Rome Should Take
Over Fatima
By Richard Salbato
After
three years in Fatima and supporting everything the Rector and the Bishop have done,
even at times when I had to look hard to find reasons to support them, I must
now recommend a change. Yesterday was
the last straw for me. For weeks I had
heard that Father Gobbi and the Marian Movement of Priests were touring
Portugal from Porto and Lisbon and would finally come to Fatima for a Mass on
October 25, 2004. Posters were placed
around Fatima announcing his coming and flyers were passed out by a dubious
order of nuns in Fatima, the
"Irmas Servas de Maria Reparadors".
Just because he was saying that he would be allowed to come did not mean
that it was true, so at 5:00 PM I attended the Mass.
Sure
enough "Father" Gobbi and over 20 other priests and the dubious order
of nuns had a very long Mass on the altar of Apparitions, the Cova da
Iria. Not one of the priests were from
Fatima, so I assume they traveled with him.
To their credit, the Rector and the Bishop were not there and no press
was there. Not many people showed up,
about 300, which is less than most Masses in Fatima. But during the Mass the nuns passed out flyers of the Marian
Movement of Priests with MMP pledges and consecrations. These were printed and distributed by the
ISDMP order of nuns, none of which is over 25 years old and most less than 20
years of age.
Bearing
in mind that the Major press just published a report that Rome was very angry
with the Shrine for continuous slanders regarding the building of the new
Church, the Ecumenical Conference, and the high profiled visits of the Dalai
Lama and the Hindus, the Bishop and the Rector should now be more
careful who they allow to not only come to the Shrine but with much advance
publicity throughout Fatima and Portugal.
Shrine of Fatima
is Insulting Our Lady
The
entire Marian Movement of Priests is based on the false belief that
Gobbi is receiving messages from Our Lady through inner locutions, and all his
followers believe him to be a mystic just like Lucia, Jacinta and
Francisco. There is no other reason for
Gobbi to have any following. I have
attended many of his Masses throughout the years and he is a poor speaker, and
nothing to look at, so his following is based on the false belief that he is a
messenger of Our Lady.
This
is a man who was investigated by Cardinal Ratzinger and found to be false. The Cardinal ordered that it be posted in
the front of his books that this is not the words of Our Lady but only of
Gobbi's imagination. This is a man
who said that he believed in Medjugorje and so did our Lady. This is a man who said that the "real
person of the Antichrist would appear in 1999 and that the second coming of
Christ would happen in the year 2000".
These were prophesies from his inner locutions, in other words from
Mary. This is a man who was asked to
leave his order in Rome and now lives in an apartment somewhere in Rome. This is a man who's MMP centers throughout
the world are run by priests who have disobeyed their own bishops to run these
centers. No center I know of throughout
the world has local bishop's approval.
I
have read all of the so called messages of his lady and all I can say is even
if this is just his imagination, most of it is insulting and stupid. If I wanted to make up what I think Our Lady
would say to the world, I could do a lot better than he does.
I
have serious doubt that Gobbi has a celebrate to say Mass because of the
strained relationship with his order that I know he has. If I am wrong on this I will post the proof
of his celebrate at the end of this document by anyone who can send me a
copy. If he has a celebrate, he can say
Mass at Fatima like any other priest, but to post up flyers all over Fatima and
pass them out advertising his movement is nothing but an insult to Our Lady of
Fatima and maybe even a desecration of the Shrine. The Shrine is placing Gobbi on the same level as the children of
Fatima, and this is blasphemy against Her Immaculate Heart.
Redemptionis Sacramentum
It
has not been lost in my observation that the Rector and Bishop have paid no
attention to the Holy Father's new instruction "on certain matters to be
observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist, of March 25, 2004
put out by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments
in Rome - Redemptionis Sacramentum - RS.
This Month starts the Year of the Eucharist for the expressed purpose of
bringing back more devotion and reverence to Our Lord in the Eucharist. We have a Shrine here in Fatima where there
are hundreds of priests every week and even thousands some months, and every
month from a few to many bishops and cardinals. A Shrine should be the place to set the example of obedience to
Rome and reverence to Our Lord in the Eucharist. But this is not the case.
No
instructions have been given to the priests in Fatima, and no instructions to
the people of Fatima regarding Redemptionis Sacramentum. The quickest example is 158 of the
instruction:
[158.] Indeed, the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion
may administer Communion only when the Priest and Deacon are
lacking, when the Priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age or some
other genuine reason, or when the number of faithful coming to Communion is so
great that the very celebration of Mass would be unduly prolonged. 259 This, however, is to be
understood in such a way that a brief prolongation, considering the
circumstances and culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason.
