FR. GRUNER: "HIS WORK WAS HER WORK"
By: Hugh Akins
FR. GRUNER: "HIS WORK WAS HER WORK - AND IT MUST CONTINUE!" BY HUGH AKINS
This article is taken from the soon-to-be-released Summer 2015 issue of Oportet Christum Regnare
(Christ Must Reign), official quarterly magazine of the League of
Christ the King, USA, the Catholic Action lay auxiliary of the SSPX
Marian Corps. Published 4 times a year. Subscription $29.95 per year US
domestic; $75.80 to Canada; $99.80 International. Subscribe today not to miss a single important issue. Email us for list and topical coverage of back issues.
Edited by Hugh Akins (HughAkins@comcast.net).
Edited by Hugh Akins (HughAkins@comcast.net).
We were very saddened by news of the sudden and unexpected death of Father Nicholas Gruner,
who died on April 29, 2015 of an apparent heart attack while hard at
work in his Fatima Center office at Niagara Falls. He died as he lived –
in the service of God and the Mother of God. Few men left behind a
legacy as spiritually rich and enriching as he. He was 72 years old at
the time of his passing, having maintained to the very end the same
incredible capacity for apostolic work that marked his entire priestly
life.
Always drawing large crowds, Father Gruner not only made a tremendous
difference in the private and devotional lives of millions the world
over, but touched the hearts of countless priests and opened the eyes of
a growing number of bishops and cardinals who were otherwise lost to an
anti-Marian post-Vatican II disorientation. These bishops and cardinals
may not yet have turned back to the whole of Catholic Tradition, but
Fatima can definitely take them in that direction, and Father Gruner was unquestionably the chief instrument in Mary’s hands that had been leading them to Fatima. Recent popes
also felt the strong influence of this humble priest’s passion for all
things Marian, even if they remained obstinate in their refusal to honor
Mary’s specific requests, which they rejected as many times as they
heard them reiterated.
In short, Father Gruner left his mark on the Church struggling against
Satanic opposition to spread to every corner of the globe the true and complete
message of the Virgin of Fatima. If that message has not entirely been
lost to our age, and if the modern world has, at least in part, heard
the true cry of Fatima, it was this beloved priest’s apostolate more than any other factor. And notwithstanding the over-all papal unresponsiveness to the Mother of Christ, we may say that Rome itself was to some measure otherwise jolted from its own Conciliar and bureaucratic torpor by this one ministry.
Even as the popes failed to consecrate Russia as Mary insisted on,
Fatima could now no longer be marginalized by the Vatican, as was
previously the case in the unholy spirit of Vatican II. Father Gruner
made Fatima a force to contend with – even in the Conciliar Church
ravaged by apostasy, which, more than remarkable, was miraculous!
And perhaps equally if not more astonishingly, no less a world power than Russia – RUSSIA, mind you! – was moved by the sheer honesty, energy and fire of this one zealous priest and the movement he launched. I will come back to Russia momentarily. As I wrote in the Dedication/ Acknowledgment of my 2012 book, Synagogue Rising:
“Father Gruner’s worldwide Fatima mission is preparing the way for the
Universal Reign of Jesus through Mary like no other apostolate on
earth.” I think that correctly sums up this one remarkable priest’s
remarkable life work. Could a humble, devout and intrepid apostle of Our
Lady have devoted his ministry and his life to a more exalted, holy and
urgent cause than this?
Not unlike Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop Williamson, Father Gruner had many and powerful enemies. While we have no information at this time suggesting foul play in his untimely death
(other than the quite serious suggestion of a trusted veteran CIA
intelligence analyst who knew and loved Father Gruner and who
understands better than most the murderous intrigues of the evil world
we live in today), it would not surprise us in the least to learn, at
some future time, that Father Gruner did not actually die of natural
causes, that he was perhaps poisoned, and his death only made to look
like a heart attack; assassinated to keep from making any more headway
in alerting the world – and some important people – to the great need
and urgency of the all-powerful Fatima message, specifically of the Consecration of Russia and the final release of the full and un-tampered Third Secret of Fatima.
