his pontificate.
The Archbishop was wearing a chasuble with an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa
during the dedication Mass.

So, the angel left heaven.  He came down to this world, and walked for miles and miles, looking for the most beautiful thing on earth.  He walked out into the Country, and there he found a beautiful flower garden.  In the garden there was a beautiful red rose, and thinking that this was the most beautiful thing on earth, the angel picked it, and hurried back to heaven with the rose.  Of course, the other angels liked the rose, but they shook their heads “No.”  The rose is not the most beautiful thing in the world.  And so, the young angel was sent back to earth, to find the most beautiful thing in the world.

This time, the angel was more particular.  He looked at everything that was beautiful, the rivers, the mountains, parks, nice dogs, pretty birds, pictures, everything.  At last, the angel found a beautiful baby; a baby with blue eyes, brown hair, rosy cheeks.  A baby who laughed and smiled all through the day! “Ah,” said the angel, “now I have found the most beautiful thing in the world, a pretty baby!”  Quickly the angel picked the baby up in his arms, and hurried back to heaven.  Oh, the angels couldn’t help loving the beautiful baby, but the young angel was told to take the baby back to earth.  The baby was not the most beautiful thing in the world.

The poor young angel was tired, but back to earth he came on his third trip.  This time the angel stopped in a church, and there in the back seat, he found an old man.  The old man was getting ready for confession.  He was thinking about his sins , and the old man was so sorry for his sins that great big tears came out of his eyes and ran down his cheeks.  The angel stooped over and picked up one of the tears and hurried back to heaven with it.  And when the angels saw the tear, were they happy?  They danced, and they sang all day long, because at last, the angel had found the most beautiful thing in the world- a man who was so sorry for his sins that they made him cry.

Boys and girls, that’s a grand story.  And that’s just the way Jesus feels.  To Jesus, the most beautiful thing in the world is someone who is really sorry for his sins.  That’s why Jesus loves us so much when we go to confession.  You know, every time you make a sin, it hurts Jesus; it makes Jesus feel that you don’t like Him anymore.  And then, when you go to confession, and Jesus sees that you are sorry, why, He forgets all about you hurting Him.  Why, He’s so happy, that He loves you more than He did ever before.

But, remember this about confession, boys and girls.  The most important thing about confession is being sorry, and, if you are really sorry, sorry all the way through you, sorry right down to your toes, then your confession is real good.  If you are sorry, then you won’t go out and make those sins again.

Some boys and girls think that in order to make a good confession, all that they have to do is tell their sins to the priest.  That’s wrong.  The big, big thing is to be sorry. And, if you are sorry, Jesus will forgive and forget.

The next time you go to confession, and every time you go to confession, as long as you live, take your time.  Think about your sins.  Would’nt it be grand if some day your gaurdian angel would find you crying over your sins, and would catch one of your tears, and carry it up to Heaven?  That would make Jesus so happy.  We don’t want to hurt Jesus.  We want to make Jesus happy.  Isn’t that true?

“At last someone comes from Russia.” Those were the words of Sr. Lucia, the sole survivor of the three little shepherds to whom Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917, to Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz when he came to her from Moscow. Archbishop Kondrusiewicz is the administrator of the vast territory of European Russia. He was able to meet Sr. Lucia at her Carmelite Monastery of St. Thérèse in Coimbra a few years ago.

On September 21, 1998, I brought to the Carmelite Monastery in Coimbra, Portugal, a special 4’2” statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary destined for the first Fatima shrine in Russia. Sr. Lucia and the other contemplative nuns venerated this special image of the Mother of God. The statue stood in their choir area behind the grille. I saw Sr. Lucia near the statue during the Mass I offered in their chapel with pilgrims from the United States.

Before the Immaculate Heart image was taken to Sr. Lucia, it was blessed at the very spot of the apparitions in Fatima. Three bishops blessed it at Fatima, including the current administrator, the Most Reverend Serafim S. Ferreira e Silva, who also sent a message with me to deliver to the people of Russia.

