Someone walking down Detroit Street in Lakewood, Ohio, on Friday evening, Feb. 18th, would have seen an unusual sight of 150 Catholics gathered around a large statue of Our Lady of Fatima, devoutly praying the Rosary and singing pious songs to Our Lady.
They shouted loud slogans such as REPARATION! and Viva Maria Sanctissima.
Why this prayerful gathering?
It was a public act of reparation and protest against the Northeastern Ohio premiere of a blasphemous production called “Jerry Springer: The Opera in Concert” that was playing inside the Beck Center for the Arts. It defies description in detail since it contains so much blasphemous content. Some examples include:
•The crucifixion is mocked and the Eucharist is trashed
•There is a lady singing “Jerry eleison” (mocking the Mass: Kyrie Eleison)
•Jesus is introduced as “the hypocrite son of the fascist tyrant on high.” He wears a diaper, is fat and effeminate and later admits: “Actually, I am a bit gay.”
•Eve gropes Jesus in a manner too indecent to describe while the Annunciation is described as a rape.
•God is a fat man in a white suit who complains about being blamed for everyone’s problems. He invites Jerry Springer to join Him to “sit in Heaven beside me, hold my hand and guide me.” At the end, Jerry emerges as the true savior of mankind.
Throughout its history, the “opera” has earned its blasphemous reputation. In London, the debut was the subject of a libel suit for defaming Christians. When it was to be aired on the BBC, it drew more than 60,000 complaints. In face of such insults to the Faith, TFP and America Needs Fatima could not and did not remain silent.
Catholic Reparation Echoes in Lakewood
To make sure people knew where the protest was to take place, at about 5:30 p.m., on-site preparations started. This included unfurling a banner, setting up signs and the distribution of prayer programs.
At 6:00 p.m., in a very cold wind, the protest started to the sound of “Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above” as the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima was carried shoulder high in procession and took her place at the front of the crowd, where she reigned throughout the protest.
We then prayed the rosary, which echoed through the streets, where God’s rights are too seldom remembered and His Holy Name too often invoked in vain. The participants also joined in shouting slogans in protest and reparation:
"O Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us."
The verses of "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" and “Immaculate Mary” resounded alternately between the prayers.
A large banner and dozens of signs informed the traffic about the purpose of the protest, although this was hardly necessary since the protest had been preceded by weeks of public controversy in the newspapers, TV, internet and blogosphere.
More than 21,000 people has already protested the blasphemous production via email.
“My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph”
As Catholics, we know that there is and can be no peace on earth between good and evil. This blasphemy play is part of an agenda to insult God and to drag as many souls to Hell as possible.
However, we also know who will win in the end. The spiritual war against blasphemy can only have one winner: the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
At Fatima, Our Lady promised mankind: “Finally my Immaculate Heart will Triumph.”
Until that glorious triumph arrives, it is our duty and honor to oppose blasphemy, to offer reparation, and to win as many souls for Our Lady as possible.
I believe Our Lady will show special mercy and goodness on the day of her triumph to those who upheld her honor in the times when sin seemed unstoppable.
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