Testimonial Letters From Visitors

These two comments were left back in May 2007 from people who were obedient to the call to come to Rome City...one directly, the other indirectly. Isn't it funny how things work out sometimes? To get to one, you sometimes have to go through another.

Helen, Huntington, IN said...
I was told by Our Lord Jesus to "go to Rome City and wash in the waters" last night. This morning I asked friends of mine from Church if they would drive me to Rome City so I could do as I was instructed. I knew in my heart that I was to wash in the water from the Good Friday well.

I had been following the events of Our Lady of America and had always received great encouragement in Her messages. I had shared my books with my friends and so they were very understanding when I asked them to help me get there today.

We prayed a full rosary together as we drove along the highway. As we completed the Divine Mercy chaplet, we were in Kendallville and I could feel my pulse getting quicker with anticipation of being in Our Lady's presence.

When we arrived at Sylvan Springs, we did not see anyone around at first. Then we saw a man working on a tractor by one of the barns and we asked him where we would find the water. He took us down to the well and it was really shooting out of there. I'm surprised we missed it as we drove by the first time but we were so full of excitement as we drove in I guess it was only natural.

He told us how the water had started flowing on Good Friday and how many people were coming to get the water and that it was very refreshing and very safe to drink.


I proceeded to wash in it and drink freely. It was some of the most refreshing water I had ever tasted and I felt a feeling come over me instantly that seemed to free me from any worry or pain I had been carrying with me. Jesus took it all away. We all drank some more and filled some containers to take with us.


Then we went in to see the chapel where the apparitions took place and it was almost too much for us to imagine that Our Lady had been there, in my own lifetime, and had given Sr. Neuzil these wonderful messages. I was standing right where She had been and I could hardly contain the emotion. We all began tearing up and prayed Hail Marys and asked for Her intercession in our lives to help us all. It was almost too emotional to describe.

As we were leaving, I suddenly realized that the man who was showing us around and being so kind to us was the owner Larry. He said he understood why we were there and that we were welcome to stay and pray as long as we needed. We talked about everything we felt the whole way home. I hope to return soon with more friends.

The fact that I am even typing this account is evidence that my terrible arthritic hands are working quite well this evening. I asked for my hands to be healed and Jesus was very good to this humble sinner today. Praise God and His Holy Name!


Then, the next day...

Anonymous said...
I have spent most all of this day at Adoration trying to make sense of my last 24 hours and praying for an answer if I should even say anything. Late this afternoon I got my answer while in confession and so I know I need to tell everyone no matter what may happen.

I was part of a small group that visited Sylvan Springs yesterday when I was asked to drive a dear friend of ours to Rome City because she felt Jesus had told her to go and wash in the water there. I have known this woman for many years and very holy and inspired things have always happened to and through her so I did not hesitate when she asked for the ride. I knew she had to do it. She has already told her story here.


It is a beautiful place and the owners are doing a great job keeping it up and trying to preserve the feeling of it for Our Lord's work. When I entered the chapel where the apparitions happened back in 1956 with Sr. M. Neuzil, I was met with a rush of wind across my face and I fell to my knees and rested in the spirit for what seemed like an eternity. This was a new sensation for me but I would have been happy to live that way the rest of my living days if I could.

The Virgin Mary appeared to me looking like Our Lady of America and she said "Thank you for bringing me my children". I was completely in a state of grace and could not say a word to anyone. I know now that I was crying, but at the time I was the most alive I have felt in all my life.

Our Lady is there and I felt her and saw her with my heart. She is waiting for us all and she does not care who you are or what you may have done. She is love and she wants us to know her son personally.

This is what I can say at this time and I know it all happened so quickly. I was not prepared for it. It shook me to my soul but I would be most happy to have that feeling all the time. If this is how heaven feels, I intend to do everything within my power to have that be my permanent feeling some day.

Do yourself a favor and make the trip and feel it for yourself. It was the best surprise I could have gotten.

John Leary March 14, 2009

Jesus said: “My people, I have given you messages about places of My refuges, and one of those conditions would be that it would be a place where My Blessed Mother had given her apparitions, or messages to a chosen person. Two other conditions are that the land should be consecrated to Me by a priest
and there would be a place of miraculous spring water that would be clear to drink. The well on this land may have to be dug deeper in order to have a reservoir storage for any particles to settle.

Lent Is The Perfect Time to Plan Your Visit

As recent pilgrims have pointed out, making a personal visit to Sylvan Springs in Rome City, IN is well worth the effort. It is such a blessing to visit the site of the Our Lady of America apparitions and pray for Her enthronement by the American Bishops in the National Basilica in Washington DC. Words just cannot say enough!

The Lenten season is the perfect time to reflect on your life and your relationship with Jesus. It is also the perfect time to plan your Spring visit to Rome City, IN. It will not be long before all the trees are in full bloom and the smells of the aromatic blossoms will fill the air.

Whether you are looking to come alone or with a tour bus, plan ahead by contacting the volunteers at info@oltiv.org or by calling the main number at 260-854-3525 and leave a message. Someone will contact you ASAP to make certain a tour guide will be available or we can make preparations for visitors with special needs. We want everyone's visit to be as fulfilling as possible.

The Friday Night Rosary starts at 6:30 pm, but visitors are welcome anytime throughout the week to walk the grounds or spend time on Holy Family Hill. Tours are by appointment only. There is never a charge, but your tax-deductible contributions are gladly accepted to help us keep the grounds prepared for visitors.

