America Needs Fatima Hosts Second Annual Nationwide Rosary Crusades to Pray for Renewed Recognition of Traditional Marriage

It might not have been a big crowd, but the cause was monumental. Thirteen adults and seven children from across the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas gathered on March 17 on the grounds of St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Corpus Christi to pray for a restoration of traditional marriage and family life in our nation and for many other needs that arise when marriage and family as ordained by God breaks down.

“This is a precious Saturday and we all have many other things that we could be doing. But we all made the sacrifice to come here because it’s so important to pray for God’s law that marriage between one man and one woman becomes the signature law of the land and not forgotten,” Tom Concert, Traditional Marriage Rosary Crusade Captain who organized the prayer rally, said.

America Needs Fatima, whose ministry is dedicated to spreading Our Lady’s message at Fatima across America, established this yearly nationwide Rosary crusade in 2017 to pray for a renewed recognition of marriage between a man and woman and for an upholding of traditional family values in American culture as a response to the 2015 Supreme Court decision to recognize same-sex “marriage.” It is their hope, and all who participated in the Rosary crusade, that more souls will awaken to the need for traditional marriage and family to counter the cultural destruction caused by the legalization of homosexual sin under the name of “marriage.”

This can be accomplished through public prayer, asking for God’s grace through the intercession of Our Lady and St. Joseph, whose marriage and family life with our Lord is the absolute best example for families to live by. Therefore, this annual event is scheduled each year on the Saturday closest to the feast of St. Joseph, March 19.  This year, the date was March 17.  More than 3,000 of these rallies were held across America, each praying in public the Angelus, the Holy Rosary, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a prayer and a Litany to St. Joseph, the Divine Praises and opened and closed with a song at noon local time in each time zone with the idea of a wave of prayer and reparation sweeping across the country. 

 “Society has lost its morals due to the breakdown of the family, especially over the last 50 years,” Kevin Fitzpatrick, a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Latin Mass Community, said.  “We see it very clearly in the recent school shootings, so we as a Body of Christ have to be more vigilant about promoting holy families; and holy families start with God’s marriage which is between one man and one woman.”

This affect can even be seen in schools more obscurely. Concert recalled a story of a high school guidance counselor who warned his students of the dangers of taking free gifts offered to them during Spring Break and how easy it has become for kids to access and be tempted to use harmful substances.

“These kids maybe come from broken homes or maybe Dad isn’t there and they’re troubled. That’s why traditional marriage is such a big deal to protect our kids,” Tom Concert said.

American society is composed of the union of thousands of families. A change for the better in America can only happen when marriage between a man and a woman is upheld and families function in a healthy manner; and it all starts with fervent prayer.

Attendees at the Rosary crusade prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary for healing for their own friends and family members suffering through situations that stem from the breakdown of marriage and family, for families who have left the Church, for our nation and in reparation for sins against life and marriage.

While people can pray for these intentions on their own, public prayer, according to St. Louis de Montfort, is more effective, especially during a time when half of all marriages end in divorce. He says in The Secret of the Rosary, “Public prayer is far more powerful than private prayer to appease the anger of God and call down His mercy, and Holy Mother Church, guided by the Holy Ghost, has always advocated public prayer in times of public tragedy and suffering.”

Idalia Anadigua, also a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Latin Mass Community who attended the Rosary crusade, would have celebrated her 50^th wedding anniversary this year.  Her witness of a holy marriage is a beacon of light in this time of darkness in our culture.

“My husband and I were married at Our Lady of Pilar. This year would have been our 50^th anniversary.  He died in 2005, but to me he is still alive.  It was a very blessed marriage to me, I believe, because we got married in the Church,” she said.