Father Gruner was making lots of progress – and a lot of waves in the
Vatican and elsewhere. Was he not issued a stern warning, a few years
ago, by a concerned fellow priest immediately after having been
physically assaulted and bruised by a pair of thugs at the Fatima Shrine
in Portugal, that he was in great danger coming to the Shrine?
Loved by the pure of heart, he was very much feared and hated by those
who were, to one degree or another, committed players or witting pawns
of Judeo-Masonry. Indeed, some of the world’s most powerful and corrupt
men in religion, banking and politics who have a vested interest in the modern apostasy, would conceivably have sought, at all costs,
to keep their crimes and conspiracies from being exposed via
revelations contained in the Third Secret, which was never closer than
at present to being released to the world, thanks to Father Gruner’s unceasing and heroic efforts.
Pope John-Paul I and Father Malachi Martin were both likely to have
been similarly murdered to protect the very same dark confederacy of Men
in High Places. Father Fahey spoke of these men in terms of the Serpent Cult. They refer to themselves as the Learned Elders of Zion. Scripture identifies them as the Synagogue of Satan.
For sure Father Gruner had deadly enemies. Not to belabor the point,
but foul play in the death of the Fatima Priest is also the more easy to
accept as a possibility – pending of course forthcoming evidence – in
light of the recent interest in Fatima by none other than Vladimir Putin,
the ex-KGB-turned-Christian-leader of Christian post-Soviet Russia, a
seemingly genuine patriot and man of peace, perhaps the last standing sane
head of state on the world stage. Mr. Putin is arguably the most hated
man in the world, hated by the Zionist West, hated by the
Zionist-dominated world media, hated by millions of Zionist-duped
American citizens who have swallowed all the anti-Putin propaganda
unleashed by the Talmudic Overlords who are the world’s ruling elite and
who have the capability to censor and make Zionist-friendly practically
every major news item, just as they were able with relative ease to
secularize and Jewify every former Christian nation by way of religious
liberty and the rights of man; just as they were able to Protestantize
and Jewify the very Church of Christ by way of Vatican II “renewal” and
“modernization”.
Time may well unveil something of a link
between Father Gruner’s sudden and unexpected death, Mr. Putin’s recent
strong interest in Our Lady of Fatima, including the Consecration of
his native Russia as a pre-condition for world peace, Putin’s distrust
of Rome and confidence in Father Gruner and the Fatima Center (he had
visited Father Gruner with Fatima in mind), and the hatred that
important men have for both Father Gruner and Mr. Putin. If it’s true
that a man can be judged by his friends and enemies, what does it tell
us that the Blessed Mother, Father Gruner and Vladimir Putin have some
of the same friends and enemies? (Readers
that may not yet have seen it are urged to view, and then recommend to
others, the short video clip of Father Paul Kramer on “Putin Wants Fatima, Pope Says No!” found on the video page of our website www.CatholicAction ResourceCenter.com.)
Whether assassination was part of the equation or not (again, please keep in mind that no evidence has yet been introduced concerning it, and that what we are saying here amounts to nothing more than conjecture),
the attacks launched against Father Gruner, as those against Vladimir
Putin (as indeed against Archbishop Lefebvre, Bishop Williamson and the
SSPX Resistance), are clearly part and parcel of the Diabolical Disorientation of these dark days.
We say this even of those attacks against the Fatima Priest that came,
not from open and avowed enemies of God and the Church, but from a
number of traditional Catholics as well; Traditional Catholics so-called, I might add. Appalling as it is, some of the most vicious attacks came from them.
Father Gruner was not just a wonderful priest and great apostle of Our Lady of Fatima; he was, in all truthfulness, saint-like.
Many others are convinced of it as well. He had the spirituality of a
saint, including an exceptional devotion to Mary that was reminiscent of
that other great Marian apostle, St. Louis de Montfort (have you read
the saint’s splendid work, True Devotion to Mary? If not,
consider it a “must” read). Father Gruner had the humility and zeal of a
saint, the courage and sense of mission, driving himself beyond human
endurance. Laboring without rest, he was known never to take a vacation –
never! – and rarely even a day off. Above all he had a great love of
the Church, Her Doctrine, Liturgy and Sacred Traditions, and a burning
love of God, love of Mary and love of souls.