Hillary Asks: "Who painted It?"

Somebody needs to be better informed BEFORE they try to use Catholic Shrines for photo ops.



During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” after asking who painted the famous image.

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the appearance on Mary’s eyes of those present in the room when the tilma was opened and the image’s lack of decay.

Mrs. Clinton was received on Thursday at 8:15 a.m. by the rector of the Basilica, Msgr. Diego Monroy.

Msgr. Monroy took Mrs. Clinton to the famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which had been previously lowered from its usual altar for the occasion.

After observing it for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked “who painted it?” to which Msgr. Monroy responded “God!”

After placing a bouquet of white flowers by the image, Mrs. Clinton went to the quemador –the open air area at the Basilica where the faithful light candles- and lit a green candle.

Leaving the basilica half an hour later, Mrs. Clinton told some of the Mexicans gathered outside to greet her, “you have a marvelous virgin!”

Friday Night Rosary Group

“Making the Rosary a family prayer is very pleasing to me. I ask that all families strive to do so. But be careful to say it with great devotion, meditating on each mystery and striving to imitate in your daily lives the virtues depicted therein. Live the mysteries of the Rosary as I lived them, and it will become a chain binding you to me forever. They who are found in the circle of my Rosary will never be lost. I myself will lead them at death to the throne of my Son, to be eternally united to Him."

Our Lady of America, October 7, 1957

There will be a group of pilgrims arriving from Michigan and throughout the Tri-State area on Friday, March 27 to help kick off the Friday Night Rosary season at Sylvan Springs.

ALL are welcome to join them for this day of tours (offered all afternoon beginning at 1 pm), information-gathering on the Our Lady of America apparitions and messages, private reflection and prayer. We will have different speakers touching on a variety of topics concerning the status of Our Lady of America and the history of Sylvan Springs. There will be plenty of time for Q & A as well. It should be a very informative and uplifting day for everybody!

The rosary normally starts at 6:30 pm every Friday.

We hope you can join us!

Josyp Terelya and Our Lady of America

Josyp Terelya was born to the scions of ancient aristocratic Ukrainian Catholic families, Myhajlo Pojda and Margaret Falys, on October 27, 1945 in the heart of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. The Russian armies had rolled into western Ukraine and Transcarpathia, imposing their Soviet regime and atheistic communism on the people. Myhajlo and Margaret had already joined the ranks of the communist overlords. Josyp had been adopted by his paternal grandmother, and carries her maiden name, Terelya shortly after his birth. He grew up in the underground Catholic Church. With the death of both sets of grandparents he returned to his parents home. Here began the confrontation between his Catholic religious faith and the atheism of his parents.

This marked his life. Divine Providence had chosen him for his life mission to be a witness to Christ and the Catholic Church. His early training in the underground was completed in Soviet prisons and lagers in the 22 years, for months and five day of his imprisonment. It was in this period that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him in the Vladimir prison in Moscow in 1970 and 1972, outlining to him his future destiny as a witness of Christ. He saw the Virgin again in Hrushiw in May, 1987. In September of that year he was exiled to the west.

Josyp commented on his journey to the West with a reporter: "In the West I have had the opportunity to speak with many members of the media. They asked me, "how on earth did you survive 23 years of concentration camps and prisons?" I answered, "prayer". They do not understand me. The journalists demand that I tell them how I was tortured and how I was beaten. They need sensationalism. I tell you truthfully that they would beat us and deprive us of food, yet these things would not scare us. A person who prays can be free, with God, even in prison. I was detained in a solitary confinement cell for a period of 7 years. They would give us 300 grams of broth, 4 grams of fat and 22 grams of meat. Yet, as you can see, I am standing here in front of you. I am alive. I made a Rosary out of bread and I considered myself lucky when I had a chance to pray, because if you were caught praying you would be punished. We had to hide our little crosses and Rosaries made of bread because for this you could be severely beaten.

Everyone knew that I was the son of a cabinet minister, everyone knew who my parents were. I was in a special prison where they kept foreigners. There I had the opportunity to meet American officers who were imprisoned during the Vietnam War and being detained even to this day.

Several years ago (2003), I was asked to speak at a Marian conference by the Bishop of Evansville, IN. It was at this conference that I met Josyp. Even though he spoke very little English, we were able to sit and talk with the aid of his interpreter, Bishop Roman Danylak. Josyp was most interested in Our Lady of America and the events surrounding Rome City, IN.

Josyp was an artist and he told me he had painted his own image of Our Lady of America which was now in the hands of a private collector. He wanted more photos of the actual site of the apparitions so he could do a complete collection of the series of apparitions that the bishops consider to be the "central" apparitions and messages of Our Lady of America. .
He said he felt a great sense of urgency with Our Lady's messages because so much was at stake for the United States and the entire world if we did not do as She asked. He said it was imperative that Her image be enthroned in the National Basilica as soon as could be made possible by the American Bishops.

When I asked Josyp what he considered to be the greatest threat to the enthronement of Our Lady of America, he said the greatest obstacle at this moment was not educating the bishops so much as it was the people who were attempting to control the devotion and were holding it back. He said they had made threats to him for even painting the image of Our Lady of America, as he envisioned it, and offering it to the public. He was quite upset over the attempts to suppress the growth by this small group who he felt were acting selfishly in an attempt to control "every facet of this beautiful diamond" for the sake of money.

