Digital Marian Helper Winter_2019

We are our Brothers’ keepers Pope Benedict XVI once said that “nothing makes the Church, the Body of Christ, suffer more than the sins of her pastors.” Indeed, your anger can be your great motivator to do what needs to be done: to pray for holy priests and to pray priests into holiness. We need men who will assist the faithful in coming to know, love, serve, and bear witness to Jesus, the Divine Mercy. We need our ministers of the great Sacraments of mercy — the Holy Eucharist a nd Reconciliation — to be credible and authentic men who themselves have recourse to the Divine Mercy and heed the call to daily conversion. This was a matter near and dear to St. Faustina (se e page 15) . This is a matter that’s near and dear to many Marian Helpers (se e page 14) . It needs to be something near and dear to us all. We must pray for the clergy, for the outpour- ing of the Holy Spirit upon them, that they do the will of God always and everywhere. We must pray that God do for the entire Church what He’s surely doing for the Marian Fathers these days: raising up faithful men who answer the call to save souls (see page 12) . The Church needs them. The world needs them. “Last year, when the news about Cardinal McCarrick was breaking and people were feeling terribly angry — has that anger abated? ” Fr. Dan Cambra, MIC, spiritual director of the Marians ’ Holy Souls Sodality, asked at a recent conference. “Certainly not. Have more bishops, cardinals, and archbishops come forward to demonstrate the absolute [fallen] humanity of the clergy, the hierarchy? Shamefully, yes. They have demonstrated it in their ... willingness to compromise with Satan in order to achieve some earthly end.” Father Dan continued, “Does that mean that the Church is in dire straits? It certainly does. Does it mean that we should abandon the Church? Certainly not! This is not the Church of Cardinal McCarrick or any other cleric or hierarch you would care to name. This, the Roman Catholic Church, is, of course, the Church of Jesus Christ.” ‘You must pray for me’ You may wonder: Is this crisis of the clergy beyond the help of prayer? Let’s take a look at a different Church crisis, one that happened a century ago. In 1918, a Marian priest, now known as Blessed George Matulaitis-Matulewicz, saw governments ban religious orders or forbid them to receive candidates. Undeterred, he began the work of rebuilding the Marian Congregation after this political persecution had caused Marian numbers to dwindle to a single priest (hence his title “Marian Renovator”). He had expected that the revival of the Marian Con- gregation would be his sole mission. Then he learned that — against his wishes — Pope Benedict XV had appointed By Terry Peloquin Why our prayers are expected for the Church and its leaders I f you’re angry with the Church, good. If the clergy abuse scandal and its aftermath has you fed up, good. If you’re distraught by divisions within the Church, good. You should be. Fathers’ M arian H elper • W inter 2019-20 • marian . org 11 Praying for Priests