Healing Mass Celebration at World Apostolate of Fatima, USA

Fatima - Our Lady of Fatima - World Apostolate of Fatima, USA - Blue Army Shrine

The World Apostolate of Fatima, USA, will continue in 2010 to celebrate Healing Masses with Father Paul Ruge. Father Paul is the chaplain and spiritual advisor at the Catholic shrine.

The National Blue Army Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is located in Warren County on 674 Mountain View Road, Washington, New Jersey 07882. The shrine is part of the World Apostolate of Fatima and is devoted to spreading the message of Our Lady of Fatima.

The first scheduled Mass will begin with Divine Mercy Prayer at 3:00 PM on Sunday, January 3, in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Healing Masses will also include the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick right after the Homily.  For any changes or updates on the Healing Mass schedule, please call the shrine at the following number (908) 689-1700.

The Healing Mass Schedule for 2010:

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sunday May 2, 2010 

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

In time of sickness, it's always prudent to seek the appropriate medical treatment from a doctor.

However, James 5:14-15 states that during times of illness, we should focus on the Word of God and also seek help from our minister or priest by "summoning the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven."

News of Interest Regarding the Shrine:

On October 18, 2009, the World Apostolate of Fatima (USA), and EWTN held a televised event of One World Praying for Life and Peace.  Some visitors that attended were blessed to witness the Miracle of the Sun during the prayer service.  For additional details about the story, please visit the following links:  Miracle of the Sun Witnessed at Fatima Shrine in New Jersey or Signs, Wonders, and Miracles

Photograph By Loci B. Lenar
Christian-Miracles.com

The Miraculous Healing of Ethan Stacy

The following inspirational story of God's miraculous healing of Ethan Stacy's leukemia appeared on the Christian Broadcasting Network:

CBN.com - By the time Ethan’s parents took the long painful walk through the cemetery to see the place where they would bury their son, Ethan Stacy was within days of death.

Ethan was already under the care of a hospice nurse. His body was rapidly shutting down.

According to Dr. Melissa Rhodes, Ethan had AML, an aggressive type of leukemia. She serves in the oncology unit at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., where she was one of Ethan’s physicians.

“Children who are actually born with leukemia don’t usually do very well,” Dr. Rhodes says. “The best that we could offer was to put Ethan through difficult chemotherapy and still not know that he would make it through.”

In fact, chemotherapy is so toxic for newborns that doctors gave Ethan’s parents the option not to treat their son. After two weeks in the hospital, Chad and Mandy made the painful decision to take their son home.

 “The chemo could kill him,” Chad says. “There are all kinds of risks.”

“We came home and I remember lying in bed and praying,” Mandy says. “We said, ‘God, give us an answer’. We both woke up the next morning and both said, ‘Nope, we’re not going to put him through it’.”

Most doctors at Vanderbilt supported that decision. “We figured if Ethan truly had the kind of leukemia that we felt he had, then even with full treatment he may not do well,” says Dr. Rhodes. “For that reason we felt it was right to honor the family’s decision.”

After only a few days at home, Ethan’s baby acne, which is common in newborns, had become infected. So they went back to the hospital. That’s when the tumors began to show up…

“We noticed a lump in his calf,” says Mandy. “We paged the doctor, and they told us that it could be a blood clot or a build up of the leukemia cells, which is called chloroma.”

Tumors started popping up in other places such as Ethan’s feet, hands, and his forearm.

“Leukemia itself means cancer of the blood; it’s a blood disease,” explains Dr. Rhodes. “But in this particular kind of leukemia it can also go out into the tissues. That’s what we believe was happening with Ethan. He actually had leukemia in his skin, in his hands, his feet, and his legs, as well as in his liver and spleen which is more common. So he was showing that he had a very advanced disease at that point.”

Ethan was now about three weeks old, and his condition really started to decline. He stopped eating and began to experience sleep apnea.

