By: Cornelia R. Ferreira
On August 28th, aka Catholic published a rather prescient blog on an emerging “new” Fatima Center. In this posting, Louie Verrecchio observed that the Fatima Center (FC) was lessening its fight against errors, especially those concerning the Fatima Message, errors that the FC would have vigorously fought under Father Nicholas Gruner.
In other words, the Fatima Center is moving away from Traditionalism (which abhors error) towards the conservative position (which ignores error so long as it’s mixed with some truth).
Unknown to Louie was that at the precise time of his August 28th post, the new direction was being confirmed in a startling set of letters mailed to American donors from the Fatima Center in Fort Erie, Ontario, the headquarters of Father Nicholas Gruner’s Fatima Apostolate.
NOTE: The letters may be viewed and read in their entirety HERE
The letters announce a change in the Apostolate’s organizational structure from that set up by Fr. Gruner. On top of that, disturbing accusations against their American co-workers in the letters have shocked and confused readers, who are asking, “What’s going on at the Fatima Center?”
As a long-time associate of Fr. Gruner and the FC, l have been asked if I could shed some light on these letters, which I received from a friend, and which were as much a surprise to me as to their recipients.
I cannot purport to answer the nebulous allegations themselves, nor what triggered their publication; I leave that to the “accused” to address. However, there are errors and inconsistencies in the letters themselves, to which it is possible to respond.
The Fatima Center is incorporated under the name “The National Committee for the National Pilgrim Virgin of Canada” (NPV). Let’s first consider its letter of August 22nd, signed by mere managers and some Board Directors (incredibly, at least one other Director, Coralie Graham, was kept in the dark about it).
The NPV declares it is “necessary to sever [its] connection” with its sister corporation, Servants of Jesus and Mary (SJM), in Constable, New York, because it is this branch of the Apostolate that is allegedly going in a different direction than that established by Fr. Gruner.
SJM is supposedly “changing the mission of The Fatima Center” by trying to involve it in “several controversial issues within the Church.” Indeed, things are so bad that the FC feels it’s being “sidetracked or prevented from making the ENTIRE Fatima Message understood and followed by EVERYONE.” (The emphasis is theirs.)
Coming from an organization that excitedly praises a Cardinal (Raymond Burke) who is spreading a fake Fatima Message, this is effrontery at its finest.
But, the FC barrels ahead with the vague accusation that the SJM has also recently “begun to make arbitrary decisions that negatively affect the operational effectiveness of the apostolate and hinder us from carrying out our mission.”
Further, it has “pushed for The Fatima Center to change direction and become more radical in its orientation.” (What do they mean by “orientation”? The uncompromising Traditionalism of the old FC, or the conciliatory Conservative-traditionalism being embraced by the new?)
And so, “to preserve Father Gruner’s legacy and the integrity of The Fatima Center’s mission,” says the letter’s signatories, “we find it necessary to sever our connection with SJM.”
To keep the donations flowing, the FC has set up a new American branch, The Fatima Center USA Inc.
With absolutely no details, examples, or evidence provided of the SJM’s wrongdoings, these baseless allegations from the NPV/Fatima Center could certainly be construed as libelous.
And just how scurrilous the allegations are can be seen when one considers the history of SJM and its close working relationship with NPV.
Servants of Jesus and Mary was not set up by Fr. Gruner, nor as merely a mail clearing-house, as the letter from The Fatima Center paints it. Presumably to make the dismissal of SJM seem unimportant, the FC tries to downplay SJM’s importance, claiming it was not involved in the production of literature nor in any decision-making about its own work.
Servants of Jesus and Mary was founded by Fr. Michael Jarecki in the late 70’s as a spiritual organization promoting the message of Fatima. Some years later its members began helping out as volunteers in Fr. Gruner’s apostolate. Even later, under its original name, it began to facilitate the extension of Fr. Gruner’s work into the USA, and it also became involved in the production of literature for the Fatima Center. Both priests worked closely together, with Fr. Gruner being the President of both boards. All major decisions were made by both boards.
