The Fourth Secret
(Fatima Kept Secret)
by Hamish Fraser
Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to water down the full Message of Our Lady of Fatima and render it "harmless". It is our duty in charity and in justice to oppose these efforts. The following article (published in Approaches No. 95) alerts us to one such attempt. It is by the late, great Hamish Fraser. A former communist, he converted to the true Church and was a leading expert on Fatima, and especially its political aspects, which are important and essential. This article is not to be seen as an attack on persons. Indeed Hamish was a friend to one person named herein, John Haffert. It is rather a defense of the integrity of the Public, Prophetic Message which Our Lady gave us to heed, and to act on.
The leaders of the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima have for some time been increasingly worried about episcopal hostility to the Fatima apostolate.
Undoubtedly, this hostility is the main reason why successive Popes have refused even to permit Sister Lucy to make known the Third Fatima Secret (which appears primarily to concern the crisis within the Church1), let alone implement the demand of Our Lady of Fatima that Russia should be collegially consecrated to Mary's Immaculate Heart by the Holy Father and all the bishops of the Universal Church.
As a means of circumventing this episcopal hostility it is now proposed 'politically' to defuse the Fatima apostolate. The primary aim it would seem, is to prevent the Fatima Message from being interpreted in such a way as to cause offense not only to Moscow but also to anti-anti-Communist Churchmen. Towards that end, Bishop Luna, President of the World Apostolate of Fatima (alias The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima), has proposed a new 'World Apostolate of Fatima's Apostolate of the Two Hearts'2 that would be so essentially 'ecclesial' — and needless to say, in an ultra 'oecumenical' post-Conciliar sense — as to be regarded as being entirely innocuous even by the very worst enemies of Mother Church.
That is why we have ironically entitled this article The Fourth Secret'. For, the main purpose of this new 'apostolic' exercise would seem to be to keep hidden the quite literally world-shaking significance of the Message of Our Lady of Fatima.
A 'Balanced Devotion'
Since in post-Conciliar eyes, anything reminiscent of pre-Conciliar orthodoxy, or, for that matter, anything forthright, is considered to be 'unbalanced', not surprisingly, in recommending the new 'Two Hearts' apostolate, Bishop Luna told the May 21, 1986 Executive Committee Meeting of the World Apostolate: "If we go into a well-balanced devotion, we can gain the clergy."
The September 1986 Symposium
Towards the end of establishing this 'balanced devotion', a Symposium is due to be held at Fatima from September 15-19, 1986.
This Symposium appears to be the end-product of a Steering Committee established with Rome's approval in response to a proposal by Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila, that a group of theologians should explore 'the inter-relationship between the Hearts of Jesus and Mary'. (cf. "Two Hearts Symposium: An Exciting, Historical Event" by Father Arthur B. Calkins in the May/June 1986 issue of Soul Magazine.)
Consequences of the Exercise
The ultimate consequences of this exercise will become manifest once the decisions of the September 1986 Symposium take effect. To anticipate them, however, it is useful to recall the original purpose of the authentic Fatima Apostolate.
Essentially it was to make the Message of Fatima known and understood so that it would eventually be implemented.
It was, therefore, emphasized that this would be possible only if a sufficient number of the faithful could be made to realize the necessity of fulfilling the mundane duties appropriate to their state in life: in short of becoming exemplary Christians. Only thus would it be possible to obtain the grace of the Collegial Consecration of Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart and thereby also the conversion of Russia and an assurance of genuine peace.
The Message of Our Lady of Fatima also made it clear that were this not done Russia would spread its errors universally and subjugate the entire world to Moscow's atheistic and inhuman dictatorship.
Risk of Success Too Dangerous!
Amazingly enough, despite the non-cooperation of most bishops, the Fatima Apostolate, such as it has been up till now, does not appear to have been altogether ineffective. For notwithstanding even the unprecedented collapse of Catholic order in the wake of Vatican II, according to John Haffert, in 1967 Moscow had itself already acknowledged that the Fatima Apostolate 'constituted the number one deterrent to the success of the world atheist revolution'.