I can personally attest to Father Gruner’s holiness, dedication and
fervor as a long-time admirer who not only never missed reading a single
issue of The Fatima Crusader which he began publishing in the
mid or late 1970s, but who knew this priest as a friend, who was once
even on his payroll serving as master of ceremonies in some of his
public addresses around the country, and who supported his apostolate
with its global outreach since the very beginning. He once confided in
me that the organizations which he and I respectively headed – the
Fatima Center he built into a world network and the League of Christ the
King, small and inconsequential by comparison – perfectly complimented
one another, his promoting the Reign of Mary our Queen and ours the Reign of Christ our King; his summoning an army of lay cooperators of the Marian Mission and ours
an army of lay cooperators of Christ the King – both movements seeking
the ultimate universal triumph of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of
Jesus and Mary.
Like many a Catholic saint throughout history, Father Gruner not only had a good understanding of the spiritual combat, but no less the Christian combat in its social and counterrevolutionary dimensions, a rarity among priests in general, and traditional priests are definitely no exception.
In this regard, the Fatima Priest more or less avoided pitfalls too
common among many priests – even traditional priests – pitfalls such as
those which “bind the clergy to the sacristy,” so to speak, and which
neutralize the Church’s missionary function; those which incline him to
clericalism, that is, an over-zealousness that negates the lay
apostolate by exaggerating the role of the priesthood; those which cave
in to the liberal notion of the separation of the spiritual and social,
or the divorce of piety and militancy, which also works against the
Church’s mission to combat the works of Satan and conquer all nations
for Christ.
Our humble priest well understood what Father Fahey called the real struggle in the world, which entails embracing the Church’s spirituality, Her full doctrine and Her Magisterial militancy,
and which necessitates locking horns with the deadliest of
anti-Christian forces, not liberalism, modernism and materialism alone;
not secular democracy and Islamic fanaticism alone, but the far greater scourges of Judaism, Freemasonry and Communism.
Unfortunately, I think Father Gruner had a better understanding of
these evils and their primacy in the war against Christ the King than he
was inclined to share with his numerous supporters.
It was undoubtedly a sense of prudence – whether properly or wrongly
applied – that kept Father Gruner from speaking his mind in public as he
often did to a few trusted friends in private. Now, this should not be
interpreted as doubting his sincerity – he was as sincere a man and a
priest as God’s Grace had ever formed –, only the practical soundness of
such decisions is being questioned, for true prudence I think – and the
Church substantiates this view – would have prompted such a holy and
knowledgeable priest to exert much more openness with his followers on
such monumental issues that impacted the lives and immortal souls of
countless numbers of them; issues which the Church’s true Magisterium wasn’t at all silent about, even if her clergy sadly were and are.
While Father Gruner was rarely heard to voice certain opinions in
public, he definitely confided to his friends, including this editor,
- His unshaken conviction of Rome’s wholesale breakaway from the Catholic Faith;
- His absolute certainty of the glories of the Traditional Mass and the unspeakable horrors of the New Mass;
- His wholehearted support of Archbishop Lefebvre and the old SSPX and complete backing of Bishop Williamson and the SSPX Resistance;
- His positive assuredness of the anti-Syllabus make-up of the most cherished of modern man’s political ideas and systems, democracy among the worst with American constitutionalism nothing less than a formula for public atheism;
- His unshaken certitude of the very grave and immediate threat of International Jewry and the duty of every Catholic devoted to the Reign of Jesus and Mary to expose and fight against it;
- His firm belief that Israel was behind 9/11 and the ever-escalating and utterly phony war on terror;
- His complete conviction that the Holocaust was and is a gigantic hoax (which is the firm conviction of every man who honestly researches the subject);
- As mentioned, too, his very favorable view and strong support of the League of Christ the King, once even offering to have the League join forces with his Fatima Center in a more cogent even if semi-official partnership.
