From Yvonne Dienesch. (Letters to the Editor).

Regarding "Father Nicolas Gruner suspended," November issue, please allow me to make a few observations.

Those who believe the consecration of Russia was done by our Holy Father on March 25, 1984, cannot claim to see the promised good fruits. After more than 17 years, where is the promised peace? Can anyone honestly claim to see progress in this regard, with millions of abortions committed annually, with euthanasia being promoted and "legalized," with increased assaults on the family, including abominable "sex education" taught in Catholic schools, with threats of cloning and embryo stem cell research, with sodomy accepted and glorified more and more, and with the terrible September 11 tragedy in the U.S., with all appearances of a third world war as the aftermath?

Besides, on March 25, 1984, our Holy Father himself (as quoted in L'Osservatore Romano of the day) stated that the consecration of Russia specifically had not been done; and that he had only been able to consecrate the world (because of the lack of cooperation of many of the world's bishops who are to act in solidarity with him in the solemn consecration of Russia).

I have never believed that Communism collapsed in 1989. Where are the fruits of that? The Catholic Church continues to be oppressed in Russia. That nation has spread her errors throughout the world, certainly in Canada.

No one in authority was ever punished for atrocities committed before the alleged fall of the Iron Curtain. On the contrary, they simply retained their power and changed titles--but a leopard doesn't change his spots.

Having read the Fatima Crusader for many years now, I find the message very believable, especially in view of what goes on around us. It has the ring of truth. If Satan had his many allies silence Fr. Gruner's urgent message, even good people will not pray and work for Our Lady's requests to be fulfilled, and many souls will continue to be lost. As for the so-called suspension from the priesthood of Fr. Gruner, this lie was fabricated by certain Vatican bureaucrats who are minions of the devil, and propagated by a hostile media.

Also, it's strange that in all the years of following Fr. Gruner's apostolate, we have never heard that he was suspended already in 1996. Fr. Gruner is correct about the timing of the latest suspension letter; i.e., one day after September 11. It is interesting that exactly one day after that tragic day, Fr. Gruner received a letter of encouragement from the Holy Father's office.

We are all called to personal repentance and turning back to God, and then we are to work for the conversion of the world. Our weapons are unceasing prayer (especially Holy Mass and the Rosary), the Sacraments, Eucharistic adoration, the brown Scapular and the miraculous medal, and fasting. Will we finally hear God's call and obey?

Eganville, ON

Editor: In addition to the above letters we have received several others all of the same nature.

Response:

Let me make as brief a response as possible. I am truly amazed at the above opinions, mostly for two reasons. First, we are told that the consecration of Russia has not taken place because no conversion is visible! Yet, five years after the 1984 consecration, the Berlin wall comes tumbling down; the iron curtain behind which a Soviet atheist empire had exercised a truly gruesome, totalitarian reign of terror for 70 years collapses for no apparent reason, and with it the police state and regime itself disappears. Then a dozen East European nations brutally occupied since 1944 are set free; half a dozen other nations within the Soviet Union itself, which have suffered tremendously, are given their autonomy; all these nations- together with what remains of Russia itself--recover freedom of religion, speech, press, and association, and are introduced to self-government and the democratic process.

Secondly, the writers flatly deny that Fr. Gruner's suspension is valid, or even has taken place at all, in direct contradiction of the Vatican Congregation of the Clergy. Fr. Gruner's suspension has been confirmed by a definitive sentence of the supreme tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, after Fm: Gruner himself appealed the original suspension of 1996. Again we are told it never happened or, if it did, it is contrary to canon law.

I am closing this correspondence because there seems no possibility for a meeting of minds. But I wonder about people who dismiss Church authority as if it counts for nothing while they consider themselves the Church's most obedient faithful.

P.S. In May, Pope John Paul will be visiting Bulgaria, a mostly Orthodox country, liberated in 1989. He has already visited Georgia, Roman ia, Armenia, Kazakstan, and Ukraine, not to mention Poland, where he travelled even when the iron curtain was still up. He has also been to Slovenia and Croatia, countries of the former Yugoslavia.