If this is true, it would seem to be no mean achievement. One would therefore imagine this should indicate the necessity of still further intensifying and furthering the task of propagating and explaining the significance and purpose of the Message of Our Lady of Fatima.
This, however, is not the inference drawn by John Haffert. Because so many bishops — particularly in England and France — have turned a deaf ear to the Message of Fatima, on the manifestly spurious pretext that the message is 'political', 'an arm of the C.I.A.' etc., together with other men of little faith associated with the 'Blue Army', John Haffert would seem to have decided that under no circumstances must the risk be taken of continuing thus to deter 'the success of the world atheist revolution'.
Unless we have quite unintentionally but completely misunderstood him, this would seem to be the gist of his letter dated May 13, 1986, addressed to his colleague Howard Q. Dee of the Philippines, which is reprinted below ...
May 13, 1986
Mr. Howard Q. Dee,
Bahay Maria,
146 Jupiter Street,
Bel Air, Makati MM,
Philippines
Dear Howard:
In some countries the name "The Blue Army" has become muddied. Some say it is because persons claiming to be Blue Army members have not acted in a proper way towards priests or bishops. And while this may rarely be the case, I believe that mostly there has been a very well financed and deliberate campaign over a long period of time, because International communism sees the Message of Fatima and The Blue Army as a real threat. Indeed, as you know, the official voice of militant atheism in Russia in 1967 said that the Message of Fatima, and specifically the Blue Army, constituted the number one deterrent to the success of the world atheist revolution. It cited lt (the Blue Army) as one of the three major deterrents, the other two having been Hitler and the Cold War.
We have seen the effects of this especially in Europe, and although this has been overcome to some extent in Spain, it has been nothing less than devastating in France and England. In Italy the name "World Apostolate of Fatima" was substituted at an early date and some progress has been made there, but still many, if not even most Bishops have been given the impression that the Blue Army is "political." And that it is an arm of the US CIA, and that its main purpose is to destroy the communistic governments of the world.
And it seems almost useless for us to try to convince the Bishops that the Blue Army is a purely spiritual movement, a pure response, as Cardinal Tisserant said, to the Message of Fatima.
The situation in France is such that after traveling throughout the country and speaking to many Bishops, Bishop Luna encouraged the spiritual director of the Blue Army of that country and one of its principal lay leaders, to drop the name Blue Army and even the name "World Apostolate of Fatima" and to promote devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as though it were an entirely new and different movement.
This has given rise to the enclosed suggestion, which to a great extent was inspired by your articles and by the meeting which you and I had in New Jersey when we discussed the devotions which put into practice simultaneous devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We will be discussing this at the meeting of our International Executive Committee at Fatima on May 20. Any suggestions you have may be sent to me there. They will be most appreciated. I feel that this could be a wonderful practical fruit of the Symposium ... but without referring to it in any way.
What I foresee is the possibility of "an Apostolate of the Two Hearts" rising up in those countries where the World Apostolate of Fatima has been hindered and even often destroyed by adverse propaganda. We have many apostles waiting, and I think this will spring into life and into vigorous membership before the enemies of the message of Fatima would be able to react. And even then, how would they attack an Apostolate of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary?
I beg your prayers and with all best wishes, I am as ever
Yours in the Sacred Hearts,
John M. Haffert
Enclosure
cc: Bishop Luna
Fr. Calkins
Editorial Note: The various underlinings and insertions in the text of the above letter are not ours. H.F.
How to Avoid Success
From his letter to Howard Q. Dee, and from various articles in Soul, organ of The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, John Haffert and his colleagues seem determined to insure against any possibility of being held responsible for the consequences of a really effective Fatima apostolate.
