May the Child Jesus and His Virgin Mother Mary send you abundant blessings for your prayers, sacrifices and contributions in support of Our Blessed Mother's Most Urgent Message and Warning given at Fatima. May you have a very Holy and happy New Year.

       Let us in the New Year continue to console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and our suffering brothers by working to proclaim this Message of Fatima. You know that despite the general silence of the mass media, many of our brothers and sisters in the Christian Faith still suffer terribly because of their faithfulness to Jesus and Mary.

       Communist Russia continues to oppress and enslave One Billion, 500 Million people. More than 160 Million people have been murdered by this Beast of the Apocalypse and yet almost no one talks about it.

       Let us not be taken in by the great silence that the secular media and much of the Catholic press display. We must realize that Communism is still "intrinsically perverse" as Pope Pius XI taught all Catholics for all time.

       Let us recall on the first anniversary of Father Jerzy Popieluszko's death, how he suffered in late 1984 to denounce this ever growing menace. Let us remember him who dared to speak out against the Communist oppression of his land from his pulpit in Warsaw.

       Father Jerzy Popieluszko was kidnaped, beaten and murdered by agents of Poland's Communist government. His broken body, fished out of a reservoir, was described by columnist George Will as follows:

       "His eyes and forehead had been beaten till black. His jaw, nose, mouth and skull were smashed. His fingers and toes dark red and brown from repeated clubbing. Part of his scalp and large strips of skin on his legs had been torn off ... His muscles had been pounded again and again until limp ... The teeth were found completely smashed. In place of his eloquent tongue, there was only mush."

       Sister Lucy has stated quite clearly that all of us, even the United States of America will be subjected to the same barbarism of Communist Russia if Our Lady's requests are not heeded in time.

       Furthermore, the Message of Our Lady of Fatima tells us that various nations will be entirely ANNIHILATED as a punishment for sins if Our Lady's call to prayer and repentance is not heard in time.

       Even more important, many souls will be lost eternally. Our Lady of Fatima said that many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray for them and make sacrifices for them.

       Despite the criminal silence of various leaders, as well as the misleading impressions given by the secular media and even some religious press, it is plain to see that the world, and many worldly people who profess to be Christian, are marching headlong to total destruction without even realizing it. The above mentioned silence and heedlessness must be overcome by publishing The Fatima Crusader even more widely.

       There is only one way to stop this ever-growing menace of Communism and Nuclear War and that is by full obedience to the Message of Our Lady of Fatima. This is not just my opinion. We know this because we are assured of this by God Himself through the Miracles of Fatima which certified that, indeed this Message comes from Him.

       To not do all that we can to spread and obey this Message of God would make us guilty by our negligence of a crime against our suffering brothers. Bishop Graber says "to neglect the Message of Fatima would make us guilty of the ANNIHILATION of entire nations."

       It is evident then that the world is in desperate need of Our Lady of Fatima's Message NOW more than ever! Yet this Message remains largely unknown to most Catholics. Pope John Paul II says the Message is addressed to every human being and yet most non-Catholics have never even heard of it.

       Because of the Urgency of this Message we have expanded the circulation of The Fatima Crusader to 300,000 copies. We did this by the same means that the 20th Century Marian Saint, St. Maximilian Kolbe did. We, like him, send our magazine to people we have good reason to believe would be receptive to Our Lady's Message. Thus it is that we have now the largest circulation of any Fatima magazine, reaching an estimated readership of one million people.

Father Nicholas Gruner at the Vatican with The International Fatima Rosary Crusade Pilgrim Virgin Statue during the Synod.

       I was able to organize through the "International Fatima Rosary Crusade", a Symposium on Fatima on the theme "Is the 1985 Extraordinary Synod the Last Opportunity for World Peace?" The Symposium was held in Vatican City, just a few yards away from St. Peter's Square.

       It was held on Sunday, November 24, 1985, the day the Synod opened. Several bishops, members of the 1985 Synod, attended the complete Symposium. It was advertised on Vatican Radio. Vatican officials, priests, religious and seminarians and lay people attended. Excellent addresses were given by some of the best and Internationally renowned commentators on Fatima.

       A Bishop from Africa, Most Reverend Gabriel Ganaka, personally told me that he was most impressed with this Symposium and promised to do something very helpful regarding Our Lady's command to all the Catholic bishops to consecrate Russia in a solemn public way to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

       Another very highly placed bishop, who asked not to be named, also told me personally that he plans to work behind the scenes towards finally getting Russia consecrated.

       For more news about this Symposium, see the article by Hamish Fraser "Pope John Paul II Fears Bishops' Open Rebellion" in this issue.See also related photos in this issue. Next issue we shall publish more about this Symposium. .

       Regarding our petition campaign to consecrate Russia, thousands of signatures have been collected since our last issue. A Papal Nuncio wrote one of our workers, "Madam, I want to inform you that the Holy See is studying attentively your petitions concerning the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

       Almost everyone at the Symposium signed the Italian translation of the Petition to the Holy Father that we published in the October-December Fatima Crusader. I gave these Petitions, to a sympathetic Cardinal in Rome who promised me he would personally give them to the Holy Father in the very near future.

