If you read the articles of this issue you will encounter thought provoking insights on what is needed for Catholic families today. You may not like some of what you read. Your first reaction may be, "they are wrong." Many Catholic parents today, like the vast majority of people, have fallen into false patterns of living and thinking in our dechristianized society. If you are disturbed by some of the articles it may be just what your family needs. With the grace of God you may then come to a conversion through the intercession of the Mother of the Church.
At the end of the article, "Working Moms," the Christian Family Outreach offers you a free audio on "The Root Cause of Family Problems Today." Read the entire article and order the cassette. It would be good for husbands and wives to listen to it together. The "Root Cause" may be just what you have not considered.
In this issue John Preiss presents a first installment of "God-Given Roles of Husband and Wife." He writes as a young married man in agreement with his wife as they await the birth of their second child. More young couples are realizing what is the root cause of so many failures in marriages and families today. May this knowledge spread. In this issue John considers the wife's role; next issue will be directed to husbands.
The Fatima Family Apostolate (FFA) is international. Its scope is wide as is the Fatima message itself which has never been absorbed deeply by most Catholics. "Fatima and Family go together." Edouard Cardinal Gagnon said to us as Prefect of the Pontifical Council for the Family when he publicly endorsed the FFA. Fatima is a call to the family for holiness. To achieve that holiness of husband and wife and thereby of the children in modern times of atheistic secularism which has brought crisis to family life, more is needed than praying the meditated daily Rosary, making the First Saturdays, etc. commonly connected with Fatima devotions. We must get at the root causes of family problems.
There has been a confusion of roles. Many a husband has relinquished his role as head. Wives rule in the vast majority of homes today. Unfortunately few priests and bishops preach on the root causes of family crises. It is not popular to do so. It takes courage to launch out into the deep and face honestly what is causing marriage and family failures today. The Immaculate Heart Messenger is prepared to expose openly the causes with the prayer that more and more priests will begin preaching on the chief cause from the pulpit. Husbands have given up their roles as physical and spiritual heads in authority over the family. Wives have given up their roles as of submission and primacy of love in the home.
How does all this get into a Fatima apostolate?. Well it is in the Fatima message as is in the Bible that the husband is head of the family, head of the wife, as Christ is of the Church. When God-given roles for the family are ignored the family is in crisis. During the miracle of the sun at Fatima it was St. Joseph as head, holding the Child Jesus, both blessing the world, blessing all the families of the world which make up the basic units of society. Mary submissively stood by while Joseph and Jesus blessed, just as she was submissive to Joseph on earth when the Angel gave Joseph directives. How closely does your family follow God's design for the family as presented in Ephesians 5:21-33?
Parents may pray the Rosary devotedly each day, even attend daily Mass. But if the husband and wife do not each exercise their proper God-given roles as head and heart, there will still be a family crisis.
This issue also features a precise study of the origin of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Pope John Paul II has named her: "Mother of Evangelism." We have chosen a happily married couple of 37 years from Mexico City who are actively involved in evangelism there to present this new account of Guadalupe. The origin and evangelistic power of Our Mother, whom Pope John Paul II speaks of as also a teacher, is too little understood and appreciated. The image has often been misrepresented by American authors who do not understand the history, the origin and development of how the Mother of God was instrumental in bringing together, developing, unifying three cultures. So I asked Catholic evangelists, Mauricio and Margarita Porraz of Mexico City, for this account.
Fatima concerns faith and the family. It is why the Immaculate Heart Messenger often features the need to communicate the fullness of true faith to the next generation and for married people to live morally upright lives. It is why our apostolate offers books on Apologetics explaining the faith, such as A Young Catholic's Apology for the Faith; Protestant Fundamentalism and the Born-Again Catholic; and, Covenant With Jesus. It is why we produced Fundamentals of the Faith - a Digest of the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church. You need to know these truths. Yet, fathers and mothers must apply them while living their God-Given roles as "head" and "heart" ordained by God. RJF