Since then, I was only able to exchange a few brief notes with Josyp. He remained hopeful that Our Lady's image would be enthroned soon and children the world over would come to know the purity desired by Our Lady for Her children....ALL of Her children!

These are words he shared with us: "My children, my beloved children of America, remember, the America of cowboys, banks and houses of prostitution and immorality is disappearing. A new America of holy followers of Mary is coming. You see them, these are the followers of the saintly Padre Pio, St. mother Frances Xavier Cabrini. Do not take as a model for your mind the sign of the spider of wealth. Watch and listen to the voice of my followers. One of these is My Pope (Pope Benedict XVI), love him, love my church and be with me my America! Amen and My blessing upon you."

Rest in Peace Josyp! You did good!

You can read more about Josyp at: http://josypterelya.org/intro.htm

Head of USCCB Meets with Obama: Also Releases Video Saying Decision on Conscience Protection a Move Towards "Despotism"

By John Jalsevac
March 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

On the same day that Cardinal Francis George released a video expressing, on the behalf of all American bishops, his deep concern about the Obama administration's decision to rescind conscience protection regulations put in place by the Bush administration, he has met with President Obama at the White House.

News of the private, half-hour meeting between the two was only released late this afternoon. The meeting was not included in President Obama's daily schedule.

The statements from the White House and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) give few details about what the Cardinal and the President spoke about, although the timing of the release of the Cardinal's video may indicate that the conscience protection regulations were at the top of the agenda.

"The president and Cardinal George discussed a wide range of issues," stated the White House release, "including important opportunities for the government and the Catholic Church to continue their long-standing partnership to tackle some of the nation's most pressing challenges."

The statement from the USCCB said: "The meeting was private. Cardinal George and President Obama discussed the Catholic Church in the United States and its relation to the new administration."

Cardinal George, the president of the USCCB, taped the video released today after the Obama Administration announced in early March that it was rescinding the regulations which guarantee that health workers cannot be forced to provide services that violate their consciences, including abortions.

"As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we are deeply concerned that such an action on the government's part would be the first step in moving our country from democracy to despotism," says the Cardinal in the video.

"Respect for personal conscience and freedom of religion as such ensures our basic freedom from government oppression. No government should come between an individual person and God - that's what America is supposed to be about. This is the true common ground for us as Americans. We therefore need legal protection for freedom of conscience and of religion-including freedom for religious health care institutions to be true to themselves."

The Cardinal observed that the country respects conscientious objection in the case of those who object to war, "even though it's good to defend your country," and for physicians who do not want to participate in the death penalty.

"Why shouldn't our government and our legal system permit conscientious objection to a morally bad action, the killing of babies in their mother's womb?" he asks. "People understand what really happens in an abortion and in related procedures - a living member of the human family is killed - that's what it's all about - and no one should be forced by the government to act as though he or she were blind to this reality."

The Cardinal concluded by urging concerned citizens to contact the government and tell them to retain the conscience protection regulations: "I ask you please to let the government know that you want conscience protections to remain strongly in place. In particular, let the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington know that you stand for the protection of conscience, especially now for those who provide the health care services so necessary for a good society. "

A 30 day public comment period on the administration's decision to rescind the conscience protection regulations is currently underway. Comments may be submitted by email at proposedrescission@hhs.gov.

Archbishop Leibold's Nephew Reports Miracle of The Sun at Sylvan Springs

We have received a few inquiries lately regarding this post which originally ran on this blog in December of 2006. Some have asked if we would re-publish it. Here it is!

This item was originally published on SpiritDaily.com. It was written by the nephew of Archbishop Paul Leibold as he told of his experience on July 14, 2001 on his first visit to Rome City, IN.
Archbishop Leibold had been the long-time spiritual director of Sr. Neuzil and had issued the Imprimaturs to her texts and commissioned a medal, plaque and statue in the image of Our Lady of America. The following is presented here for your discernment.

ARCHBISHOP'S NEPHEW RELATES STRIKING OCCURRENCE AT AMERICAN APPARITION SITE
A nephew of Archbishop Paul F. Leibold has informed us of an extraordinary visit to the site where Sister Mildred Mary Ephrem Neuzil, the American seer, had her first apparitions.

The nephew, whose name is also Paul Leibold, and who was especially close to the now-deceased archbishop, says that during a spur-of-the moment visit on July 14 to a spot called Sylvan Springs near Rome City, Indiana, he and a small group experienced the "miracle of the sun" and that he spotted a beautifully strange blue butterfly that brings to mind phenomena reported at another apparition site in Venezuela called Betania (which he had not heard about previous to the experience).

According to Paul (who we will call by his first name to differentiate him from the archbishop), he made the trip after reading articles about the situation on this internet site and was surprised by what he found. He and 11 others piled a recreational vehicle and headed five hours up the highway that recent Saturday.

There they found the current owner of the land, Larry Young.

"We took off to the mound where the third apparition was," says Paul, who now owns a pharmacy in the Cincinnati area.




"We said we were going to pray a family rosary, and there was another couple that had arrived just after we did, Angel and his wife Maria and their son Angel Junior.


We were getting ready to start the rosary and Larry looked at the sun and we began to see the miracle of the sun. When I was at Medjugorje we did not see the miracle of the sun. Someone with me had, and he said it was absolutely identical to what he saw on that mound.

"The next 15 to 20 minutes we sat or stood in prayer, some were kneeling and some were singing. Maria began praying over my son, who has epilepsy. I was as touched as I ever have been in prayer. As another man, Tom breaks into the song Ave Maria, a little blue butterfly lands on an altar and it was just, oh!- There was no doubt the Blessed Mother was with us, blessing us. It was solid pale blue, and absolutely beautiful.