Father Gruner not only generously contributed private funding towards
the book’s publication and marketing, once published he let it be known
in confidential circles that he loved the book so much that he was eager to mass-distribute it through the Fatima Center.
He communicated this idea to me and shared it with more than a few
close friends, some of whom are also friends of mine, a very supportive
SSPX priest among them. Two years went by, however, and nothing
happened. Of course Father Gruner was always an exceptionally busy
priest, but there was more to it than that. Friends inside and at the
top tiers of the Fatima organization informed me that certain “liberals”
that were close to Father Gruner were likely to have put enough fear
into him so as to cause second thoughts
about openly endorsing and promoting such a “taboo” book as this, much
less about distributing copies. The book was thought to be way too
controversial and politically incorrect, certainly not according to
Father Gruner or the Church’s thinking, and not just according to the
unbelieving world and to liberal-minded people both inside and outside
the traditional movement, but to some of Father Gruner’s own
too-liberal-for-their-own-good confreres. I think they were afraid of
repercussions, blowback. Fear of the Jews once again seemed to prevail,
even to the point of suppressing the Church’s own official warnings, exhortations and calls to combat against no less an enemy of Christ than the Synagogue of Satan. But letting the Jews off the hook in connection with the great evils and upheavals of the day was akin to censoring much of the Bible and silencing many of the greatest saints who waged war against Talmudic Judaism, was it not?
That’s what had been missing
from the Fatima Center’s program all along (as well as from much of the
Traditional Catholic movement with but two notable exceptions: The Angelus magazine
when Father Peter Scott was publisher, and the League of Christ the
King under Father Peter Scott as District Superior) – ripping the mask
off the Errors of Russia and works of Satan pertaining to Talmudic Judaism; it’s what Father Gruner eventually came to see more clearly, and, as it turned out, the principal theme of Synagogue Rising.
This foremost apostle of Our Lady was not one to be muzzled or kept
dormant for very long in the face of so monstrous a threat. Reliable
sources close to the Fatima Priest confirmed that at some point he
resolved to bring his public actions more in line with his private
beliefs. It was at this time that he made the decision to disseminate
Father Kramer’s latest work, The Mystery of Iniquity, which bravely identifies the Zionist
menace and scourge as a principal force behind International
Freemasonry and the principal foe of the Divine Plan. That must have
really surprised some of Father Gruner’s friends and greatly shaken up
some others – the weaker ones. It must also have triggered a red-flag threat-index alert
among certain enemies that had been monitoring the Fatima Center as
part of the so-called Domestic Terror Watch initiatives of such
radically Zionist and antichristian organizations as the Department of
Homeland Security, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the State
Department’s Office of Counter-Terrorism, the FBI and other
totalitarian agencies.
Here is what Father Gruner himself scribbled to me in an undated note, about two years ago, after reading Synagogue Rising: “Very
impressive work, much appreciated and needed. You covered it all –
striking hard and delivering a staggering blow for our side. Makes one
think of David’s sling, of Michael’s sword, of the Virgin’s heel…It’s
been on my mind a lot, using your book to making our work [at the Fatima
Center] a more effective tool in Mary’s hands, as She girts Herself for
the final battle with Satan…” He asked for my thoughts on his proposal
to sponsor a second printing, and I immediately replied that I was
honored, humbled and more than happy to link up with the Fatima Center
in such a joint-effort.
I was, however, a bit concerned for his personal safety and the good of
his apostolate. He was much more in the public spotlight than I was,
and I’d already received death threats against me as well as an incident
involving a beating and shooting, which I miraculously survived.
Think about it: a book that upholds the Church’s traditional teaching
on the Jewish question, documenting the Jewish threat, bringing that
threat up to date in relation to the most burning issues and events of
the 20th and 21st centuries, including two world
wars, the rise of communism, the rape of the Holy Land, the plundering
of the Church at Vatican II, 9/11 the day Israel attacked America, and
the whole war on terror hoax and planned onset of World War III, and
then connecting all of that to the Jews, the modern apostasy, Fatima,
Russsia, world peace or the annihilation of nations… Well, that book has got to be on the top of the list of the enemy’s Index of Forbidden Books, to say the least, and therefore most disadvantageous to promote, let alone publish.
