Parishes promote message of Fatima from Eastern perspective

BRECKSVILLE, Ohio — Two parishes, at either end of the eparchy, hosted special events to promote the message of Our Lady of Fatima from an Eastern Catholic perspective.

St. Joseph Parish in Brecksville, Ohio, hosted the pilgrim icon of Our Lady of Fatima Sept. 7.

A pilgrim statue has been traveling throughout the world since the early years of the Blue Army, now called the World Apostolate of Fatima. The apostolate, founded to promote the message of peace, repentance and conversion that the Mother of God shared at Fatima, is recognized by the Vatican as a Public Association of the Faithful.

Catherine Moran, president of the Byzantine Catholic division of the apostolate, felt a special prompting to commission an icon as an “ambassador to the East,” so that the urgent message of the Mother of God might reach even more people.

The icon, painted by Vivian Imbruglia, was inspired by a 1950s print of Our Lady of Fatima from Fordham University’s Russian Studies Department. Bishop Bohdan Danylo of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio, blessed the icon March 4, 2018.

Moran, who is from Youngstown, Ohio, told those gathered at St. Joseph Parish Sept. 7, that the message of Our Lady of Fatima is not only for the West, but also for the East.
“When praying before an icon, you are actually looking into heaven,” she added.

Moran went on to describe the uniqueness of the icon: the striking similarity between the face and eyes of the Mother of God as depicted in the icon and the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. As well, the depiction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on the bottom left of the icon and the Hagia Sophia on the bottom right represent the Christian West and East, pointing toward unity among Christians, for which Christ prayed, Moran said.

Five months earlier, Annunciation Parish in Homer Glen, Illinois, welcomed the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima April 29-30. The statue was placed by the tetrapod. On the first evening, the pastor, Father Thomas Loya, led the prayer of the Akathist to the Mother of God and then, after a few hours for silent prayer, he led the Paraklesis Service.

Father Loya celebrated the Divine Liturgy the following morning, prior to the departure of the statue. Catholics, both Eastern and Western, gathered at the church over the two days and left their prayer intentions at the foot of the statue.

The priest attributes the statue’s stop at his parish to providence.

“A Ukrainian Catholic woman, a fellow Byzantine Catholic, called and asked if I wanted to host the statue at my church. She said she had it at her church, and I said, ‘Sure, great,’” he said.

“It’s a marvelous opportunity for the two lungs of the church to experience each other’s riches and, to me, it’s a wonderful privilege for people to be coming to my parish for this devotion,” he said. “The statue is an image — as Eastern Catholics we love imagery — and this statue makes very much present the Mother of God, and inspires people to prayer, and draws people to holiness, and graces come from this.”

Father Loya, who led a three-day retreat in Fatima, Portugal, as part of Horizons 2017 pilgrimage, called the message of Fatima “very timely.”



“The message of Fatima is more relevant than ever before, and to see that my parish can be an instrument for drawing people to prayer for what needs to prayed for in the world today…This kind of focus, prayer and devotion is critical now,” he said.

“We’ve got to be focusing and praying on the things that are most essential,” he said. The message of Fatima includes “a call to purity of heart, to prayer, to repentance, a call to pray for world peace.”

“Who or what can turn things around in this world today? They can only be turned around by divine intervention,” he said. “I’m not being pessimistic. I think I’m being realistic, but hopeful. These things don’t have purely human solutions. They’re too big.”    

For information on the Byzantine Catholic Division of the World Apostolate of Fatima, which operates under the ecclesiastical authority of Metropolitan William C. Skurla of Pittsburgh, go to www.bluearmy.com/pittsburghbyzantine.

 
Caption 1: Father Thomas Loya leads the Akathist to the Mother of God during the visit of the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima at Annunciation Parish in Homer Glen, Illinois, April 29. (Photo: Laura Ieraci)
 
Caption 2: The pilgrim icon of Our Lady of Fatima was welcomed at St. Joseph Parish in Brecksville, Ohio, Sept. 7. (Photo: Shalimar Masters)
 
As published in Horizons, Oct. 6, 2019.
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