Sr. Lucia assured me that she would be united in prayer with the people of Russia on October 11, 1998, when the first shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in Russia would be dedicated in St. Petersburg. On that day, a message came to Catholics in Russia from His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, sending blessings as they dedicated this shrine. The shrine was a gift to the Holy Father in honor of his 20th anniversary as Pontiff. In conjunction with the shrine’s dedication, on that very day in all the Catholic parishes throughout Russia, the people prayed for and honored Pope John Paul II’s 20th anniversary. A plaque was erected within the shrine designating the shrine as a sign of honor to Pope John Paul II for 20 years as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

There were three occasions when I was present to witness Archbishop Kondrusiewicz experience deep, heartfelt emotion concerning Our Lady of Fatima. The first was in 1991, when I was asked to tell the Archbishop about the Fatima area as he led the first pilgrimage ever to come from Russia to Fatima. I led him into the Little Chapel of Apparitions, and stood with him at the very site of the apparitions and the miraculous statue of Our Lady, which stands on the spot where the Mother of God said: “Russia will be converted. . . . In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” I took his hands into mine and said, “Archbishop, you have been destined by heaven to be instrumental in the fulfillment of those words.” Tears welled up in the Archbishop’s eyes and he fell to his knees in prayer just a few feet from the exact spot where Our Lady stood on the little holm-oak in the Cova da Iria.

The second time I detected heartfelt emotion in the Archbishop was when he came to America in June 1993. He then stood before mid- America’s Fatima Family Shrine in Alexandria, South Dakota. He placed a crown on a replica of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Fatima and said, “I pray we can have such a shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in Russia one day.” A cardinal from the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Bishop of Fatima has previously crowned Our Lady in the same manner at this shrine. But the crown the Archbishop from Russia placed on this image remains undisturbed to the present day.

I offered to have the Fatima Family Apostolate in America raise the funds for such a shrine in Russia, which became a reality just last year. Thus, the third time that I witnessed Archbishop Kondrusiewicz express deep emotions regarding Our Lady of Fatima was October 11, 1998, when he dedicated Russia’s very first shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in St. Petersburg. During the two-hour ceremony, the Archbishop poignantly spoke of this unexpected help for the Church in Russia, this shrine to Our Lady of Fatima, which gives hope to the future of the Church in Russia.

Our Lady spoke of Russia at Fatima during the six apparitions from May 13 through October 13 in 1917. These were the same six months that the Bolshevik regime was taking over the Russian government. It put atheistic Communism in place.This evil force would reign for seven decades and from Russia it would spread its evils throughout the world. The poison of Communism, with its philosophy of dialectic materialism and spirit of atheism, did indeed spread to all nations as Our Lady of Fatima had prophesied. The effects of its poison remain widespread in the world today.

The establishment of this first shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in Russia is a sign of the approaching triumph of the Immaculate Heart, the coming conversion of Russia, and a sign of new hope and new spiritual beginnings for Russia.

When I first agreed, on behalf of the Fatima Family Apostolate, to raise funds for this shrine, I thought Catholics in America would contribute the necessary funding immediately. Instead, it took more than five years of solicitation. What became obvious early on was that Our Lady wanted this shrine to her Immaculate Heart to come from thousands of ordinary Catholics, “little people,” let us say. No one of great wealth made a contribution.

It also became clear as we progressed with the plans for the shrine that many Catholics in America know little about Russia. Some offered to do nothing because they thought Russia was already converted. They had even stopped praying for the conversion of Russia. Others refused to do anything because they claimed the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope and bishops of the world had never happened.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, in his talk at the dedication of Russia’s first Fatima shrine, however, made it very clear that things in Russia began to change almost immediately when on March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II in union with the bishops of the world, including the Eastern Orthodox, consecrated the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Archbishop has met with the Pope to discuss Russia on more than one occasion. When he showed His Holiness a picture of the International Statue of Our Lady of Fatima in Red Square before the Kremlin, the Pope became emotional and said, “It is a miracle.”  

Changes in Russia Came Quickly
I interviewed the Archbishop for television. When he quoted Our Lady’s prophecy, “Russia will be converted,” I mentioned that some think the whole process of conversion is taking place all too slowly. He replied that all things considered, including the suppression of religion for seven decades, things have been happening quickly. “One can change the name of a city easily and quickly. [Leningrad once again is called St. Petersburg.] But it’s not so easy to change the hearts of millions of people, and this takes time.”

