Hello, dear Readers!

The other day, someone brought to my attention a video entitled “Fatima was not Ignored. It was Managed.”[1] This video was made by Fr. Jason Charron of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.[2] In this video, Fr. Charron discusses the apparitions of Our Lady at Fátima in relation to the situation of the contemporary Church, as he sees it. There is a lot of great material in this video that is worthy of reflection. Unfortunately, there are some finer points within Fr. Charron’s discourse that need to be challenged.

On the positive side, Fr. Charron discusses Fátima reminding men of the eternal consequences of their actions. Fr. Charron also points out that “history unfolds under the judgment of Christ.” I also found powerful his words “Fatima . . . says the trouble is in souls” and that repentance is the pathway we need to take if we are going to see the end of many contemporary troubles facing us. I also found a point that Fr. Charron made about the meaning of the “errors of Russia” that Our Lady referenced at Fátima to be thought-provoking.

Within the course of his discussion, Fr. Charron created some dichotomies that were under the larger umbrella of his main point: Fátima was “managed,” not “ignored.” Among the dichotomies Fr. Charron creates is a vision of two churches: one “managed,” and the other “prophetic.” The “prophetic” is depicted as the true Church whereas the “managed” Church is a “false” Church. There has always been the institutional Church with its various structures. The “institutional” side of the Church is the administrative side, willed by God and part of the hierarchical structure of the Church. Historically, we find examples of the institutional dimension becoming too hardened or stuck in its ways at times and required a little uncomfortableness. Take, for example, the Avignon Papacy and St. Catherine of Siena.

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