5,963 ROSARY RALLIES SPREAD FATIMA MESSAGE NATIONWIDE!

Like the mustard seed of scriptural fame, the seed of 2,000 rallies in 2007 now has grown in size and bore bigger fruits.

Or perhaps better yet, the spark lit back then has now spread like wildfire! Not content with praying inside churches or their respective homes, a rejuvenated band of Catholics are proclaiming their Catholic Faith in the streets and public venues throughout America.

Today, October 16, 2010, America Needs Fatima’s (ANF) successfully carried out 5,963 Rosary rallies all over America including far-off Alaska, Hawaii and Guam, and in some other countries.

Thanks to the zealous efforts of rosary captains around the nation, thousands of faithful Catholics armed with their rosaries and banners trooped to the public square to pray for America’s conversion and heed the message of Our Lady of Fatima.

The response to ANF’s 2010 campaign is nothing short of outstanding!

Not only did ANF successfully reach this year’s goal of 5,000 rallies, it far exceeded expectations and almost hit the 6000 mark (5,963 to be exact) topping last year’s 4, 337 rallies. Once again, throngs of Catholic faithful proudly displayed their Faith on their chest as they publicly recited the Rosary for all to see.

Like virtue, it’s now a habit

In some areas in 2010, rosary rallies are becoming a common sight. Not content with holding the October gatherings yearly, rosary captains carry out these events monthly.

ANF certainly hopes that this initiative will gain a groundswell of support among other rosary captains so that more acts of public reparation and prayer could be offered to God in face of an ever increasing sinful and pagan culture corroding today’s society.

It is to heed and console Our Lady who told Sister Lucia at Fatima on the apparition of October 13, 1917 that, “'Let them offend Our Lord no more, for He is already much offended.”

Spurring and inspiring others to act

In an increasingly secularized atmosphere that pushes religious expression out of the public square, one could only imagine effects these rosary rallies have on the average passerby or onlooker and even the participants themselves. More importantly, one can never underestimate the inner workings of grace engendered by these acts.

A moving example is that of one woman (Kathy Worboys of Honeoye Falls, NY) who chanced upon a magazine article in her parish church regarding public rosary rallies, a subject that’s quite new to her.

Looking more closely at the article the following week, she noticed a picture of a banner accompanying the article that said, "As human efforts fail to solve America’s key problems, we turn to God, through His Holy Mother, asking His urgent help.” Those words captivated and inspired her. She resolved to become a rosary captain and organize a rosary rally herself.

A case of a collapsed disc caused by a speed bump didn’t slow down one ANF volunteer (Mary Ellen Piel of Kansas). She successfully recruited a friend to become a rosary captain while talking to her over the phone in her hospital bed!

A daughter’s due date (which would be on October 16, 2010) of one new rosary captain didn’t faze his resolve to proceed with the rally. He plans to hold the rally at the hospital instead should that happen.

Support for the rallies

Since their inception, these rallies have found support from both bishops and clergy alike.

This year, Guam’s archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron, added his stamp of approval as he addressed his pastors and rectors in a letter of Wednesday, October 6,

“In solidarity with AMERICA NEEDS FATIMA, I request that on Saturday, October 16, 2010 … the Rosary be prayed at 12 noon in your parish.” Archbishop Anthony explained that AMERICA NEEDS FATIMA’s goal is to “win the heart and soul of America for Mary by spreading Our Lady’s Fatima message and promoting devotion to Her Immaculate Heart.”

The Rosary is the great weapon of the Twenty-First Century, as in centuries past

There are many benefits that could be gained by praying the Rosary and these are amply covered and expounded in many pious books.

But much closer to home, Sister Lucy had this to say in a 1957 interview she gave to Father Augustín Fuentes, postulator of the cause of beatification for the seers of Fatima, Francisco and Jacinta at that time. She said, “The last means that God will give to the world for its salvation are the Holy Rosary and My Immaculate Heart… Father, with the new efficacy Our Lady has given to the Rosary, there is no problem in the life of anyone which cannot be solved by frequently praying the Rosary.”[1]

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[1]Fr. Fuentes Conference (on Sr. Lucy's message entrusted to him on Dec. 26, 1957 A.D.) was originally published in "HACIA LOS ALTARES" in October, 1958 A.D., with the Ecclesiastical approbation of Don Manuel Anselmo Sanchez, Vicar General of Vera Cruz containing all the facts stated in the Conference in even fuller detail. The English translation of Fr. Fuentes May, 22nd, 1958 historic Conference was published in a newspaper called Fatima Findings (Vol. XIV, No. 2) in June of 1959 A.D., under the titled, A Recent Interview of Sister Lucy of Fatima.