“The nurse told me that he might develop what’s called sepsis, which would be a total body infection, and that he would go peacefully or he might hemorrhage,” Mandy recalls. “I would see blood in his diaper or maybe coming out of his ears. I was so scared to open up his diaper to even change it.”

When the hospice nurse arrived, Chad and Mandy knew they were near the end but Chad, Mandy and their friends continued to pray… believing God for the impossible.

“I remember rocking him and singing, ‘Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see you’,” Mandy says. “I knew that if I just focused my mind on Christ that’s the only way that I could make it through.”

The night that Ethan faced his greatest medical crisis, something happened. “Mandy late that night started feeding, and he started taking his bottle a little bit at a time,” Chad says.

The next day, Ethan was a little stronger… But was he having one final rebound before death?

 Mandy says, “I remember sitting at the kitchen table and saying, ‘I believe God’s healing him. I can see God working.’ Then he just gradually started getting better. And over the next week, we were back up to six ounces of formula every three hours.”

Over the next two weeks, Ethan improved! And when Mandy took him back to Vanderbilt to check his blood counts? “His platelets level was like 415,000 -- in normal range, where it had been 39,000 at his lowest point.”

This stumped Dr. Rhodes and her colleagues. “Ethan had gotten about as sick as a baby could possibly get and then spontaneously got better. So we wanted to look. We did the bone marrow test, which showed no evidence of leukemia. The tumors gradually went down over a period of probably a week or so. It was just remarkable to witness it.”

Chad and Mandy knew they had witnessed a miracle when they repeated the bone marrow biopsy in July with the same results.

Today, Ethan Stacy is a strapping two-year-old, who loves playing with his dad and big sister Kaylee. It goes without saying that the Stacys are thankful.

"The prayers of my friends and church members meant everything to me,” Chad says.

Mandy agrees. “It’s just awesome that we have a God like that… I just can’t get over the miracles. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for him because I know it’s going to be big.”

To view the inspiring story on video, please visit the following link: Stacy Family Witnesses a Miracle in Their Son

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in Song

'THE CHAPLET OF DIVINE MERCY IN SONG,' comes from producer, Trish Short and was performed on EWTN.

I recommend listening to the beautiful combination of words and music. For additional information about the song, please visit the following link: http://divinemercyinsong.com/

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was written by St. Faustina Kowalska as a result of visions she had from Jesus Christ, who revealed Himself as the Divine Mercy. I would suggest praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for God's peace to enfold nations, religious denominations, and people. 

For information regarding St. Faustina, please visit the following link:  Catholic Online

A Call for Peaceful Coexistence Between Christians and Muslims

Cardinal Bertone calls for religious freedom and respect for human rights in Arab countries

The following article appeared on the Catholic News Agency (CNA):

Rome, Italy, Dec 12, 2009 - In what constitutes the first interview for a documentary on the Vatican produced by the Al Jazeera network in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, encouraged the fostering of religious freedom and respect for human rights in Arab countries, especially in the Middle East.

According to L'Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Bertone explained that dialogue between Catholics and Muslims is an "important factor for peace and respect.” He also encouraged "a peaceful coexistence of all with all," explaining that the Church "defends the rights of all: the right to live, the right to education, the right of association, the rights of all minorities."

In that sense, he said, "it is necessary to ensure freedom to worship for everyone, dialoguing and working together to help those who are most in need." "The Church,” he added, "promotes the welfare of peoples regardless of their religion." Given that fact, he urged the defense of minorities, especially Christians "who are in Muslim countries,” a task that "we must pursue together."

Cardinal Bertone went on to discuss his telephone conversation with the Patriarch of Baghdad, Cardinal Emmanuel Delly, after the terrible attacks that hit the offices of the Chaldean Patriarchate, among other areas.

Addressing the people of the Middle East, the Cardinal urged "Arab Christians to stay, because they play a positive role, although some may make mistakes." This is an issue that is often raised when policy makers from the region visit the Vatican, he said.

