Catholic Family News

Interview with Father Rostand on
the Third Rosary Crusade

Note: This is an exclusive interview conducted by Catholic Family News Editor John Vennari with Father Arnaud Rostand, District Superior of the Society of St. Pius X in the United States.
 

CFN: Please remind us what is the nature and purpose of this Rosary Crusade?

“I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the first Saturdays.” - Our Lady of Fatima

Father Rostand: His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay, the General Superior of the Society of Saint Pius X, launched this current Rosary Crusade in May 2009.  It is a crusade of prayers and sacrifices; asking the Blessed Virgin Mary to bring forth the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart which was announced by Her at Fatima. Our Lady Herself gave the means to obtain this triumph: the devotion to Her Immaculate Heart and the consecration of Russia. “I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the first Saturdays.” She announced this on July 13, 1917. 

            In this Rosary Crusade, we are asked to pray 12 million Rosaries, and offer an equivalent number of sacrifices for this intention. It is a crusade of prayers, obviously, but also an offensive for sanctification, a call to more holiness ­-- in the life of the priests and the faithful -- through a greater spirit of penance in reparation against the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is an occasion for all of us to renew and propagate our devotion to Her Immaculate Heart, hoping and trusting to obtain that the Pope may consecrate Russia as requested so many years ago.

CFN: How has been the response so far?

FR: The response has been very encouraging from the start. Most of the faithful are very enthusiastic about the Crusade. Many had been hoping that the Society of Saint Pius X would initiate such an important crusade for this very intention.                      

      I have no idea of the result worldwide. As for the U.S. District, we are approaching two million Rosaries offered thus far, which is a good response; although we encourage everyone to intensify their generosity. I sincerely hope that the U.S. District reaches five million Rosaries by the Crusade’s end – March 25, 2010. It is not impossible, but will require that we all do a little more!

CFN: Why are the requests of Our Lady of Fatima and the Rosary Crusade important?

FR: The requests of Our Lady of Fatima are important, firstly, because it is the will of God. Recall the words of Our Lady to Sister Lucy in 1929: “The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart.”

            Remember also, that Our Lady prophesized that this consecration will be done, “but it will be late”, She said. Is it already “too late”? Will we have to wait for long? We want to do whatever we are able to make this request happen, and the only thing we can do, is to pray and offer sacrifices for this intention.

            I believe that there are other reasons in addition as to why this Rosary Crusade and the promotion of the Devotion to the Immaculate Heart is so important: Fatima is a light for our times. Fatima is an enlightenment of the situation the world is in today. It prophesied what happened during the last decades, the history of the last century and the beginning of the century we are living in.

            Our Lady said at Fatima that the consecration will be done but “Russia will already have spread her errors throughout the world.” Isn’t that what we see all around the world, with hardly any exceptions? An atheistic and materialistic world; a world that refuses God, rejects God’s laws, a world that just wants to enjoy earthly pleasures – “No God; therefore, let’s just enjoy life!”

            The answer to the crisis in today’s world, given by Our Lady, is the devotion to Her Immaculate Heart and especially the Consecration of Russia. This will bring about the Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart, and a “period of peace will be granted to the world”. 

Father Rostand (right) with Bishop Tissier de Mallerais at Winona Ordinatinos, June 19, 2009.

           Fatima is also enlightenment in the crisis in the Church. I am sure it is no news to your readers that there is a frightful crisis in the Church since the second Vatican Council, a Crisis that has brought the loss of the Faith for so many. If you try to have a deep look into this Crisis within the Church, you will realize that one of the main roots of this Crisis is the New Ecumenism of Vatican II, a terrible error which leads to a “silent apostasy”, that is to say, a forsaking of the Catholic Faith, replaced by a relativism and indifferentism. In other words, the dogma “Outside of the Church, there is no salvation” has been replaced and even denied by the New Ecumenism that practically says that non-Catholics no longer need to convert to the True Faith, as all religions lead to God – a dreadful error!

            There also, Fatima enlightens us; Our Lady asked for the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, which means the achievement of the Conversion of Russia through the intervention of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Does that not go against the concept surrounding the New Ecumenism? How could we ask for the conversion of a country, a consecration by the Pope and all the Bishops to Our Lady? The consecration of Russia is an anti-ecumenical act; the very solution requested by Our Lady to the actual Crisis of the Church – I believe it would be a changing point in the Crisis.

            These are the reasons why the requests of Our Lady and therefore this Rosary Crusade are so important.

CFN: How do you gauge the moral state of today’s world? i.e, does it resemble the final days of the Roman Empire?

            Although there are many similarities, the current moral state of the world is much worse that the last days of the Roman Empire. The famous “bread and games” to keep the people happy and in submission is back. The world gives food and entertainment to keep the people content and resigned, indeed subdued! Immorality is everywhere, just as in decadent Rome.