It was a wonderful experience. It just stopped my heart. I was the only one to see it. The others were watching the sun. It just hovered over the altar area. Apparently this altar once had a gold cross and two angels facing it. There had been these black and orange butterflies in the area with no logical reason for them to be there. It's not a flowered area. It's on a mound with mulch on the ground and trees up around it and benches. These little butterflies became more and more prominent as we began talking and sharing, and then Tom broke into Ave Maria. When we got back to the parking lot Angel had some holy cards and it was the Blessed Sacrament and a gold cross with an angel on either side. There was confirmation after confirmation."

Paul had been to Medjugorje, where his experience in prayer on Apparition Hill had been so profound he never thought he would feel that way again -- knowing God was so present. "Well when I went to Rome City I had that same feeling," said Paul, "and I had had no expectations."


It was on September 25, 1956, that Sister Mildred was making a holy hour from 7 to 8 p.m. when she felt the distinct presence of Our Lady at the Indiana site. "I was under the impression that she came as Our Lady of Lourdes, and she herself confirmed this," the nun, who died last year, once wrote -- adding that the Virgin promised great miracles in the United States.

During a vision the next morning the Virgin came in a veil, robe, and mantle of pure white as "Our Lady of America," requesting Americans to honor her by the purity of their lives.


Now the owner of the land reports that people are making inquiries about the land and pilgrims are arriving on weekends at this spot that was once owned by the Order of the Precious Blood (at the time the order to which Sister Neuzil belonged).

Are YOU Jesus?

While talking with visitors to Sylvan Springs yesterday, the concept of exhibiting Jesus's example in our daily lives as a model for our children and communities was discussed. We all agreed that more of this type of behavior was necessary if Our Lady of America's call for purity was to be taken to heart by our children. They need our good examples to follow.

Later last night, one of our readers from Texas happened to send this little story which so aptly demonstrates this same point. Was it just another coincidence? You decide!

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples.

Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, 'Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?' She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister....." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?" He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul:
"Are you Jesus?"

Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.

You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Archbishop Raymond Burke Speaks Out On Sebelius and Her Betrayal of Catholic Faith

The head of the Roman Catholic Church's highest office overseeing Church law has slammed the nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), calling the nomination "the source of greatest embarrassment" to the Catholic Church.

In an interview with Thomas J. McKenna, president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, strongly supported the means by which the Governor has been disciplined by her bishop because of her public support for abortion. Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann has been strongly critical of Sebelius in the past, publicly admonishing her not to receive Communion, and has called Obama's nomination of the governor "offensive."

"Archbishop Naumann acted with exemplary pastoral charity in the matter, protecting the Body and Blood of Christ from unworthy reception, preventing the Governor from the commission of the most serious sin of sacrilege, and ending the great scandal caused by the Governor's unworthy reception of the Body and Blood of Christ" said Archbishop Burke in the interview.

When asked for his opinion on the nomination of Governor Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services he said, "As a Roman Catholic, her appointment is the source of the greatest embarrassment because she has publicly and repeatedly betrayed her Catholic faith."

"What is more, she has obstinately remained in her moral error after being admonished by, at least, three of her Bishops … Her position on the question of procured abortion is the source of the greatest scandal to Catholics and to all who uphold the natural moral law."
.

"No matter how good Governor Sebelius' record regarding other human life concerns may be, if she is not committed to the safeguarding of human life from its very inception, she should not be entrusted with the questions of health and human services for our nation" he continued

The Archbishop concluded his remarks by saying that "every bishop" is held to the "universal Church discipline" found in Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law, which state that, "Those [...] who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."

"Whether Governor Sebelius is in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, or in any other diocese, she should not present herself for Holy Communion because, after pastoral admonition, she obstinately persists in serious sin."

In a separate interview with Archbishop Naumann, McKenna asked why the bishop publicly asked Governor Sebelius not to present herself for Holy Communion. "My motivation was primarily to protect the Church and her teaching, as well as to protect our people from being misled" he explained.

When asked about the sin of scandal he explained, "I am very concerned about the governor and others like her leading individuals to think that it is not really so bad if you support abortion. What I think is even more deadly, especially for our young people, is for them to think that if the law permits abortion it must not be all that bad for me to procure an abortion either."

Both interviews can be read in their entirety on Catholic Action for Faith and Family's web site, http://www.CatholicAction.org

Doctor Suggests The Use of Aborted Babies For "Transplant Parts"

By Hilary White
LONDON, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

An Oxford University stem cell expert has urged the use of aborted children in organ transplants as a solution to the shortage of available organs. Sir Richard Gardner has called for a feasibility study on the possibility of obtaining organs from the bodies of aborted babies.

He said, "It is probably a more realistic technique in dealing with the shortage of kidney donors than others."

The Daily Mail reports that pro-life and Christian groups have called the proposal "morally abhorrent," and said it will result in abortions being timed to suit transplant patients.

Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said the transplants would be immoral as every human being, even the unborn, deserved "protection, respect, wonder and empathy."

Fears that this suggestion will create a trade in aborted children have their justification in the work of US pro-life groups who have in the past uncovered the relationship between the abortion industry and the trade in aborted body parts for medical research and the creation of vaccines.