And to top it all, Synagogue Rising
was written by one who is known as a hardliner with a long history with
the Society of St. Pius X and who is today officially tied to the SSPX Marian Corps Resistance as national president of the League of Christ the King and editor of Oportet Christum Regnare. Is there any more certain way to get your name placed on one of the enemy’s hate lists
than by supporting Bishop Williamson and the SSPX Resistance priests?
All things considered, what priest in his right mind would stick his
neck out by promoting such an author and book? There is only one answer:
A priest who, fearing nothing or no one, possessed the moral and intellectual strength and courage of a saint!
A priest like Father Nicholas Gruner.
So this was the book Father Gruner intended to re-publish and
distribute through his Fatima Center, putting aside all self-interest,
thinking only of disseminating the truth that sets men free;
unfortunately, however, passing away before he could see the project to fruition.
As of this writing, the Fatima Center’s Board of Directors may or may
not honor Father Gruner’s wishes to see this project through. We are
presently awaiting their decision.
But the book itself is really only a side issue in the present context.
The more important point is that, what we were beginning to see was the
real Father Gruner who would gladly give his endorsement to such books as The Mystery of Iniquity and Synagogue Rising,
not even concerning himself with being branded an “anti-Semite,” which
in today’s upside-down world has the power to destroy a man’s reputation
and work. Father Gruner understood anti-Semitism as having nothing to
do with hatred for the Jews, but rather as a very effective Jewish smear tactic
designed to silence all opposition by discrediting anyone daring to
expose the diabolical intrigues behind the Talmudic and Zionist war
against Christ and His Church.
It was frequently asked: Was Father Gruner a Novus Ordo priest as some
of his quasi-traditionalist detractors shamelessly assert? My answer: No he was not. He was a traditionalist priest. One of the finest ones God called to Holy Orders in such irreligious times.
But didn’t Father Gruner frequently visit Novus Ordo churches? He certainly did,
but never in the spirit of heretical ecumenism or religious
indifferentism. In doing so he imitated the apostles and Our Lord by
going into enemy temples in order to preach the Gospel to non-believers.
He went into the local diocesan and parish dens of iniquity not to
confirm lost souls in their error nor to blaspheme God with the New Mass
which he never offered, but to bring to generations of lost souls the
true message of Our Lady of Fatima, which is a message to return to Her
Divine Son and His One true Church, the Traditional Catholic Church.
Father Gruner was a traditionalist who preached Fatima, heaven and
hell, conversion and damnation, penance and reparation, the sacred
liturgy and the rosary, the brown scapular and the First Saturdays, in
essence Christian revelation and true devotion to Mary,
all according to the will of God and the directives of Fatima.
Criticize him if you will, but if truth has any meaning it is by the fruits of this priest’s ministry that we can truly know him. In his almost 40 years of promoting Fatima, Father Gruner may well have been responsible for saving MILLIONS of souls from damnation! Perhaps he saved as many souls as his enemies have scandalized with the lies and falsehoods they spread about him, and apparently are determined to continue spreading. God has done wonderful things through this one priest’s consecrated hands – and that’s the truth!
Only those who believe themselves without sin are now casting the
stones of bitter judgment at the name of Father Gruner. They hate Father
Gruner because – notwithstanding their extremely thin traditional
Catholic veneer – they are rash rather than self-restraining men;
lacking Christian virtue, discernment and circumspection.
Beware of such weak, ignorant or false traditionalists that have
become, in their pride, so extreme as to have lost the sense of truth
and reality, of right and wrong, the true spirit of the Church Militant
and its fight for the Faith, as too the very meaning of charity and
justice. They can be known by their vicious attacks on Father Gruner,
Archbishop Lefebvre, Bishop Williamson and the SSPX Resistance. Some of
them have drifted so far from sanity that they have even attacked Fatima itself. They are one of the reasons many of us have come to believe that the smoke of Satan has penetrated the Traditional Movement as well as the Conciliar Church.