            However, I do venture to say that our state is worse because Apostasy is worse than Paganism – the refusal of God is much worse than ignorance. Therefore, the decadence, the corruption of this former Christian world is worst, and goes deeper than ever.

CFN: How will the Rosary Crusade help remedy this?

FR: You know, to be realistic about the dramatic situation of the world and the Church are in, does not allow for us to be pessimistic. We must remain confident in God, in Our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Our Lady. It is our Supernatural Virtue of Hope. So we cannot be discouraged; we have no right to be demoralized. But we must realize that the only true answer is supernatural. The real solution to our situation is to sanctify our lives, our souls. It is to convert ourselves. The only solution is prayers and sacrifices as requested by Our Lady of Fatima.

CFN: There are some who say: why join a Rosary Crusade? Does not the answer to world problems lie in politics, in diplomatic negotiations among nations and in more education?

FR: No, definitely the answer is not political or diplomatic. I am not saying that politics is of no importance; but the true answer is supernatural.

            This is what the Society of Saint Pius X has always stood for: to protect an rebuild Catholic life, founded on true and sound doctrine, with the means that the Catholic Church has always used. If we manage “to restore all things in Christ”, to restore our personal lives, our own family lives, the Church life, if we manage to re-establish Tradition in the Catholic Church, then the political problems of the world will start to be brought back. “God first served”. 

CFN: What examples do we have in history of the Rosary being the weapon to conquer powerful forces against Our Lord?

FR: Everyone knows about the Battle of Lepanto and the victory due to praying the Holy Rosary. Here I would like to give very recent examples: His Excellency Bishop Fellay has launched two Rosary Crusades prior to the current one. The first was to obtain the release of the Tridentine Mass. 2.5 Million Rosaries were offered across the world for that intention. The Motu Proprio was given just after the completion of that Crusade.

            Then, we were asked to pray for the lifting of the iniquitous decree of “excommunication” that affected the Bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre. We prayed over 1.7 million Rosaries. The answer to our prayers was given right away: the Crusade ended on December 25, 2008; the decree from Rome was signed on January 21, 2009. I believe these are good examples of the efficacy of the Rosary. Let us be generous and we will see miracles!

CFN: Father James Gavin, C.SS.R., writing many years ago in the American Ecclesiastical Review, noted that prior to the battle of Lepanto that gave Catholics victory against the Turks, Pope St. Pius V “ordered the entire fleet to fast for three days, and march in a Rogation Procession on the Feast of the Name of Mary” before the fleet set sail for battle. Does the Society of St. Pius X plan any formal public action along these lines as part of the Rosary Crusade?

FR: I am not aware of a formal public action as part of the Rosary Crusade, not a worldwide action anyway. The U.S. District of the Society of Saint Pius X will renew its Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the Last Sunday preceding the end of this Rosary Crusade; that is on Sunday, March 21, 2010. In every churches of the Society of Saint Pius X across the United Sates, during the Sunday Mass, the consecration of the District will be pronounced.

            We invite everyone to join us and participate in this Consecration of the District. It must be an occasion to show Our Lady our trust in Her - for the good of our souls of course, but also for our country and even the world. I think it is a good way to finish this Rosary Crusade, to entrust all things without any exceptions to Her.

CFN: What means do you have to tally the Rosaries being prayed?

FG: A Rosary tally sheet is available for anyone to download from our website:  www.sspx.org It is a tally sheet for the entire Crusade, which may be sent in to us at the end of the Crusade, next March. You have also available in every Society of Saint Pius X chapel, a booklet that explains the Crusade, and which has monthly tally reports that may be sent to us.

            If for some reason some do not have access to these two items, they may contact the District Office at the following: Regina Coeli House; 11485 N. Farley Road; Platte City, MO   64079.  Phone:  816-753-0073.

            We will be glad to send the booklet or tally sheet, and will await the return of the Rosary tallies. You may even phone in your monthly totals, or just write them on a sheet of paper and send that.

 CFN: How would you encourage people to get involved? 

FG: There is no way that we can do enough in this Crusade. The goal is so important. When all is said and done, it is in fact, the salvation of souls that is at stake!  Everyone should try to make this Crusade known and encourage people to join up. This Crusade is not for the benefit of Society of Saint Pius X, it is for the whole Church, for the world. Everyone can do something. Everyone can do a lot, indeed, even in doing little. To pray a Rosary every day is not really difficult but it can do so much for your personal life as well as for the Church.

            Let us not forget that what is most important in this Crusade is our own devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Our Savior. What matters is that, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with the Rosary and a life of penance, we may sanctify our lives and glorify God Almighty.

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