I
go to daily Mass at the Shrine and in most cases there are many priests
concelebrating Mass. Many times I have
seen three priests passing out communion and another priest singing while a
forth, a nun without a covering even on her head, passes out communion. I have clocked the amount of time it took
for this nun to pass out communion and it was never over 3 to 4 minutes. This means that if the Shrine obeyed Rome it
would take 3 to 4 minutes longer to say the Mass and to obey Rome.
There
must be many Catholics who have read RS because the lines in front of the nuns
are getting shorter and shorter, and when she runs out of people to give out
communion she moves over next to one of the priests to take every other person
from him. And when the people to not
want to go to her, the Shrine Police will instruct people to come over to her
and this intimidates most people to do so, but not me. Today the line to the priest was twice as
long as the line to the nun in the same isle and no one moved over to her.
It
takes longer than this to do the sign of peace which is also contrary to the instruction
of RS, which should not be more than the people on the two sides of you. Instead people run all over the Church from
pew to pew. Of course the daily Mass I
attend has a priest who loves to sing so much that he takes 10 minutes to sing
the Holy, Holy, Holy.
Very
often on weekends receiving communion is an occasion of sin. Inside of the Basilica communion is passed
out so carelessly that Our Lord must surely be insulted. There is no order - people push their way
through crowds in a very disrespectful way and this last Sunday I saw two old
women screaming at each other for pushing and then both of them went up and
received communion. Why does this
happen? Because there is no order at
all. There is no free lane - free for
people to approach communion. One nun
will come to the back of the Church, even outside of the Church, and start
passing out communion with people all around her with no path to or away from
her. Another nun or priest will come
inside the crowds to the middle of the Church and do the same. Those going to the altar will go to four
different priests and nuns and go up and back the same lane and hitting each
other as they go. If there was a fire,
there is no way to get in or out of the Church. This is total disrespect for Our Lord and for the people in the
Church.
RS
says [6.] For abuses "contribute to the obscuring of the Catholic faith and
doctrine concerning this wonderful sacrament."
It
is no wonder that more people living in Fatima do not go to Church than those
who do go.
RS
says [16.] "It pertains to the Apostolic See to regulate the Sacred
Liturgy of the universal Church, to publish the liturgical books and to grant
the recognitio for their
translation into vernacular languages, as well as to ensure that the liturgical
regulations, especially those governing the celebration of the most exalted
celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass, are everywhere faithfully
observed". 36
If that is true, where are you Rome?
RS says [90.] "The faithful should receive Communion
kneeling or standing, as the Conference of Bishops will have determined",
with its acts having received the recognitio of the Apostolic See.
"However, if they receive Communion standing, it is recommended that
they give due reverence before the reception of the Sacrament, as set forth in
the same norms". And
[91] Therefore, it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of
Christ's faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to
receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.
However, no instruction has been given to the people
of Fatima or the pilgrims for an act of reverence before reception, and no where in Fatima can one receive
communion kneeling. One can receive
genuflecting if done quickly but not really kneeling. It is clear from RS that kneeling is the preferred way to receive
Holy Communion in the eyes of Rome.
A priest asked me what to do to improve his parish
and my answer was simple. "Do not treat God commonly." But that same priest sees in Fatima, people
coming to Mass as much at 20 minutes after is starts, even nuns - often
nuns. Mass can start with half the
church full but end with standing room only.
Does anyone instruct the people that they should at least be in time for
the Crucifixion of Our Lord on that altar.
Although it is not true that the Shrine was
desecrated by the Hindus, there are people here who believe it to be so and no
longer will attend Mass at the Cova da Iria.
It is the perception of desecration that is the problem here. And now with Gobbi that perception is
getting worse. But there are other
things that people tell me who come here and these are no small maters when
taken as a whole.
People tell me and I agree with them that the
painting over the high altar of Our Lady is insulting. The painting of Our Lady and Jacinta in the
Parish church is insulting to Our Lady and to pilgrims. The modern art sculptures in the two
round-a-bouts are embarrassing. The
altar of the new Church is not a real altar, at least not in the
renderings. It is commonplace and not
good enough for God. It treats God commonly.
There is no active seminary in Fatima and to my
knowledge no new priest from this area in many years. Many of the convents are half full and some almost empty. Tour guides take kick-backs for bringing
tourists to their shop where prices are higher than in the small shops.