The Al Jazeera Documentary

The new documentary, which is intended to show the reality of the Vatican to the Muslim world and will be broadcast by in six months, also includes interviews with several cardinals. Among those prelates are: Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture; Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Academy for Vita.

According Kenawi Mohamed, Cardinal Bertone's interviewer, "the decision to make the documentary stems from the desire to make known the universal reality of the Catholic Church and the Vatican to the Arab and Muslim world, in particular the Vatican, an independent entity guided by the pope, who is both a spiritual leader and head of state."

Kenawi said the documentary, which has been well received by members of the Roman Curia, "can serve to help the Arab world better understand the figure of the pope and the role of the Holy See in the current international scenario.”

Vatican and Russia moving towards full establishment of diplomatic relations

Holy See and Russia moving towards full establishment of diplomatic relations

The following article appeared on the Catholic News Agency:

Vatican City, December 4, 2009 (CNA) - At the conclusion of the meeting this week at the Apostolic Palace between Pope Benedict XVI and Russian President Dmitrij Medvedev, the Vatican announced that full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Russian Federation will be established.

According to a statement from the Holy See’s Press Office, the meeting included "an exchange of views on the international economic and political situation in light of the encyclical, 'Caritas in Veritate'” and a discussion on "the current challenges in terms of security and peace.”

“There was also discussion of various cultural and social issues of common interest, such as family values and the contribution of believers to Russian society."

Following the discussions, which lasted just under 30 minutes, the Pontiff and the Russian president exchanged gifts, with the Russian leader presenting the Holy Father with a picture of St.Basil's Cathedral in Red Square and 22 volumes of the Orthodox Encyclopedia. "I won’t know how to read them," the Pope joked, to which Medvedev replied, “Someone will help you.”

For his part, Pope Benedict XVI gave the Russian president a gold medal from his pontificate and the first copy of the Russian translation of the encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate.”

Kremlin spokesman Natalia Timakova said, "President Medvedev told Pope Benedict XVI during the meeting today that he has signed a decree on the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the Vatican. He has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lead the talks for establishing diplomatic relations and raising the status of each party’s representatives, at the embassy level and the Apostolic Nuncio."

Optimism About the Road to Catholic-Orthodox Unity

Orthodox Patriarch Optimistic About Unity - Catholic Online

The following article appeared on Catholic Online:

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is affirming that progress is being made on the path to Catholic-Orthodox unity.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Zenit.org) - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is affirming that progress is being made on the path to Catholic-Orthodox unity, and says uprooting the obstacle caused by the "thorny question" of papal primacy will be key for continued progress.

The patriarch of Constantinople made this affirmation when he welcomed a delegation from the Holy See for Monday's feast of St. Andrew, patron of the Orthodox Church.

The Vatican delegation was headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper and Bishop Brian Farrell, president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Bartholomew said the presence of the delegation in Istanbul "confirms the desire to eliminate the impediments accumulated in the course of a millennium to attain the fullness of communion."

An Orthodox delegation makes a similar visit to the Vatican for the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

"We attribute great symbolic meaning to your presence here, as it also reveals the desire of the Most Holy Church of Rome to do everything possible to regain our unity in the same faith and in sacramental communion, according to the will of the One who has called us to unity so that the world will believe," Bartholomew I said in his message.

He said the path to communion, as lived by the two Churches for the first Christian millennium, "has been undertaken with the dialogue of love and truth."

And, the patriarch affirmed, this dialogue "progresses, by the grace of God, despite the occasional difficulties."

The current theme being tackled by the joint Orthodox-Catholic commission is the question of papal primacy in the first millennium, before the split between the two Churches.

The commission met in Cyprus in October.

"Everyone is aware that this thorny question has caused great contention in the relationship between our two Churches," Bartholomew I observed. "For this reason, to uproot this impediment between us would surely foster our path to unity."

The study of the history of the Church in the first millennium "will also be the cornerstone for the evaluation of other subsequent developments in the course of the second millennium," he affirmed, invoking the gifts of humility and dialogue to accept the truth.