The signs of the coming conversions are there if one looks more closely. The Archbishop sees the first Fatima shrine in Russia as a sign in itself. The signs are there also in the Roman Catholic Seminary established in St. Petersburg, which has 77 Russian students.

The signs were there when I met Fr. Vadim, a 27-year-old priest, who became the first native Russian ordained for the diocesan priesthood of the Catholic Archdiocese of Russia. He said to me: “I am perhaps one of the first fulfillments of Our Lady’s promise that Russia would be converted.” His parents, brothers, and sisters are still non-believers. He told me that at the age of 12 he was drawn to the Catholic Church. He was baptized at age 15, later went to the university, and finally was sent to the seminary in Poland and returned to be ordained in Russia in 1998.

I saw other signs in the six people to whom Archbishop Kondrusiewicz administered the Sacrament of Confirmation during the Mass of dedication of the Fatima shrine. One was a 23-year-old man whose father was a former KGB agent. Another middle-aged man was originally a Muslim. I saw signs in the hundreds of people who came to the dedication of the Fatima shrine and stood outside the shrine area in the cold. I saw signs in the people surging forth, kneeling with their children, and kissing the feet of the image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary I had brought from Fatima to Russia and placed in this shrine.

Spiritual Revolution Needed
Conditions in Russia are sad. There are millions of baptized Orthodox in Russia, yet only two percent go to Church on Sunday. While I was in Russia, a public demonstration was called among all workers across all of Russia for October 7, because of low wages. They were to walk off their jobs and meet in strategic places to demonstrate, like Palace Square in St. Petersburg and Red Square in Moscow. The people feared violence and the beginning of another revolution. I thought, “Our Lady won’t let that happen. It is the Feast of Our Lady of Victories, Our Lady of the Rosary.” The papers the next day rated the response at a “D.” The people are tired of revolution. A spiritual revolution is what is needed.

A recent survey in Russia showed that one-third of the working people average $32 or less in monthly wages. Older people live on a pension of $30 a month, but sometimes go for months without receiving a check. I talked to a professor at the University in Moscow who gets less than $40 per month. Yet food costs are comparable to those of other countries. There are black markets, many street people, and most live in very poor conditions.

Russia is not yet converted. One can only speak of the beginnings of the conversions. To date, comparatively little help has come to the Church in Russia from the former free world.

Prayer and sacrifice, especially the acts of reparation requested by Our Lady for first Saturdays, ar e still urgently needed for Russia. Sr. Lucia said years ago, after the iron curtain lifted, that it is important to continue with first Saturdays so that the conversion of Russia will be more perfect.

Many months before the fall of the iron curtain and a couple years before the demise of the former Soviet Union, Sr. Lucia told me that God had accepted the collegial consecration of March 25, 1984, and that the Lord would keep His word. I was asked to publicize it in my magazine, the Immaculate Heart Messenger, as director of the Fatima Family Apostolate. I fear that many thought that now our obligations toward Russia were completed and forgot prayer and sacrifice, first Saturdays, and the practical help we need to give for the Church in Russia.

The promises of Our Lady, “Russia will be converted. . . . In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph” are absolute promises. Since the Immaculate Heart— and what it means for faith and love of God and one another—is so prominent in the message of Fatima, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz agreed that the special image in Russia’s first shrine to Our Lady of Fatima should not be the pilgrim Virgin, but the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The shrine in St. Petersburg is attached to the historic St. Catherine of Alexandria Church, which dates back to the early 1700s (see March ’98 Lay Witness, page 23). St. Catherine’s is largely in ruins. Used for secular purposes and under the government for seven decades, St. Catherine’s was devastated by fire in February 1984 with the interior contents exploding.

After St. Catherine’s was returned to the Roman Catholic Church, it was found that all that remained was a shell of this church. Exteriorly, it looked fine. When its doors were opened, four feet of rubble greeted the onlookers. One of those onlookers was Dr. Romaulda Hankowska, expert conservationist and restorer, who directed the reconstruction of the Marian shrine at St. Catherine’s. Two to three million dollars will be needed to completely restore this historic church once known as “the heart of Catholicism in Russia.”