Watch a Catholic Priest Take on the Homosexual Agenda!

Father Rodriguez of El Paso, Texas defends the Church's position on homosexuality and same-sex "marriage" with courage and resolution. This debate is really extraordinary. It is every refreshing to see a Catholic priest in full cassock tell it like it is!

Click here to see this video.

The Miracle of the Sun

Will You Come Pray in the Public Square?

On October 16, tens of thousands of Catholics will take to the public square in 5,894 locations nationwide to pray for the nation in these troubled times.

The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and its America Needs Fatima campaign are inviting the public to join these Public Square Rosary rallies as a way of spiritually countering same-sex “marriage,” abortion and other immoral customs that are threatening the nation.

The campaign believes human efforts to solve America’s problems are failing. We must turn to God for real solutions.

During the Public Square Rosary in New York City participants kneel on sidewalk of 5th Avenue to pray the Consecration to Our Lady.

The movement has grown from its initial showing of over 2,000 rallies in 2007.

This year, there will be 5,894 Rosary Rallies in the Public Square that will be happening at noon on October 16.

We invite you to click here to locate the rally closest to you!

Please consider joining these peaceful gatherings of people in local communities who will pray the rosary publicly and proudly.

This year more than 5,894 Public Square Rosary Rallies will take place throughout the United States, asking God for real solutions to the moral crisis threatening our nation.

To find out more about the Public Square Rosary campaign, please call toll-free: 1-866-584-6012 or visit: http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/rosary-rally-central.html

Please join this rosary crusade!

An American Knight Review

Ideals To Aspire To

Reviewed by: R.Adm. William A. Heine, USNR (ret) and Colonel Michael D. Wyly USMC (Ret.) Both men were classmates of Colonel John Ripley, Class of 1962, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.

A lone U.S. Marine hand-walked, gripping the girders underneath the bridge over the Cua Viet River in the midst of a fire fight, on Easter Sunday, 1972. South of the bridge, a beleaguered battalion of fewer than 700 South Vietnamese Marines was the last ditch defense of the town of Dong Ha. North of the bridge, a column of 200 Soviet-built tanks and 30,000 North Vietnamese soldiers moved south. The bridge was their destination and their means of rapidly reinforcing the communist forces already in the Republic of Vietnam. As advisor to the South Vietnamese battalion, Captain John W. Ripley, received the order to destroy the bridge. He did so, singlehandedly. It would take him three hours hand-walking out with the explosives and back again for more. At one point he passed out from fatigue on a girder, only to be awakened when a round from the main gun of an enemy tank slammed into the bridge and jolted him awake. ” ‘The idea that I would be able to even finish the job before the enemy got me was ludicrous,” ‘Captain Ripley is quoted. ‘When you know you’re not going to make it, a wonderful thing happens: You stop being cluttered by the feeling that you’re going to survive.’”

The captain would retire from the Corps as a full colonel in 1992. The writers of this review have known him since we were all 18-year-old plebes reporting to the U.S. Naval Academy in the Class of 1962. “Rip” as we called him died of an apparent heart attack in October 2008 and we each had conversation with him within a week of his death, knew him in the course of our own military careers, knew he was the hero who singlehandedly destroyed the bridge, but did not know how much a hero, had never heard Rip’s words quoted above, until we read Norman Fulkerson’s An American Knight. If you understand the title, you do not need to read the book. But read it anyway. It is an uplifting story.

John W. Ripley with his wife Moline, after receiving the Navy Cross during the evening Parade at the Marine Corps Barracks in Washington D.C.

