Marian Helper Fall 2015

32 M arian H elper • F all 2015 •  marian.org From our ARCHIVES B elow is a letter to Fr. Joseph, MIC, published in our Fall 1952 edi- tion of the Marian Helpers Bulletin . It just goes to show the lengths to which our Marian Helpers h ave gone over the years to help spread the Divine Mercy message and devotion around the world. The let- ter was written by a native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Lt. Col. William McLaughlin, a Marine serving in Korea during the war. In an army cha- pel in Korea, Lt. McLaughlin had chanced upon a Divine Mercy novena booklet published by the Marians. He wrote to the Marians in Stockbridge requesting additional Divine Mercy material. The Marians sent him a “care package” of prayercards and novena booklets. Thus began Lt. McLaughlin’s work to evangelize his fellow troops and the people of Korea. Lieutenant Col. WilliamMcLaughlin with a Catholic priest in Korea during the Korean War. EDITOR’S NOTE: Lieutenant Col. McLaughlin died in Texas in 2006 at the age of 87. He earned the Silver Star inWorld War II and the Bronze Star in Korea. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In his name, let’s pray for North Korea, where God has been banished by a ruthless dictatorship. Let us pray its leaders experience a personal encounter with the Merciful Lord that brings healing and renewal to a suffering people. SOKCHO, NORTH KOREA — Dear Father Joseph, Perhaps you have been wondering what has happened to the project of printing material on “Jesus, King of Mercy” in Korean. I have good news for you. I have been notified that copies have been made and, upon my return from North Korea where I am now operating, I will be able to pick them up. I have further good news. For the last two months I’ve been operat- ing in North Korea on the east coast about 50 miles north of the 38 th parallel. During that period I’ve made connections with various Korean Catholics. Since there are no priests in the area, we said the Rosary on Sunday morning in a little church which has only a picture of Our Blessed Mother in it. Everything else in the church was taken out by the communists. In some cases even barb-wire was put around the churches to keep people out during their stay in this part of North Korea. There are 63,000 civilians in the area. I asked the heads of the various religions to rally their people to prayer even if they were Buddhists. This Sunday I scheduled a meeting of the Catholics to discuss the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima a nd the Mercy of God. S ince I was here I passed out hundreds of rosary beads, holy pictures, and medals to young and old. This is our foothold in once occu- pied Communist territory. I had been on a lot of military missions, but never before had I prayed as much as on this mission of spreading devo- tion to Our Lady of Fatima and Jesus, King of Mercy, that it be successful. Before I leave North Korea in September, I will try to make these two devotions take root as they did during my stay in South Korea. I’ll do the work and leave the rest to the Good Lord. With this little bit of information I’ll say to you and your people – God love you! Yours in Christ — Lt. Col. Wm. Mcl. (Many thanks for sending us the Korean paper with the Mercy of God message. It was most inspir- ing merely to look at it since we have no way of reading the Korean script. It is so good to see the Merciful Savior and that of Sister Faustina o n its pages — with Korean inscriptions. It is a most valuable addition to our museum, now being organized at the directorate. May God give us more soldiers like you!) C lick to enlarge