Returning to the FC letter, we note a puzzling signature: that of Andrew Cesanek, listed as Vice-President of the FC. But at the time he signed the letter, he was Vice-President of SJM, the same supposedly delinquent organization he was divorcing! How curious that he would tar himself with the same brush.
As to the FC’s claim that “Catholics of good will can disagree” on (undefined) “controversial issues,” it itself seems to display zero tolerance for those who disagree with it or raise uncomfortable topics. Bear in mind that the “new” Center is not focused on correcting errors, and is instead exhibiting a type of Catholic “ecumenism” (which I defined earlier), seeking unity with conservatives.
Could this be why not just the SJM, but the following three individuals “of good will” have also fallen afoul of the Fatima Center?
For instance, Fr. Paul Kramer, President of the SJM Board, had been invited to address the Fatima Conference in California in September, but was very recently dis-invited. Most people know Father is a world-renowned Fatima expert who was a friend and close collaborator of Fr. Gruner since they were seminarians. Father Kramer has been working on the subject of whether Francis is a true Pope, a topic that Fr. Gruner himself raised shortly before his death.
Louie Verrechio, another invited speaker, suffered the same fate shortly after posting my article critical of Cardinal Burke’s Fatima speech at the Rome Life Forum (after the article was turned down by Catholic Family News).
Coralie Graham, who worked side-by-side with Fr. Gruner for over three decades and was editor of The Fatima Crusader for more than a quarter century, was abruptly shown the door a short while ago. Of all Father’s staff, she was probably the closest in thinking to him. She has always insisted on truth and the Catholic duty of correcting error.
Now what is truly mind-boggling is that the letter terminating the Servants of Jesus and Mary was also signed by two managers of the FC. Since when do employees have the power to get rid of a Board of Directors, especially that of another corporation? These managers have certainly built up their own “team” in the letter.
The second letter, from the Advisory Council of Priests, indicates that even these priest advisers have been convinced that it is the managers who are singularly responsible for the apostolate. The priests imply the Fort Erie managers and staff are the only ones trained and trusted by Fr. Gruner to do his work, leading one to unjustly conclude that their American co-workers are not as “good and dedicated” as they.
Interestingly, although the Fatima Center lists five priests on its Advisory Council (as per its Winter 2017 Fatima Center News publication), only three of them signed the letter. Why did the other two not sign?
We await a response from Servants of Jesus and Mary to the letters sent out by The Fatima Center. The scandalous allegations and the questions they raise need to be addressed sooner rather than later, because people around the world are confused and perturbed by this lamentable split in Father Gruner’s apostolate.
Defending the Faith without compromise isn’t an option; it’s a duty and a privilege, and we need your support.
Cdl Burke ………I know this tactic very well because it is straight out of the Regnum Christi playbook and was a committed act of lying theft towards almost every grass root Catholic home school support group across the country ! Get the mailing list and change the title of their Newsletter just a little bit. Burke knew Maciel and the LC /RC very well and he, like Regnum Christi ( to quote Fr Hardon’s softer catholic PC description of them ) are a
bunch of.” malicious tricksters”.
If you think Burke is one of the “good ones: please think again.
“Coming from an organization that excitedly praises a Cardinal (Raymond Burke) who is spreading a fake Fatima Message, this is effrontery at its finest.”
https://akacatholic.com/whats-going-on-at-the-fatima-center/
Cdl Burke
#1 He gave his blessing to a transgendered male to start a woman’s religious Order as Bishop of Madison ,Wisconsin. When a parishioner wrote to him to alert him of the fact he ignored her .She then wrote to the Papal Nuncio who got in touch with the then Bishop Burke. The Bishop then made sure she was a persona non grata in every parish.
http://callmejorgebergoglio.blogspot.com/2015/10/good-news-bruce-jenner-cardinal-burke.html
#2 After the brutal murder of Fr Kunz who was investigating on his Catholic radio show
perverted satanic clerical cults in Chicago , Burke surprised even the police when he showed up and removed Fr Kunz’s files. ( related to me by a woman who spoke with the Detective on the scene).