From Fulkerson we also learn that when asked to sign a contract for a possible movie about his actions, Rip imposed two conditions. Whoever portrayed him would not use profanity and would not be unfaithful to his wife. When it came to being an officer of Marines, Rip epitomized what this means in a way Hollywood might never understand. Simply put, Rip was a gentleman. Hollywood images of tough guys swearing and womanizing may attract throngs of ticket-buyers seeking an evening’s entertainment, but they fail to capture what service to one’s country and courage under fire really are. John captured them both, true to life.

Fulkerson’s writing style is without pretense. One editor described the book as “an easy read.” It follows the chronology of Colonel Ripley’s life in sequence. No flashbacks or fast forwards. We meet his parents and the small town Radford, Virginia, where he grew up. We meet his bride to be and learn of his courtship and marriage. But without the author having to tell us, we sense where the story is taking us, that when Rip is called upon, he will do his duty, no matter the odds.

And so it was with we who knew him. When we were all teenage midshipman Rip’s future had an inevitability about it. That he would be a Marine officer was a certainty. On this, he was thoroughly focused. Likewise, that he would stay in uniform for a full 30 years. That his specialty would be infantry. Our images of military life were formed in World War II. “Marine” meant hitting the beach in a landing craft with a drop-ramp bow and charging on foot against the enemy. That we would one day go to war to fight for our freedom seemed equally certain. Rip wanted to do that because he believed in what the country stood for. Add all this together and you knew Rip would be called upon to do his duty, to exercise immense courage under fire, and that he would rise to the occasion, never flinching. And with that ever-present broad smile on his face.

1967 Vietnam photo of then Captain John Ripley studying a map with his trademark smile.

Rip had two tours of duty in Vietnam, the first as an infantry company commander. Here we read of his forbidding his Marines to shoot a pig because “it belongs to a farmer who needs to sustain a family.” And the same humanitarian thread continues as the bridge at Dong Ha finally blows into “massive chunks of concrete and steel spiraling through the air” while Rip holds in his arms a Vietnamese child whom he rescued from the impact area just in time.

Rip’s story does not end when the bridge blows up. As a colonel he is assigned back to his Alma Mater at Annapolis. There, he sets an example to the young midshipmen in his charge, guides and mentors them, earning respect and love above and beyond anything we remember witnessing or hearing about in our own careers. His calm manner, his inner toughness, and his ready smile –all life-long traits– made it a morale boost just to be in the same room with him.

Norman Fulkerson first met Colonel Ripley in 1993 when the Colonel delivered a speech for the launching of the book Nobility and Analagous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII at The Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C. In the ensuing years he kept in touch, personally, and read articles and books recounting the Colonel’s actions at Dong Ha, Vietnam, in 1972. He met Marines who had served with Colonel Ripley. The more the author learned of “Colonel Ripley the man,” the more he found himself thinking what a model citizen and model officer the colonel was. Finally, in 2007, a year before Colonel Ripley died unexpectedly, Mr. Fulkerson began to conceptualize a book about the Colonel’s life. The material in An American Knight is drawn from a combination of conversations with Colonel Ripley; meetings and interviews with Marines and family members: several books and articles that have documented the Colonel’s courage in Vietnam, and the content of Colonel Ripley’s speeches that the author had attended over the years.

An American Knight is more than sound military history. It is the story of a life led without pretense or affectation, an example of doing one’s duty selflessly, and, in this way is a story the youth of our country are starved for. Adults should read it for inspiration of how to rear their children and our children should read it to learn that great things can be done by people who come from the simplest beginnings, that bravado is not a requirement, that honor is sacred, and that modesty and courtesy are the keys to respectability. We should hope our grandchildren will put the book down and reflect, “Maybe I could do that” and know, when they too are called upon to act in some unforeseeable situation, “there was one who went before me and rose to the occasion. I can too.”

R. Adm. William A. Heine, USNR (ret.) As Operations Officer of a Naval Construction Battalion, he built the Dong Ha bridge over the Cua Vet River in 1968 that fellow Naval Academy graduate John Ripley would destroy in 1972.

Colonel Michael D. Wyly, USMC (ret.) served two tours and distinguished himself as an outstanding Marine infantry officer in Vietnam. His early life and military career is chronicled in Robert Coram's book "Boyd".