The Apostolate under Father Gruner’s development and direction still did a tremendous work for God, just not as completely had there been less of these negative influences. The Fatima Crusader,
for example, as excellent as it was, nevertheless routinely held back
so much vital information that Catholics are in such desperate need of
in order to really defend their Faith and their families, their freedoms
and fatherland from the Judaic-Masonic onslaught, and to truly help
bring about Mary’s requests at Fatima.
What concerns us now is that these negative influences are the ones
most likely to seize the reins of control at the Fatima Center to
further undermine the fullness of Our Lady’s message which, as Father
Gruner came to understand, could not be separated from the Errors of
Schismatic and Soviet Russia, and which errors themselves cannot
exclude, as the liberals and many pseudo-traditionalists alike want to
exclude, the two deadliest ones: Bolshevism and Zionism; Bolshevism
meaning American and Western secularism (public atheism), socialism,
“democracy,” servile-statism, and totalitarianism of the Jefferson /
Lincoln / Wilson / FDR / Truman / Eisenhower / JFK / Johnson / Nixon /
Carter / Reagan / Bush I / Clinton / Bush II / and Obama variety; and Zionism,
Jewish/Israeli supremacism and anti-Christian fanaticism – both errors
of which remain the two most powerful forces on the planet, especially
in America, Israel and the Western nations, now driving the world deeper
into apostasy which is to culminate into an apocalyptic nuclear World
War and the Reign of Antichrist.
Pray
dear friends, pray very fervently, that Our Lady of Fatima will not let
the Fatima Center and its global outreach fall into such compromising
hands. It would be a betrayal of all the good that Father Gruner
spent his life doing. And it would be as horrible a loss for the cause
of Christ the King and Mary our Queen, and as huge a betrayal as the
recent horrible betrayal of the now Conciliar-bent Society of Saint Pius
X.
We have it from reliable sources that already certain liberals have attempted a backdoor takeover of the Fatima Center, in this case coming in from the outside like a thief in the night.
It should come as no surprise to us that neo-SSPX Superior General
Bishop Bernard Fellay wasted no time initiating a veritable power play
immediately after Father Gruner was laid to rest. Thank God he did not succeed. Heaven saw to it that the Board of Directors rejected the takeover proposal and thwarted Menzigen’s attempt to seize the Fatima world network. Smart move on the Board’s part.
In addition to prayer, we should also act.
There is much that can be done. Write to Father Kramer, for example,
and to Bishops Williamson and Faure, and to Fathers Pfeiffer, Chazal,
Hewko and Voigt, urging a possible concerted intervention in the Fatima
Center’s future. Let your voices be heard and your influence felt. Every
true Catholic and true son of Mary must do his part in not just praying
the Rosary, which is of paramount importance, but in living as apostles
of Mary by actively promoting
the Rosary and the full message of Fatima, honoring the Fatima Priest
by keeping alive the Heavenly Queen’s Divine and most urgent Mission. Nothing
will bring more joy to the Mother of Our Savior and to her most devoted
apostle Father Nicholas Gruner, than to see many of their spiritual
sons and daughters selflessly laboring on behalf of Her Immaculate
Heart.
As for the Fatima Center, time alone will tell if it is to continue, like the living tree bearing abundant fruit that it has long been, or if it will be allowed to fall by the wayside
as a dead or dying tree of no or little more use to God. Either way,
God’s will be done; either way, the Fatima Priest is no longer with us
to light the path; and either way, his mission must go on uninterrupted, for his mission was none other than HER mission!
Thank you for remembering Father Nicholas Gruner in your prayers. +
It is not from God to fight against ourselves.The Church has its falling but has much good. The apostasy is present in the Church and in the world. I do worry about the physical death but the spiritual death. To think about the multitudes that are falling into hell each second, is horrifying. Lets pray a great deal and make sacrifices
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