* Why the Veil?
* Our Lady of Prayer
* Marian Miracles
* The 51 Blessed Claretian Martyrs of Barbastro
* Evangelization - Winning Souls for Christ
* Knights of the Holy Eucharist
* Warning of Islamic Threats by Ancient See of Izmir Before 9/11
* Thinking with the Church as We Look Toward November
* Mother Teresa and St. Padre Pio - "Dark Nights"
* The Family - An Environment for Sanctification
* Editorial - The Fear to Live and Teach the Truth
* Fatima Family Forum
* Questions & Answers
* News Briefs & Comments
* FFA Chatterings

Editorial - The Fear to Live and Teach the Truth

"I am appalled at what is going on these days outside the monastery walls. Who could ever have believed we could fall so low so fast?" That is what Father Prior of the contemplative Benedictine Solesmes at Our Lady of Clear Greek Monastery in Hulbert, Oklahoma wrote me recently. [Featured in January-March 2004 issue.]

The good Fr. Prior does not say what he is referring to. Doubtlessly he is concerned with a variety of issues such as gay marriages and prominent politicians and judges supporting these "unions" - some running for the highest governmental positions in the land - politicians calling themselves "Catholic" while promoting and voting in favor of the murder of innocent unborn infants and simultaneously receiving Holy Communion in defiance of the authority of the Church, the rapid rise of divorce, and many not worshiping at the Sacrifice of the Mass on Sundays. All the while many priests and bishops are reluctant to speak out the truth, parents are not teaching and forming their children in the fullness of true faith and morals, fearing to alienate children from themselves by telling the truth.

But what about lifestyles that are seriously sinful which alienate young people from happiness in this life and for eternity?

The list is much longer than given above. Is there any surprise that suicide among youth is escalating and is a major cause of death among the young?

In the past year I've given 10-day retreats to traditional contemplative priests and Religious in three different monasteries in the United States. I've led devout Catholics on intense pilgrimages to Fatima and the shrines of Poland. I've also given retreats to laity in the United States. I recently moved from a parish where I was pastor in Alexandria, South Dakota, where a good traditional Contemplative Carmelite Monastery for nuns was founded during my 18 years of pastoral duties there. I now live near Mother Angelica's contemplative Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration at Our Lady of the Angels' Monastery near Hanceville, Alabama. I offer daily Mass at the Poor Clares' Temple and Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. So I am aware that holiness still exists in the Church.

If anything, all this enables me to see the evils in society while many protest the Church should not tell them how to live.

Years ago I realized that only heroic Catholic families could survive as Catholic. That is why I founded the Fatima Family Apostolate International. Within two years it was endorsed by the Prefect of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Immaculate Heart Messenger is the vehicle of communications for this family movement. Still, it is a struggle to get people to do solid Catholic reading today and do some "heroic things" once seen as simply obligations. See my open letter in the April, 2004 issue.

In the book, Messages from the Heart of Our Mother, just released, and which you see advertised on page 30, our Blessed Mother complains about the fear of bishops, priests and parents to teach the fullness of true faith and morals. They are told that when such fear hinders them from doing their duty, and they keep silent, they will have to give an accounting for lost souls.

If one reads the signs of the times, persecution is coming to our very own land while many are sleeping. It can be reversed only if many repent and turn back to authentic Catholic lives. How? By reverence in our worship at the sacrifice of the Mass, adoration of the Holy Eucharist, also by obeying the Ten Commandments, putting penance into our daily lives, and intensifying individual and family prayer.

A most important aspect of the return to traditional values will be for men to become the true spiritual heads of their homes. Wives must live the "submission" called for by the Word of God. [See article on submission in January-March, 2004 issue.] Fathers will need to enact discipline in their homes. There must cease to be wives dominating over their husbands in discipline which brings unhappiness to families as husbands relinquish their roles.

In this issue you will read an important article, "Why the Veil?" One's first inclination may be to think women wearing veils in church is trivial, non-essential and unimportant. I invite you, read "Why the Veil?" and see what was really behind that movement. It has to do with reverence for the Most Blessed Sacrament, and with the right balance of order in family life as ordained by God when He created the family. The feminists succeeded in doing away with submission in the family and moved on from one area of order and discipline for wholesome family life to another of corruption. Hopefully readers of this magazine will join the host, even of younger women, returning to the veil. It could well be the beginning of restored reverence in our churches, where too often there is visiting before the Most Blessed Sacrament.

There are now places where most women again wear the veil. In those churches there is reverence. If a woman fears to be among the first in the parish to return to the veil she will remember why I entitle this editorial "The Fear to Live and Teach the Truth". It is the cause of most family, Church and the country's moral problems today.

RJF

About the Cover: Mark Sanislo, professional artist, painted the cover picture entitled "Our Mother of the Word". It also graces the latest book published by this Apostolate, Messages From the Heart of Our Mother.