When I first negotiated with Archbishop Kondrusiewicz about building a shrine in Russia to honor Our Lady of Fatima for liberation from atheistic Communism, our first plan was to build a Fatima shrine that was separated from any other church or chapel in Russia. When I discovered the history of St. Catherine’s Church and realized that the limited number of Catholic people in Russia today had, in most cases, no churches in which to worship, I suggested that the devastated Marian chapel at the west end of St. Catherine’s, between the transept and sanctuary, where once existed the chapel of the Annunciation in the 1800s, be restored and become the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Russia. To my delight, the Archbishop agreed. Today, the people are grateful to worship there, even though they do not yet have the means of heating it during the winter months.

In late 1996, the Archbishop wrote:

For many years, we have prayed for Russia as it suffered under the yoke of a Communist and atheist regime. Since the political changes we have been able to begin rebuilding the Catholic Church in Russia. The Holy Father has given me responsibility for the Church in European Russia. My task is an enormous one. Everywhere our churches lie in ruins.

In the lovely city of St. Petersburg, which was once the capital of Russia, we have what is the biggest and most venerable of our Russian Catholic churches. The church of St. Catherine, built in the reign of Catherine the Great, is a building of outstanding architectural merit reflecting the great importance it has always had for the Church in Russia. You could say that St. Catherine’s was the heart of the Russian Catholic Church until the Communist regime closed it. . . . It was my joy to be able to officially reopen St. Catherine’s in 1994 and now it is my ardent hope that we can repair this great Catholic shrine so that Mass can once more be celebrated in dignified surroundings. What a wonderful sign this would be of the mercy and grace of God who makes all things new. Russia has been liberated from her chains. Now may St. Catherine’s too arise from the ashes!

All of Russia’s Shrine to Reflect Fatima
You can appreciate why Archbishop Kondrusiewicz fought to hold back the tears when he dedicated the glorious Fatima shrine chapel attached to the ruins of St. Catherine’s. Over 100 gold mosaics adorn the ceiling in this chapel of restored marble walls and pillars. As we walked through St. Catherine’s ruins to reach the Fatima shrine chapel, it was like walking through purgatory into heaven.

I noticed that there remained in the shrine five empty niches, waiting for large statues to fill them. I inquired of Fr. Eugene Heinrichs, O.P., the pastor, how these niches might be filled. We agreed that this ought not to be simply a chapel in which there happened to be the beautiful image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Fatima. Since this was the official Fatima shrine for Russia, everything in this chapel should speak of Fatima.

While the restoration of the Marian Chapel during the past two years required some hundreds of thousands of dollars, they had no money for the statues for the other five empty niches. I had not been told previously about this need. I promised Fr. Heinrichs I’d find the money and we determined that St. Joseph, holding the Christ Child— both blessing the world—should be in the niche immediately across from Our Lady with the altar and tabernacle in between. The Bishop of Fatima explains the vision of the Holy Family during the miracle of the spinning of the sun as a call for the sanctification of the family.

Next to the Holy Family would be Jacinta and Francisco of Fatima when they are raised to the altars. At the entrance to the chapel would be St. Dominic, saint of the Rosary, and St. Peter with the keys, as the Pope is prominent in the Fatima message. St. Peter is also patron saint of St. Petersburg. Fr. Heinrichs is contacting Russian artists to make these five statues while I am raising funds to pay for them.

In 1917, at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, there were a record number of 32,000 parishioners. Today, St. Catherine’s has 500 parishioners, with the number gradually growing. It tells of the century’s devastation, not simply to the Church, but to the faith of the people, and that conversion and triumph still await us.

Don’t Send Rosaries— Pray the Rosary!
If the churches can be rebuilt in Russia, if people can have a dignified place to worship, people will be attracted to the Church. The answer is not simply sending more rosaries to Russia. Millions of rosaries have already been sent and now there are many more rosaries than there are Catholics. I heard of one place alone in Russia where they have two million rosaries piled up. Better to keep those rosaries and pray them at home for the conversion of Russia and for the needs of the people in rebuilding their churches and forming the next generation of priests and lay Catholics.

If we can strengthen the families the world will be in better shape.  We can do this one family at a time.

Also, let us not forget about the message of Fatima:

*Prayer

*First Saturday devotion

*Penance

*Consecration to the Immaculate Heart

Start your New Year right and follow Our Lord and Our Lady.

May they always keep you in Their hearts.

Our Lady of Fatima Pray For US!