This is going to be done by playing down Our Lady's demand for the Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to Her Immaculate Heart, by insinuating that the Consecration demanded has already been effected, at least partially, and that all that now remains to be done is to popularize this new 'Apostolate of the Two Hearts'.
Thus in the May/June 1983 issue of Soul, which at long last admitted that the Collegial Consecration of Russia had not been effected by Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1982, and that "it still remains for the Holy Father to designate a specific day for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary when bishops, in their own cathedrals throughout the world, will join in this solemn and public act of consecration", John Haffert proceeds to insult the intelligence of the faithful by stating: "The first and most important phase of the consecration of Russia has now been made."3
As though this were not enough, the confusion was still further compounded by the following statement by Gerard E. Mayers in the January/March 1984 issue of the Blue Army Leader:
"The Collegial Consecration had to take place first,4 before the conversion of Russia would be completed. (We now understand that the Act of Consecration5 would not in itself "convert" Russia, but would set the stage for the accomplishment of the action of the conversion of Russia.)"
Since it had already been stated (Soul July/August 1982) that Pope John Paul had effected the Collegial Consecration of Russia on May 13, 1982, and since, notwithstanding John Haffert's subsequent retraction (Soul May/June 1983), it continued to be implied in Soul, and by no means only by Gerard Myers, that the Collegial Consecration had already been made, it was clearly necessary to try to explain away the fact that neither the May 13, 1982, Consecration nor the other two similar consecrations subsequently performed by Pope John Paul II, had resulted in Russia's conversion which Our Lady of Fatima had promised would take place as a consequence of the Collegial Consecration which She had demanded.
Top-Level Sponsorship
The new Apostolate of the TWO HEARTS will certainly not lack impressive sponsors. According to Father Arthur B. Calkins, in the Soul article already cited, it would seem to have been approved at the very highest level.
Undoubtedly, considered objectively on its own merits, this Apostolate could not be too highly commended, had it been conceived in the true spirit of the Message of Fatima, and as being indispensable to effect the Collegial Consecration of Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart and therefore the conversion of Russia.
Alas! As can be seen from John Haffert's letter to Howard Q. Dee and various articles in recent issues of Soul, the purpose of the new Apostolate is rather to obscure the urgent necessity of the Collegial Consecration of Russia as demanded by Our Lady of Fatima; and also to obscure the need for any effective Fatima apostolate.
Denigration of The Fatima Crusader
Which explains the malicious attempts in Soul to vilify The Fatima Crusader, founded by Father Nicholas Gruner, whose sole purpose is to make the faithful aware of the real significance of the Message of Our Lady of Fatima.
This campaign of quite unashamed misrepresentation not only of The Fatima Crusader, but also of the Fatima Message is exposed at length and fully documented in the June/July 1986 issue (No. 20) of The Fatima Crusader in an article 'The Plot to Silence Our Lady' by Father Paul Leonard.
An Apostolate in Vacuo
It is precisely because the new 'Apostolate of the Two Hearts' is essentially negative that it is unlikely to be fruitful.
Whereas hitherto the campaign for devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was given special urgency by the Sacred Heart's own Message to Sister Lucy that no initiative can possibly expect to be fruitful unless envisaged as a means of glorifying the Heart of His Immaculate Mother, and that only by Russia's consecration to that Heart and by no other means is it possible to obtain Russia's conversion and world peace, the new 'Apostolate of the Two Hearts' will be an apostolate in vacuo, desirable as a thing in itself no doubt, but no longer directly related to the life and death realities which confront our contemporaries.
A more effective recipe for failure could therefore scarcely be devised.
Logic of the Madhouse
Because the enemy has already acknowledged the power of the Fatima Apostolate, that Apostolate must henceforth be emasculated.
The 'logic' of this non sequitur would seem to be that the only effective means of confronting the enemy is by refusing to do so, by instead seeking to persuade him that we are not really in earnest concerning the Message of Our Lady of Fatima, and by assuring him that he has nothing whatever to fear from this manifestly 'non-political' apostolate, which in any case is scarcely likely to be taken seriously by anyone, least of all those whom it had hitherto been unable to rouse even by the unadulterated Message of the Queen of Heaven.