In 2005, the trade in aborted fetuses made headlines after reports came from Ukraine that newborn babies were disappearing from maternity wards to fuel the increasing demand for body parts. One Ukrainian research institute was advertising fetal body parts, such as "Foetus spleen cells," and "fragments of foetus spine," for sale in medical research.

Is This One of America's Children Who Will Lead The World By The Purity of Their Lives?

This kid definitely GETS IT. There is hope.

By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

The latest sensation in American conservatism has just arrived - in an unlikely package.

13-year-old child actor and political prodigy Jonathan Krohn of Duluth, Minnesota, burst onto the political scene last month during the CPAC convention in Washington. In a brief speech extolling conservatism and it core values, the articulate and electrifying young speaker brought his audience to its feet, and the video quickly made the rounds on the Internet. Since then he has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and countless radio shows.

To see the Youtube video of Krohn's address to CPAC, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vz1TVpwme0

"During the election I noticed ... there were too many people who threw the term 'conservative' around who didn't understand what they were talking about," said the pint-sized pundit. "They didn't understand what conservatism was. They didn't understand 'conservative' as a base of principle, but they understood it as a base of policy.

"Conservatism is not about the party, because the party's merely the shell. It's the inside, the filling, that really means something," he said.

The homeschooled Krohn took the opportunity to pitch "Defining Conservatism," an 86-page book he wrote over the summer outlining what he called the four basic principles of conservatism: respect for the constitution, respect for life, less government, and personal responsibility. In the book he argues for the sanctity of life from conception, noting that once a child is conceived, the mother does not have the right to kill it.
"It is principle-based. It is the people first, the people's rights, based upon principled views, and I believe that this is the key to the conservative viewpoint and its effectiveness in America," said Krohn.

"I want the American people to understand that conservatism is not an ideology of feelings or romanticism, as some people like to say; it is an ideology of protecting the people and the people's rights."

Krohn says his interest in politics began at the age of 8, after hearing about a Democratic filibuster on judicial nominations. "I thought, 'Who goes to work saying, 'I'm going to filibuster today?'" he said.

Since then, he has eagerly absorbed political news and history - even picking up golf in the hope of playing with his favorite politicians.

Conservative hero Samuel Wurzelbacher, popularly known as "Joe the Plumber," commented on Krohn's unique persona after the boy approached him.

"He came up to me, grabbed my hand, and shook it," said Wurzelbacher. "If I didn't know any better I would say he was 30 years old. He definitely has a great confidence about him. I enjoyed talking with him.... He's definitely sharp."

So Much For the "Mythical" Freedom of Choice Act

Commentary by Deal W. Hudson
March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

Many Democrats are wise enough to have a healthy fear of FOCA, the Freedom of Choice Act. Those on the religious left who support President Barack Obama are particularly sensitive to the symbolic power of FOCA to undercut their messaging about "abortion reduction." If FOCA were to cause much-beloved Catholic hospitals to begin shutting their doors, the political impact would be devastating.

Thus, it came as no surprise several weeks ago when some of Obama's religious supporters began accusing pro-lifers -- particularly Catholics -- of using FOCA as a scare tactic when it had not yet been introduced into the 111th Congress.

Amy Sullivan, an editor at TIME, wrote an article titled, "The Catholic Attack on a Mythical Abortion Bill," singling out the U.S. Catholic bishops for their national postcard campaign against FOCA. Catholics United was predictably quoted in the story, as they are now in every media story giving pro-abortion Catholics political cover: "These right-wing organizations are deliberately misleading people in order to stoke the culture war."

Sullivan, who wrote a good book about the "God gap" in the Democratic Party, went way out on a limb to defuse FOCA anxiety. "Congress," she wrote, "isn't about to pass the Freedom of Choice Act -- because no such bill has been introduced in the current Congress." True, but as Sullivan surely knows, there are several members of Congress who are itching to reintroduce FOCA, regardless of any misgivings Democratic strategists may have about its consequences in the 2010 election.

For the abortion lobby, the passage of FOCA is the holy grail of their activism, and the just desserts for their strenuous -- and expensive -- efforts on behalf of Obama.

FOCA, as it turns out, is going to be reintroduced in the not-so-distant future. On March 6, a spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that FOCA "is among the congressman's priorities. We expect to reintroduce it sooner rather than later."

Ilan Kayatksy, the spokesman, added that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) would introduce the same bill in the Senate "with some minor tweaks." (Representative Nadler introduced FOCA in the 108th and 110th sessions of Congress.)

Three weeks earlier, an unnamed spokesman for Representative Nadler had told Sullivan at TIME that FOCA would not be reintroduced "anytime soon." It sounds as if Nadler's staff needs to get its story straight. At the same time, the conflicting statements coming from the same congressional office represent the division among Democrats about the wisdom of making FOCA a legislative priority.

But whether or not FOCA reaches the floor of the Congress this session may not make much difference: Obama might get everything he wants without the bill. He has been using Friday nights to issue statements about his plans to overturn restrictions on abortion and its funding (Friday being the best time to damp down media coverage). This past Friday, Obama announced he will sign an executive order requiring federal money be spent on embryonic stem cell research, removing all the restrictions placed by the Bush administration.

Friday-night statements from the White House may eventually approximate the outcome of FOCA without the controversial bill ever ending up on the president's desk.