       Fatima is the Hope of the World. It is the one way we can avoid nuclear death and Communist enslavement. Yet, only now are many priests, nuns and lay people beginning to wake up to the fact that the Message of Fatima is not something for times past but that it especially refers to our own time.

       Now it is becoming widely known that Sister Lucy has been given to us by God to show us the way out of the many very serious crises the world faces in the immediate future. And yet Sister Lucy has been silenced. This is a great loss for all of us.

       In the Symposium held in Vatican City, referred to above, I could tell that the audience of many religious never realized until then this tremendous loss we all suffer by this SILENCE OF SISTER LUCY.

       Just consider the fact that Sister Lucy is a prophet for our time, she has been attested to in our times by some of the greatest Miracles of all time. Her worldwide prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter and God has left her among us to make known this Message of Fatima. She is almost 79 years old and has been silenced for many years now.

       Yet, since 1966, anyone else in the Catholic Church may publish a reported apparition and message without an imprimatur of a bishop. Only Sister Lucy, THE ONE PROPHET so publicly attested to by God for our time is not allowed to speak to the world without the special permission of Cardinal Ratzinger.

       We, at The Fatima Crusader, regret this silence imposed on Sister Lucy. We have recently found a new authentic source of Sister Lucy's words given to trustworthy persons in authorized interviews. Our Pledge is to bring to your attention her very urgent words that we have been able to discover. See the report of Sister Lucy's important interview "Authentic Prophetic Interview With Sister Lucy of Fatima" in this issue.

       Many people write to us to express their gratitude to Our Lady and to us that we publish The Fatima Crusader. It seems that there is no other widely circulated Fatima magazine that proclaims courageously the full Message of Fatima clearly and completely.

       We will, with your help, continue to bring you up to date reports about the Message of Fatima. We shall explain International events as well as close to home issues in the light of Fatima. It is the 20th Century prophecy for our times which Pope John Paul II said is more relevant and urgent than ever.

       But we cannot do this without your help. Already Sister Lucy has been silenced. Please do what you can to see that we too are not BLACKED OUT, SILENCED by lack of support. I know that you have been most supportive but we need help now to continue the work we have already started for Our Lady of Fatima.

       This issue of The Fatima Crusader will cost us over $100,000 to edit, typeset, print and publish our first run of 300,000 copies. There are at least 1,000,000 more homes in North America we could reach with this issue for about 30 cents each. In other words, for every three dollars you send, we can reach 10 people; for every 30 dollars we can reach 100 people.

       Since the Message of Fatima has been fought by silencing it by various means - the answer to this tactic of the enemies is to spread it far and wide. Do what you can to help Our Lady spread this urgent issue of The Fatima Crusader.

       With the help of Our Lady working through you we have been able to publish this informative widely read magazine. Many people in Asia and Africa who cannot send any money to pay for postage and printing cry out to you to help us send them our magazine.

       Today, no other solution will be found to the problem of world hunger, war, persecution of the Church, and persecution of the Holy Father. Our Lady of Fatima told us in 1917 that these things would befall us due to our ignoring Her pressing call at Fatima. If the world continues to ignore Her Message then nuclear annihilation of many nations will most certainly follow soon.

       We at The Fatima Crusader do all we can to make known the fullness of the Fatima Message. You can help yourselves and Sister Lucy to save souls by continuing to support and distribute The Fatima Crusader. The Message of Fatima, so simple, yet very profound, is God's answer to the many grave crises that beset the world.

       Please pray for our debts to be paid. Tell your friends about us. Give them your copy of The Fatima Crusader (order extra copies from us). If you can, please send your sacrificial offering to this apostolate as your gift to the Child Jesus and His Virgin Mother Mary. Anything you can send would be greatly appreciated, of enormous help, and will certainly be rewarded by God and Our Blessed Mother Mary.

       With Father Victor Soroka and Father Michael Jarecki, I send you our priestly blessing for Epiphany. Please support us as we help Pope John Paul II bring the Church and the world to full obedience to Our Lady of Fatima's Peace Plan from Heaven. May Our Heavenly Mother Mary draw you ever closer to Her Divine Son Jesus.

Sincerely in Jesus, Mary and Joseph                  

Father Nicholas Gruner, S.T.L., S.T.D. (Cand.)

P.S.   Please send your tax-deductible gift to help us keep the voice of Our Lady of Fatima and Sister Lucy from being silenced. Your gift to the Christ Child will help Him to save souls. If you send $30 or more we will send you a cassette of two powerful talks (in English) at the Fatima Symposium in Vatican City. (We will send you cassettes of the Italian and French talks also if you request them.)

P.P.S.   Please remember Sister Lucy has been silenced and Communism will overtake the world very soon if Our Lady's Message of Fatima is not published widely and heard. Do your part to ensure that The Fatima Crusader and our apostolate is not silenced. Please pray, work and contribute whatever help you can. Please send $20, $50 or $100 or whatever amount you can afford to enable us to pay off the debt for this issue of The Fatima Crusader and keep all our apostolic works going.

Return to
Table of Contents