Father Gino (another false mystic) has orders of
priests and nuns here in Fatima, and
the priests work in the Shrine and at least one of the nuns works in the
Shrine. Father Gino, although ordered
to have no contact with these people, sneaks into Fatima and out twice a
year. See http://www.unitypublishing.com/Apparitions/Geno.html
There is no priest anywhere in Fatima that says the
Tridentine Mass except the excommunicated order of Saint Pius X Society, which
some good Catholics here think is OK and are not told different. Although I think it is wrong of them, I know
many Catholics all over the world that will not attend any Mass except the
Tridentine, and that means that they have never come to Fatima and never
will. The Holy Father has asked all
Dioceses to offer the Tridentine but this order is disregarded in Fatima. See http://www.unitypublishing.com/liturgy/Latin2004.htm
We have a good order of nuns here that just started
up with the idea to spread the messages of Fatima and great people. But the bishop will not allow them to wear
habits. Explain to me why? I will not say the name of this good order,
because it could cause them problems.
But they are officially approved as a Catholic order of nuns but cannot
have habits and must wear street clothes.
And now that we have Gobbi here, what next - a
Medjugorje conference?
There are many good things here in Fatima and I have
written about them in many articles over the past three years - linked below. If
this was just a parish I would be very proud of my parish and my pastor but
this is Fatima. This should be the
shinning light of the Church, the example to all other Churches, the place
where priests and bishops can come and see how a parish should be run.
Business in Fatima this year is off by 40%. Part of the reason for this is the 9/11
bombing and part of the reason is the weak dollar. But part of the reason is the scandals in the past two
years. Even if these scandals are blown
out of proportion to the truth and even if the bishop and rector are innocent
of the perception of scandal, something must be done to bring back a true
Catholic reflection of Fatima.
WHY
SHOULD ROME TAKE OVER FATIMA.
I do know that Rome cannot officially take over Fatima,
but Rome could put someone in charge here that will do what Rome wants them to
do. They could bring a team of people
here to help get things set up. This is
the year of the Eucharist and no where has heaven given a greater example of
reverence and abuses of the Eucharist than in the apparitions of Fatima. Rome complains that the Eucharist and the
Mass is abused all over the world. Rome has written countless documents and
letters from the Holy Father and Department heads in the Vatican outlining these
abuses. Rome sends out letters telling
priests and bishops to be more holy and show this to the people. Rome says that every Diocese should offer
the Tridentine Mass. Rome says that
schools should teach the full doctrine of the faith. Rome says all the right things, but few Dioceses are doing these
things, and maybe they just do not know how to do them or think they will not
work.
Five to Seven Million pilgrims come to Fatima every
year and this could easily be Ten Million, and many of the pilgrims are
priests, nuns, bishops, and Cardinals.
If Rome wants its directives obeyed, it should start with the main
tourist places of the world and make sure that they are run the way Rome wants
them run.
What if Ten Million Catholics came to Fatima to find
them all kneeling at an altar rail? Of
course not at the large outside Masses here in Fatima, that would be
impossible, but at the main shine of the Cove da Iria kneeling should be done
at every Mass, six to ten times a day.
In the old Basilica it should be done and in the new Church is should be
done. Why? Because it is the preferred way and is so stated by Rome and by
the Angel of Fatima.
What if each and every day at least one Mass was a
Tridentine Mass in at least one of the five altars at the Shrine - soon to be
six?
In 1988 the Holy Father issued "Ecclesia Dei" and designated it motu
proprio. In this letter the Holy Father expresses his firm wish that anyone
who is attached to the Latin liturgical tradition of the Roman Missal of 1962
should be allowed to have this Tridentine Mass available for them.
What if all the Masses, Novus Ordo and Tridentine,
had the priest with his back to the people and towards God as is the preference
of Cardinal Ratzinger and as is the way that the Holy Father does in his
private chapel, as was intended in the New Mass and as is implied in the
Saramentary.
The Holy Father talks a great deal about Liturgical
Music, let the world come to Fatima to hear what he means by it.
Fatima does a good job of Eucharistic Processions
but this could even be expanded to the streets as it is done in Nazare even
today and as was done at the Parish Church when Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco
were children.
Fatima needs Opus Dei. Fatima needs a seminary. Fatima needs to set the example to the rest
of the Catholic Church.
Dear Holy Father,
If you want a successful Eucharistic Year, which
would bring respect and dignity back to Our Lord in the Eucharist and set the
example that will make people believe again in the True Presence, then use
Fatima to teach the rest of the world.
Ten Million people could go back to their home parishes and know by
example how to not
treat God commonly.
Richard
P Salbato
Lest you think that I am being too critical of the running of
Fatima, the following are Newsletters I have written or published supporting
the Rector and Bishop of Fatima.
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Will Rome Take Over Fatima? By Richard Salbato |
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The Hindus in Fatima and the Misrepresentations of John Vennari by Tim Robertson |
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Fatima's New Church of the Holy Trinity a long hard reflection |
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