Our Lady of America

From the online journal of The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Benedict Center, NH


by Brian Kelly

For every authentic apparition of the Mother of God there are a hundred pretended ones. Some of the latter are diabolic, where the devil, “the ape of God,” actually takes on the appearance of the Blessed Virgin in order to deceive by false doctrine or some other aberration. Others are just the delusionary imaginings of those suffering from varying degrees of psychoses. Since there have been so many false apparitions in our own country, especially in the last half of the twentieth century, it would be easy to pass off what was alleged to have happened in the convent of the Precious Blood Sisters at Rome City, Indiana, in the 1950s, as the illusions of a disturbed religious.

That would be easy, were it not for the facts of the case. The sister who was the recipient of these locutions, which later became apparitions, was a well-balanced soul, intelligent, humble, cheerful, and perfectly obedient to her superiors. The messages, which she received from Our Lord, Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. Michael, and St. Gabriel were in total conformity with Catholic doctrine and morals, emphasizing “penance, penance” and spiritual renewal. And - what is also a criterion for the authenticity of Marian apparitions in this day and age - the messages complemented those of Fatima in their prophetic content, chasteness, gravity, maternal solicitude, and conditional hopefulness. The words speak for themselves. There is nothing whatsoever in the messages that is even slightly capricious or unsupportive of other approved Marian apparitions, such as at Medjugorje, for example, where, in mockery of Fatima, the devil shows his hoofs by passing out “secrets” by the dozens to the six “visionaries” and where he spews forth his disdain for the defined doctrine of “No Salvation Outside the Church” by informing them how pleased God is with all the religions of the world. Did you know that Our Lady’s birthday is not that traditionally celebrated by the Catholic Church on September 8? No. It was revealed at Medjugorje that the real date of Mary’s birth was August 5.

The Visionary

Mildred Neutzil was born in 1916 in Brooklyn, New York. When she was only thirteen she joined an active religious community in Ohio, the Sisters of the Precious Blood, taking the name Sister Mary Ephrem. Nine years later, in 1938, she began to have mystical experiences, which, sometime later, she was put under obedience to record in a diary. As a young sister her duties were usually domestic tasks in various houses of the order, and from 1951-1954 she taught kindergarten children at a parish school in Indiana a few miles from Rome City.

During these years, the interior communications, or locutions, went on increasing in frequency and specific detail. Our Lord was pleased to call her His “Little White Dove” and the “Little Secretary of [His] Heart.” “Do you know what I find most lacking in the world today?” she heard Jesus ask, “It is Faith. There are so few souls that believe in Me and My love. . . . Their hearts are cold, for without faith there can be no love.” Just as He did in His mortal life, Jesus speaks of woes and blessings, but in words directed towards parents and children and easily translatable to our time. In 1958, Sister Mary Ephrem received permission to join a newly founded contemplative branch of her order in New Riegel, Ohio. From her cloistered cell here she wrote her diary.

Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin

Soon the messages began to reveal a program of Marian devotion. To begin the process of approval Our Lady directed Sister Mary Ephrem to speak to her ordinary, Bishop Paul F. Liebold, later to be made Archbishop of Cincinnati. Long before he was ordained Bishop of Evansville, Indiana, in 1958 and, soon afterwards, Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati, Father Liebold, had taken an interest in the visionary, personally hearing her confessions and giving her spiritual direction. This pious and well-respected shepherd was convinced early on that the locutions were truly from heaven. In fact, from his first year as a priest, that is from 1940, until his death in 1972, Bishop Liebold was the seer’s spiritual director.

Our Lady first appeared visibly to Sister Mary Ephrem on September 25, 1956 at her convent in Rome City, Indiana. She appeared as she did at Lourdes.
Her message was a promise of “great miracles of the soul” for her children in the United States if they would heed her call to repentance. In particular she expressed her pleasure for the honor the Church in America had given her by dedicating the national shrine in Washington D.C. to her Immaculate Conception.

It was the next day, after Mass, that the Mother of God came to the “White Dove” in the figure of Our Lady of America, all in white, with a high crown of gold, and a lily in her right hand. Her Immaculate Heart was encircled by red roses and flames shot out from it. She was smiling as she said: “I am Our Lady of America, Immaculate Virgin. I desire that my children honor me, especially by the purity of their lives.” This was the central message of the apparitions: that we, in the Unites States, be children of her Most Pure Heart. If her request is obeyed, she would form an army, especially among the American young, who would be called “Torchbearers of the Queen,” carrying her message of faith and purity to all other nations of the world. If her requests were obeyed she promised to grant peace to the United States and use our faithful to spread the peace of Christ throughout the world. If her message is unheeded America will suffer along with the rest of the world in a chastisement that will be horribly severe. Our Lady chose to deliver this message on the feast of the eight North American martyrs, September 26, 1956.

Time is Short, Eternity Forever

The messages that followed contained many warnings of terrible chastisements to come in this world and everlasting suffering in the next for those who refuse her admonitions and the merciful love of her Son. She instructed her messenger to give this warning to her bishop and have him tell all the bishops that they must give a voice to her pleadings. “Hurry, my son, for the time is short but the punishment will be long, and for many, forever. Tell the bishops of the United States . . . to make known the longings of my Immaculate Heart to establish the reign of my divine Son in the hearts of men and thus save them from the scourge of heaven both now and hereafter.”