#3 Read about his posh pad in Vatican City in Nuzzi’s book ” Merchants in the Temple” ,at a time when the Pope has been trying to curb the Vatican’s loss of revenues.
#4 Perhaps this will give one an idea of his spending habits and the fact Burke as Bishop showed zero compassion to victims of clergy abuse in his Diocese.
http://www.awrsipe.com/Doyle/2015/Cardinals-behaving-badly-Dec-11-2015.pdf
Sweepoutthefilth I Just finished reading the link that you provided at the close of your last statement. I take issue with the critique of Cardinal Burkes lack of compassion for the divorced and remarried. The fact that he is standing firm where Church teaching on the sacrament of Holy Matrimony is concerned does not shed a negative light upon him…it’s what we as Traditional practicing Catholics expect from the Princes of the Church. A bit of confusion going on here I’d say and some big red flags where this link is concerned!
What the Cdl Burke states and what he actually does are two different animals entirely and that was the point being made.
A prime example has been his widely published “Dubia” correction.
One could say , “….not ‘all that glitters is gold”.
The day of reckoning is close at hand my friends. God will not allow Neo-Pagan Rome to re-establish idolatry and blasphemy across the globe. The spiritual battle lines are being drawn fast–two warring camps are being formed.
The Novus Ordo clergy are under the curses of most Ecumenical Councils for there heresy and now their overt and cowardly tolerance of Bergolio and his abominable Vatican insurgency. I had an encounter with the dark side of the New Order clergy today, and let me say also it was truly an encounter with the demonic.
The way things are going at the Fatima Center, they’ll soon have to change their motto to “an Army of One”.
Theresa, he is not a prince of the church. He is not a cardinal, nor a bishop, nor a priest. He is a Novus Ordo heretic just like Bergolio. He does not profess the Catholic faith. He professes the V2 faith, which is not Catholic.
Divine intervention friends. We need it, but I hope we can withstand it.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Good Sunday evening Tom A,
Burke is a priest and a prelate but not of the Church of Jesus the Christ, Son of the Living God. His ontology has not changed in his “ordination” but his act has been rendered for his Prince, as this speaks as res ipsa loquitur through his words and his deeds. Our blessed Dominus Deus Sabbaoth and Savior commanded: You are either with Me or you are against Me. If you are against Me, you do not gathereth, but you scattereth. Further, “Let your yea be yea and your no be no, anything else is from the Evil One.” Burke speaks as from the Evil One, in clandestine language. I read an account of a person once who had been near him in a food line and asked a question of him. She was taken aback by his frank coldness. The “conciliar church” belongs to the Evil One as his preternatural, destructive, rearrangement of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church but only in its edifice and through the mass Apostasy, with most Catholic souls now and the world over, on their way to perdition. May Almighty God have mercy. The “Phoenix” out of the ashes will be the “one world religion”, whose church will be the “conciliar church”, as this creature beast thing from hell, which is all but now present (the one world religion that is) as is existentially understood. False Pope Bergoglio and his cadre of the diabolically allegiant are working now at a fever’s pitch to finish the project, started decades ago. 2 Thess 2, verses 6–10:
” [6] And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. [7] For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way. [8] And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, him, [9] Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, [10] And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: ”
Indeed, we are there Tom A, as “he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way”, which indeed occurred when the Freemason Roncalli began the pose as the Pontiff, creating a mirror image papacy and consequently the church of the Antichrist, all dressed up “Catholic” but void inside of all things Christ Jesus. This may well be the Biblical “abomination of desolation”, the artificial church masquerading as the Church of Jesus the Christ, while at once utterly desolate inside with no valid sacraments; the baptized Catholics yet remaining there, literally in a trance which the “operation of error” yields, such that the lie is believed as the Truth.
