Father Martin's Monthly Newsletter

Volume 1, No. 7	May Message	May 11, 1998

Mary

In this month of May, our thoughts must concentrate on the woman who gave birth to Our Savior, Jesus. There is one extraordinary fact about Mary. No matter how far back we delve into antiquity and into Roman Catholic writers we find in them one consistent note, one implicit belief, mainly: the ubiquitous and all-purpose role of Mary in men's salvation. These writers presume that all graces necessary for salvation come to all men and women through the hands of Mary as Mother of God. They further presume as a deep belief that the redemption of Christ is achieved in individual souls through the role of Mary as the Co-Redemptrix. The Jesuit poet, Gerard Manly Hopkins, wrote a marvelous and long poem about Our Lady compared to the air we breathe. His point was simple and profound. Just as we presume on the air around us in order to live and move and act, so in the life of the spirit, we must all presume that Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix and as the Mediator of all graces is essential for our salvation.

This can be asserted to be the deepest belief of Roman Catholic writers, philosophers, theologians, martyrs and saints. They all take it for granted. Mary, they hold, is the channel through which our Lord Jesus communicates all His graces. Furthermore, when He died on the Cross for all men and achieved the salvation of all men, she exercised a very important function in that saving act of His. Thus, there can be no doubt that in mainstream Roman Catholicism, Our Lady has been and is considered to be the Mediatrix of all His graces, and furthermore, that she functioned as a part of His divine salvation of all men and women.

Some non-Catholics, particularly Protestants, display an amazing naivete in this respect. They simply have not thought it through. First of all, they presume that the only source of knowledge about salvation is the Holy Bible, despite the fact that no where in the Holy Bible is it asserted that news about salvation is only to be had in the Bible. Secondly, they twist the meaning of the Bible especially in relation to the function of Our Lord and Our Lady. St. Paul does say in one of his letters that we have one Mediator with God, Jesus. They say that it would be derogatory to call Mary Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix. This is, as I said, very naive. We Catholics are far more sophisticated and discerning about the relationship between Mary and her Divine Son. No genuine Catholic equates Mary and her Son. Jesus is the Savior. Mary is one of the saved. But, as one of the saved, she was assigned a special role in the salvation of all men. We Catholics also know that the news about salvation is communicated to us not merely by the Bible but by the tradition of the Church. And, as I said, it is the constant tradition of the Church that Our Lady functions as the Mediatrix of all graces, and as someone who in the actual salvation achieved by Jesus had a key role.

In these days, many expect His Holiness John Paul II to proclaim this double role of Mary for the entire Church. He will not do so for more than one reason. It must be said, however, that John Paul II is well aware of the universal belief of all Roman Catholic writers from the beginning. He knows this to be a fact, and that is why his motto is "Totus Tuus", meaning that he is completely in Our Lady's hands as a human being and as pope. But, in his actual circumstances as pope, he is confronted by a heretical Patriarch of Constantinople and a heretical Patriarch of Moscow, both of whom refuse to accept the Roman Catholic teaching. John Paul II is desirous of conciliating them and thus bringing them into the fold of the True Church. Some people think this is a wrong tactic. But, nevertheless, it is our Pope's tactic. As long as he is pope, this will be his Papal approach. What we must all do is pray for light both for John Paul II and for each of the two Patriarchs. We are confident that as Our Lady told the children at Fatima and at Garabandal, her Immaculate Heart will finally triumph.

In these days, the Church is undergoing perhaps the most insidious attack in her history. There are many prelates -- Cardinals and Bishops in the U.S. and Canada -- who have such an intense desire to belong to the mainstream of our society that they abandon their Catholic subjects in favor of being popular with the non-Catholic world of North America. The latest example in my book is provided by the Archbishop of Montreal, Canada, Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, who was distinctly inhospitable to the only international pro-life group in the world, Human Life International (HLI). HLI held it's convention in Montreal April, 1994. First of all, he insisted on tortuous negotiations with HLI before granting them permission to have their Mass in his Cathedral. But, he made every step of it difficult, both he and his subordinates. He believed the calumny spread by the anti-life forces to the effect that the Chairman of HLI had sent an embryo to the American President. Turcotte actually accepted the calumny as true. There was no real welcome for HLI in Turcotte's Montreal; by his stand-offish behavior, he communicated to the non-Catholic and anti-life world of Montreal that he, Turcotte, stood apart from the "fanatics".

We would advise the Cardinal to pray to Our Lady, the Mother of all the aborted infants, so that he display a genuine concern for the front-line fighters of the Church. We are sure that as Mediatrix of all graces and as Co-Redemptrix, she will obtain graces for his diocese in order to eliminate, as soon as possible, the anti-life and anti-Catholic forces that have taken possession of his Montreal Church.

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