A Mother’s Sorrow

If one were to try to capture the heart of these messages as they continued to be delivered, primarily on Marian feast days through the 1950s, it was the agony of a Mother who wishes her children to behold her Immaculate Heart pierced by the indifference and ingratitude of Christians who prefer darkness to light. In fact, she specifically refers to our times as “the darkest.” On the eve of the feast of her apparition at Lourdes, February 10, Our Lady spoke these sorrowful words to her messenger: “Beloved daughter, you wonder at the sword and the deep wound it has made in my Heart. It is the sword of grief plunged therein by my children who refuse to let me teach them the true way. There is only one way to the Father, my child, only one way to eternal union. It is the way of the divine humanity. It is through my Son, the Only-Begotten of the Father, that souls attain perfect union with the Divinity, as perfect as human nature is capable of, aided by grace.”

We Will Come to Him and Make Our Abode With Him (John 14:23)

One of the most sublime of the messages communicated by Our Lady to the seer, was her unique privilege of being the chosen and most perfect Tabernacle of the Indwelling Holy Trinity. ”All the beauty of the king’s daughter is within,” she said as she repeated the scripture verse that was fulfilled in her, then she crossed her arms and bowed her head in adoration of the Three Divine Persons. Our Lady stressed that this life-giving Indwelling of the Trinity is our inheritance if we maintain and grow in the state of grace. Then she expressed her grief that so many of her children reject this divine Indwelling by their attachment to vice; they shut God out, for He will not dwell in unholy tabernacles.

Our Lady’s Basilica and the Enthronment

A beautiful statue has been carved to the exact specifications of Sister Mary Ephrem’s visions. It was Our Lady’s request that the bishops of our country solemnly enthrone this statue in her basilica in the nation’s capital. Since this is one of probably only a few Marian shrines in the world that was not built to honor any particular apparition, but specifically her unique privilege of being the Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Mother wishes that she be honored at this holy place as “Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin.”

Postscript

This in no way conflicts with the title, Empress of the Americas, given by Pope Pius XII to Our Lady of Guadalupe, which title includes North, Central, and South America. This title specifically applies to her patronage over her children in the United States.

The contemplative branch of the Sisters of the Precious Blood did not survive as a congregation. They were suppressed in 1979. However, Sister Mary Ephrem continued to live a contemplative life with another sister in Fostoria, Ohio, until her death on January 10, 2000.

The authenticity of the apparitions and messages were approved not only by Archbishop Liebold, who gave the messages and the medal his Imprimatur, but also by Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, and Archbishop Raymond Burke of Saint Louis, among others.

The Sign of the Luminous Cross and Refuges

For Your Discernment

Jesus said: “My people, I have told you that there would be a luminous cross, like the one in Thermal, California, above in the sky over every refuge throughout the whole time of the tribulation. People, that come to My refuges and look upon this cross, will be healed of any pandemic virus, or any other health problem. I am showing you multiple places with luminous crosses to emphasize that these crosses will be above all of My refuges all over the world. There will also be spiritual healings from looking on My luminous cross. If you have a priest at a refuge, then you can have Confession. But if a priest is not present, you can say your Act of Contrition prayer while you are looking on the luminous cross, and your sins will be forgiven. I will be providing for all of your physical and spiritual needs at My refuges, so have no fear and trust in Me and My angels to protect you.”
From John Leary, Ash Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009


There is growing discussion these days about signs of luminous crosses and talk of "refuges" that have been pre-ordained by Our Blessed Mother's visits.

This image was captured dropping from out of the sun over the grounds at Sylvan Springs where Our Lady of America made Herself known for the first time in 1956. It was mid-day and a group of pilgrims had just completed a full rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet.
The doors are open if you care to visit for yourself.


"Bring Me My Children. Bring Me ALL of My Children."

AS YOU CARRY YOUR CROSSES

This poem is from the Jesus, Mary, Joseph website and was first released on 2-25-09. Stay Strong! Our Lord is with you.


BECAUSE GOD, MY DEAR CHILDREN, HAS SO MUCH IN YOU INVESTED,

THAT IS WHY YOU ARE CONSTANTLY BEING TRIED AND TESTED.

AS GOD’S SWORD NOW CONTINUES THIS EARTH TO PURIFY,

TO HELP SAVE THOSE WHO STRAYED, HE ON YOU MUST RELY.



WHO ELSE BESIDE YOU WOULD CARRY SUCH CROSSES?

WHO ELSE WOULD GO FORTH IN SPITE OF YOUR LOSSES?

YOU CLAIM THAT GOD’S PLAN YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND,

BUT WHERE WOULD YOU BE NOW WITHOUT GOD IN COMMAND?



EVEN THE APOSTLES, WHO FOLLOWED MY SON’S TRAIL,

STUMBLED AND DOUBTED AND DID MANY TIMES FAIL.

AND YET, MY SON, JESUS, ABANDONED THEM NOT

EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE TIMES WHAT HE SAID THEY FORGOT.



WITH THE CROSSES YOU CARRY MY SON CAN RELATE

WHEN HE TOO ASKED HIS FATHER THE CUP TO DISSIPATE.

I KNOW THAT THIS JOURNEY IS HARD AND IS LONG;

EVEN THOUGH YOU FEEL WEAK, IN GOD’S EYES YOU ARE STRONG.



“THY WILL BE DONE”

2-25-2009

"Very Bad Period of Catechesis" in Church "Bearing Bad Fruit in Our Time"

By Steve Jalsevac
TORONTO, Canada, March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

During a LifeSiteNews interview last week, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput stressed that "not nearly enough" US Catholic bishops have been speaking out strongly on the current state of the culture. He also noted that the poor instruction of Catholics over the past 40 years has to a large degree been responsible for many of today's serious problems within US Catholicism, especially the lack of "understanding of the horror of abortion."