When Giovanni Batista Montini, the sodomite and Freemason, took on his pose as the pontiff of the church of the Antichrist, he fully established Lucifer’s abomination of desolation in 1969, when he changed the form of the Sacraments of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. 1969 was the same year of the founding of the “First Church of Satan” by Anton Levey in San Francisco and also the year of Woodstock as the sex and drug delusion fest, as well as the “ordination” of one Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as a priest of his Prince’s church. As function follows form, when Montini changed the form of the Sacraments, their function must also have changed, as being cannot both be and not be, at the same time, and under the same respect. As the purpose of the Sacraments established by the Son of God is to have the function of saving souls, the function of the “new sacraments” simply and with metaphysical certitude CANNOT have the same function of saving souls, as this places an affront, once again, to God’s law of non-contradiction and as an absurdity, it has no being in reality, it therefore does not exist.
So, as you claim Tom A, Burke simply cannot be a priest in the Catholic Church but indeed he can be a priest and prelate in the church of the Antichrist. Amen. In caritas.
I observed with great interest the founding and new “public face” of Catholicism after CMtv was launched.
I was particularly alarmed during the Conclave when the host, Mr Voris , appeared to be Lobbying for Cdl Burke for the Papacy.
How Catholic is this? Surely the Holy Ghost did not open this account.
https://www.facebook.com/BurkeForPope/
Theresa,
Perhaps this link will provide you with a better understanding of Cardinal Burke’s compassion , especially with regard to the innocence of children.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/2004_08_25_Gay_ImmaculateDeception_Raymond_Bornbach_etc.htm
Sweepoutthefilth, again the issue was not with the allegations of impropriety, the issue was that the author of the link was taking issue with Cardinal Burke for remaining steadfast where church teaching on Holy Matrimony is concerned…that in itself was quite confusing. Im well aware that Cardinal Burke is a man of that wretched VII council and until he swallows the
bitter pill that the council was a demonically inspired debaucle he will continue in his erroneous understanding of Our Lady’s requests at Fatima for the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart. I believe that Burkes attachment to VII is his stumbling block, as to the other accusations, I’m sickened and saddened. Just a final word on this post, I for one will not be contributing another dollar to the Fatima center under Mariam Gruner.
With all due respect to you Tom A, I am not a Sedevacantist.
“In God we trust”—-That about sums it up for me.
In caritas. Simply marvelous expose. May I suggest that the Church of Perdition is a “virtual reality ” in the sense that it’s being constructed as we speak with all its Damnable intrigues posing of course in the edifice of the Holy Traditional place. For those who fall for its pomps charms and other degradation it’s a “final reality” at its end. The place reserved for Devil and his angels. Does that expand a little on your very good explanations above.?
Our Lady of Sorrows – Ora pro nobis.
Uh, Cardinal Burke was bishop of the Diocese of LaCrosse and had nothing to do with Madison. Getting back to the purpose of the article,
FC has an response from Chris Ferrara at http://www.fatimaperspectives.com/oc/perspective1077.asp
Even after 50 years of the Modernists going out of their way to show us all how Un-Catholic they actually are, you still don’t believe them?
I knew something like this would happen to Fatima, when Father Gruner died his apostolate died with him. So very sad. The very enemy of Frs apostolate now have taken his lifes work.
Nor myself, it seems since he died his apostlate died with him, a very sad turn of events. N chris is a real shocker someone who has been fighting along side of Fr Gruner for years n knows first hand the details of Fatima,, is gaping at the mouth with his pen. Same goes for the remenant, I never got the impression that Micheal Matt believed in Fatima, he once stated very bluntly how Fr Gruner was promoting a little Lady in the sky, it sounded like he wasn’t convinced, or didn’t take it seriously, he grows passoniate only when talking about the detoriation of the church and how we can turn it around by this or that method, he’s pro solutionist yet, without denying it ignores what Our Lady plainly stated what the solution really is. My question is, does those who are fighting agianst this crisis not realize it’s a cross we have to bear and grow with impatienence that they are willing to compromise with ecumenism, where a possible schism is concerned? There’s a lot of denial floating around in this diaboltical disorientation but then again what other type of confusing mine games would we find ourselves in, within such a situation. It would seem that The very nature of Our Lady’s message is non other than the sickle Almighty God is using to separate the chaff from the wheat in this epoch.
Almighty God sent Our Lady with a divine intervention 100 years ago. And she herself told us then, that it was the last remedy that will be given from heaven.