Dear Editor,

When Our Blessed Mother appeared to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in Akita, Japan, in 1973, she warned that “the work of the devil will infiltrate the church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops

against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres (other priests). Churches and altars will be sacked. The church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord”.

The word “diabolic” comes from the Greek dia-boline which means to tear apart, rend asunder. Anything, therefore, that breaks pattern, that destroys unity, that corrupts gestalt, that produces discord. That is the diabolic.

Biblically speaking, the essence of the satanic or the diabolic is the

hatred and contempt of the cross of Christ. We have it – the spirit of it – in the Catholic Church. Notice, for example, how much we have given up mortification, self-denial, discipline in schools, discipline in seminaries.

Today, we find numerous examples of this bickering and infighting among top members of our hierarchy. There are also many open displays of opposition to church teachings by both priests and laity on issues such as the Holy Mass,

women’s ordination, papal infallibility, contraception, homosexuality, abortion and obligatory celibacy.

We also see a rise in fraudulent or nominally “Catholic” newspapers run by the laity and clergy alike such as Commonweal, America Magazine, The National Catholic Reporter, Catholic New Times, Prairie Messenger, and

Conscience Magazine.

Coming to the fore also are several fraudulent Catholic groups seeking to overthrow the church hierarchy in favour of a people’s democracy. Some of these are Catholics for a Free Choice, We Are Church, Voice of the Faithful,

Catholic Network for Women’s Equality, Catholic Women’s Ordination. Added to these groups are various and spurious charities and health organisations such as Development and Peace and the US Catholic Health Association which are known to support several pro-abortion and pro-homosexual groups. Under the tutelage of Sister Carol Keehan, the US Catholic Health Association became hugely instrumental in helping to bring into law President Obama’s anti-life health care reform.

These are not isolated cases of internal division threatening the church.

Indeed, Cardinal George of Chicago recently lamented the rise of a “parallel magisterium” seeking to destroy the faith completely from within. This is all the work of the diabolic, the satanic.

The Gospel speaks of the church as a whole and of her indemnity from the forces of evil in their full and profound sense. Jesus has thus promised us that “the powers of death shall not prevail against” the church. To procure

and safeguard this remnant flock and achieve victory during this time of great persecution and purification we need to set out immediately on the mountainous path to the good where we will discover more and more the beauty

that lies in the efforts demanded by truth.

Paul Kokoski

Ontario, Canada

pkokoski@mountaincable.net