Chaput, a prominent US bishop and recent author of "Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life.", was interviewed following his breakfast lecture to Toronto businessmen on February 24. The archbishop, who is usually upbeat and gentle mannered, nevertheless, and true to his frankness in Render Unto Caesar, did not beat around the bush on the abortion issue and the responsibilities of Catholics and Catholic leaders in the culture wars.

Asked what could be done to get Catholic pro-abortion politicians to comprehend their faith obligations on the abortion issue, Chaput did not give a reassuring response. He stated, "Apparently, very little can be done because so little seems to have been accomplished."

He conjectured a likely reason for the current situation has been negligence on the part of the Church leadership in the U.S. "I don't know if it's because we've let it go on for such a long time and haven't challenged it before now, but this attitude of being comfortable with being pro-choice and Catholic at the same time seems to be deeply set in the lives of these folks."

Chaput expanded, "It seems like there has been a very bad period of catechesis of people in the Church, not only catechesis of the laity but also catechesis of the clergy and it's bearing bad fruit in our time."

"We need to reinvigorate the Church's understanding of the horror of abortion," Chaput continued. "It seems that we have become deadened to the horror of abortion."

To the archbishop, clergy have a crucial role related to pro-abortion Catholic politicians. He stated, "I think it's very important for clergy to advise political leaders of the great scandal that they might be part of because this can lead not only to the death of the unborn but it can also lead to the spiritual death of the political leaders who vote that way."

The fact that some prominent pro-choice Catholics are even lectors or have other visible roles in parishes, Chaput calls "another sign of accommodation with the reality of abortion." He went on that, "We don't understand this horror so we can put up with people who are pro-choice or pro-abortion and not challenge their Catholic identity."

Once again, as he has recently said many times, Archbishop Chaput told LifeSiteNews that "anyone who is pro-choice or pro-abortion shouldn't receive communion as they are not in communion with the Church's teaching."

The Denver archbishop has been warning Catholics and all Americans about the dangers of the path our culture is upon, but his warnings are often not heeded. Asked about this, he replied that just as in the time of Noah and the Flood, "I think it is true about our time, that we are not taking the situation concerning the Church and the world seriously now."

Although he did not "know what we can do about it," Chaput encouraged faithful Catholics "to be persistent in our preaching and in our continuing to give the warning and that God bring fruit from that if He chooses. We shouldn't give up."

It was mentioned that many bishops spoke out strongly during the last election. However, he was clearly not impressed himself and said, there were "not nearly enough".

By Kathleen Gilbert
SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, February 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

Bishop Joseph F. Martino of Scranton issued yet another rebuke this week against "pro-life" Catholic Senator Bob Casey, who persisted in his decision to vote against restoring the abortion-reducing Mexico City Policy. The bishop simultaneously reminded ministers in the Scranton diocese that public figures in a persistent and objective denial of the Church's teaching on life must be denied Communion.

Bishop Martino had condemned Casey on February 5 for the vote, which permitted taxpayer funds to abortion providers overseas, saying that in so doing Casey "persist(s) formally in cooperating with the evil." Casey, who bills himself as pro-life, issued a statement suggesting that the Hyde amendment suffices by forbidding the direct funding of overseas abortion procedures - a notion the bishop firmly rejected.

"It is a matter of deep concern that your recent vote against the Mexico City Policy is continually misrepresented by your staff as a pro-life vote intended to promote 'contraception and other family planning that avoid unintended pregnancies,'" said the Bishop in a an open letter to the senator dated February 26.

Martino pointed out that the Policy did not forbid funding for other family planning services, but ensured funds would not benefit major abortion organizations that work aggressively to promote abortion and tear down legal protections for the unborn.

"Contrary to the claims of your staff, the absence of 'Mexico City' regulations insures (1) that money is taken away from family planning, (2) that abortion is promoted as a method of family planning, and (3) that countries that have moral and cultural objections to abortion are encouraged to abandon their policies against it," he wrote.

Finally, Martino added: "it is never permissible to use immoral means such as artificial contraception to achieve a good end, namely, the reduction of unplanned pregnancies.

"In fact, the mistaken view that artificial contraception may be used to regulate population growth and the size of families has led to countless evils in America and abroad, including the attitude that having and raising children is a burden to be avoided. This attitude has contributed mightily to the acceptability of abortion as a means of contraception both at home and abroad."

In closing, the bishop warned Casey: "It is also imperative that there be utter clarity when it comes to the teaching of the Church on matters that pertain to the taking of innocent life and the special responsibilities that fall to you, Senator, as a lawmaker to oppose abortion and other clear evils."

At the same time the letter was publsihed, Bishop Martino issued a detailed reminder to Eucharistic ministers that, when faced with a person's "public and persistent actions in opposition to the moral law as taught by the Church," Communion must be forbidden.

"The Holy See has declared that those who are unworthy to receive Holy Communion ... include persons directly involved in lawmaking bodies," wrote Martino. "These have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life."

The bishop quoted Joseph Ratzinger who, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in 2004 confirmed that "when a person's formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws)," his pastor should meet with him, "informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist."

Ratzinger continued that this denial "is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is the minister of Holy of Communion passing judgment on the person's subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person's public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin."

Therefore, Martino formally ordered all ministers of Holy Communion: "Those whose unworthiness to receive Holy Communion is known publicly to the Church must be refused Holy Communion in order to prevent sacrilege and to prevent the Catholic in question from committing further grave sin through unworthy reception."