In effect, therefore, while Soviet Russia's apparatchiks have already contrived to use the Church's own institutions, as well as Churchmen at all levels, to spread the errors of Revolutionary Marxism not only throughout the world but also throughout the very Church itself by means of a 'liberation theology' which is simply Revolutionary Marxism in Christian guise, we are being counselled to ignore this diabolical subversion of both Church and State which so eloquently corroborates Our Lady of Fatima's warning as to the consequences of non-compliance with Her demands.
Even to draw attention to this subversion — let alone reveal the extent to which it derives from the 1962 Vatican-Moscow Agreement — is in John Haffert's perspective, now impermissibly 'political', and it is no less 'political' to focus attention on the need for the consecration of Russia as the only means of disarming the subversive forces at the Kremlin's command.
Instead, therefore, it is Christ's faithful who must be disarmed, and not merely 'politically' but also spiritually. For the conversion of Russia (and the consequent disarming of its disciples and agents everywhere) would be not a 'political' but an essentially spiritual phenomenon. Therefore, to blind the faithful not only to the terrifying reality of Moscow's subversion of both Church and State, aided and abetted as it is by the Kremlin's ecclesial fellow-travellers, but also to the fact that this subversion can be contained and overcome only by Russia's conversion is to blind them not merely politically but above all SPIRITUALLY.
Incredible Folly
Incredibly, it appears to be John Haffert's hope that whereas so many bishops cannot stomach the Message of Fatima, they may be expected to support this new Apostolate which has been so effectively defused both politically and spiritually.
In fact, if any bishops hostile to Fatima espouse this new Apostolate, it will be primarily because they acknowledge its negative significance as a means of deflecting the attention of the faithful from the essential significance of the Message of Our Lady of Fatima, and above all of combating the authentic Fatima apostolate now being so effectively encouraged by The Fatima Crusader.
Will This Please Heaven
However, even where this new Apostolate is espoused by such bishops as appreciate the need to glorify the Immaculate Heart of Mary alongside the Sacred Heart of Her Divine Son, not even this can possibly compensate for the fact that the essential purpose of this new Apostolate is negative rather than positive.
In fact, however, such bishops as have hitherto rejected the Message of Fatima are unlikely to welcome this new, de-natured Apostolate, any more than they are likely to change their attitude to the Rosary.
Perhaps this was what Heaven was trying to tell John Haffert when, as he himself admits, Bishop Guezzeli, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, told him to his face, not only that Fatima is an irrelevancy, but also that the Rosary is definitely 'out'.
1. Cf. "Fatima: The Mystery of the Third Secret" by Frčre Michel de la Sainte Trinité, Supplement to Approaches Nos. 93-94. See The Fatima Crusader Issue No. 20.
2. This was proposed at the May 21, 1986 Meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Apostolate of Fatima which appointed an 'Ad hoc' Committee to launch the new 'Apostolate of the Two Hearts'.
3. Already, in the July/August 1973 issue of Soul it had been suggested that the Consecration of Russia was effected by Paul VI at Vatican II.
4. Implying, needless to say, that the Consecration of May 13, 1982 had indeed fulfilled the demand of Our Lady of Fatima.
5. i.e. The consecration performed by John Paul II on May 13, 1982.
You should know more about the author of this article. Read Fatal Star. The autobiography of Hamish Fraser, Fatal Star, is available from The Fatima Crusader for $12.95. It recounts his journey from shallow Protestantism, through unbelief, into communism, and finally, thanks to Our Lady, into the Catholic Church. The book shows both the beauty and necessity of the social teaching of the Church which is, as Hamish taught, "nothing other than the application to social matters of the Ten Commandments and the Gospel." It is vibrantly written and we highly recommend it.
Return to
Table of Contents
|