John C. Preiss-President, Fatima Family Apsotolate

Ask any Catholic bishop, priest or deacon from a Western country who works with engaged couples about the incessant challenges he faces and he is likely to respond that the number one obstacle today is that these young men and women—many of whom are well-intentioned—come from a very secular environment that is not at all conducive to teaching longstanding Catholic values concerning the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

This reality coupled with the incontestable fact that few young Catholics have ever really been formed in the Church’s doctrines, marriage and otherwise, coalesce into a difficult hurdle indeed that must be overcome if Catholics preparing for marriage are to grasp—and live—the wisdom behind the Church’s unchangeable mandates.

An aspect of the Church’s teaching pertaining to marriage that has largely been studiously ignored and rejected is that of the grave, sacred responsibility to procreate. The Church unhesitatingly proclaims that each and every act of marital intercourse must be open to the possibility of the transmission of human life. While a few may dismiss this doctrine out-of-hand, most young Catholics have not been taught either this teaching or the reasonable rationale behind it.

In my experience as a parish priest, I have recommended Natural Family Planning (N.F.P.) to every engaged couple I counseled. I find that most are willing to consider using N.F.P. and are sincerely attracted to its benefits.

In presenting N.F.P., which married couples may use when a serious, just reason exists to postpone a pregnancy, I list four (of many) main advantages for using it.

1. N.F.P. is moral—it conforms to God’s plan by respecting the strong link between the life-giving and love-giving dimensions of marital intercourse. The Lord’s design for the marital act is that it would express deep, abiding love between husband and wife while being open to possible conception. When one sees a child, he sees the “enfleshed love” that exists between the child’s parents. N.F.P. allows for both love and life to be celebrated when engaging in the marital act.

2. N.F.P. is safe, as opposed to many contraceptives, some of which are truly abortifacient (abortion-inducing) in character. We know that various drugs and devices used to prevent pregnancy also cause multiple health problems in scores of women. It is no secret that Depo-Provera, an injection that is given to a woman every three months, has significantly raised the risk of heart disease and kidney failure in some women. Even more disconcerting: some methods of birth control may actually induce abortions. The Pill, the I.U.D., Depo-Provera, Norplant, the “morning-after pill,” the “emergency contraception” and RU-486 work in some cases after conception, therefore making these drugs abortifacients. An important distinction is that between “surgical abortion” and “chemical abortion.” Father Paul Marx, O.S.B., asserts that while there are about 1,400,000 surgical abortions (that are duly recorded) performed annually in the United States of America, the number of chemical abortions is probably between 7,000,000-9,000,000. N.F.P. completely skirts this disaster by being entirely natural—a woman’s fertility coming as it does from the hand of her benevolent Creator.

3. N.F.P. is effective in postponing conception. N.F.P. has continually been attacked as being “unreliable.” Research proves otherwise. When one learns the body signs that indicate whether conception is possible, then one may use N.F.P. with great trustworthiness. The recently beatified Mother Teresa of Calcutta (+1997) taught N.F.P. to many poor women in India who could barely read. Yet, these young wives learn N.F.P. and enjoy as much certainty when practicing it as contraceptives provide.

4. N.F.P. increases communication between husband and wife. When a man, for example, is using a condom, all the woman needs to know is that he is “protected.” But when using N.F.P., the wife must share with her husband one of the most intimate secrets of her womanhood: the knowledge of when she can and cannot conceive a new human life. Even secularists who have no time for the Catholic Church argue as to the critical nature of communication in marriage. N.F.P. enhances this communication by encouraging husband and wife to share and embrace the God-given gift of fertility.

Father Marx, Jason Adams, Judie Brown, Germain Grisez, John Kippley, Stephen Koob, William May and Janet Smith among others have written persuasively about the beauty of marital love and the weighty obligation which married couples have to respect the life-giving facet of the marital act. Bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated religious and laity alike may be assisted in their own understanding of the nature of marital love and the value of N.F.P. by perusing the writings of orthodox Catholic theologians and philosophers.

The Church has much “good news” to promote about the dignity of Holy Matrimony and the marital act. The efforts of clergy and faithful must be redoubled so that young Catholics, especially the engaged, will come to appreciate what God has done in allowing husband and wife to cooperate with Himself in the inestimable act of procreation.