Bulletin Columns

Bulletin Insert for May 14, 2017

Did you know this about the IW Knights of Columbus?

Over Easter the IW Knights in cooperation with the parish distributed several books to all those who attended Mass.  One was entitled: “The Message of Our Lady of Fatima” by Father Fredrick L. Miller, S.T.D.  It is more aptly described as a booklet – only 32 pages – and it is published by the Knights of Columbus.  This booklet describes one of the truly extraordinary events of the 20th century.  This

A statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried May 12, 2016, through the crowd of pilgrims gathered at the Marian shrine of Fatima, Portugal. CNS photo/Rafael Marchante, Reuters

Saturday, May 13, 2017, represents the 100th anniversary of the first apparition, in Fatima Portugal, of our Blessed Mother.  This is an extraordinary story – one that you must read, either for the first time or as a review of the story.  The final apparition, Oct. 13 of 1917, was view by a reported 70,000 people including reporters for the New York Times.  The following begins a Columbia web site post describing what is often referred to as:Our Lady of Fatima’s Peace Plan from Heaven.

‘Between May and October 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared six times to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, received Mary’s words with simple trust and faithfully put them into practice.

Our Lady’s message was one of prayer, penance and conversion at a time of international crisis, as World War I intensified in Europe and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia loomed on the horizon.

During the deadly flu pandemic that began months later, young Francisco and Jacinta suffered immensely, and they showed great spiritual maturity and holiness despite their young age. Francisco died in 1919 at age 10, and Jacinta died a year later at age 9.

Lucia, who became a Sister of St. Dorothy and eventually received permission to join the Carmelites, wrote of the Fatima events in a series of memoirs and obediently shared what came to be called the “secret of Fatima.”

Pope John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13, 2000. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at age 97, and three years later, Pope Benedict XVI waived the five-year waiting period for her cause for canonization.

In March 2017, Pope Francis formally recognized a second miracle attributed to the intercession of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta, and to celebrate the centennial of the apparitions he will visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal May 12-13.

As summarized in the pages that follow, the story of Fatima, which unfolded over many decades, is a call to deeper prayer and conversion, and it is intertwined with the Church’s experience throughout the tumultuous 20th century.’

The booklets are on our Rack-in-the-BACK.  Or a link to the entire article can be found at: facebook.com/IWknights9981 or at www.IWKnights.com

We would like to talk with you about becoming an IW Knight.  Please visit us online at our web site: www.IWknights.com/AboutUs.  Or, call Rob at: (314) 973-2373.

Please shop our book and CD Rack-in-the-Back.  Suggested Donation for the CD’s is $3.00/title – books on the top shelf and the booklets Rack are FREE.