What is The Catholic Hour?
We are living in a defining moment in the history of the world. We are undoubtedly witnessing a rapidly approaching apex in the battle between the Kingdom of Christ and the counterfeit kingdom of antichrist. Both seek to rule the minds and hearts of the peoples of the world. The Kingdom of Christ is a world order governed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ transmitted through and defended by His Church. The kingdom of antichrist is characterized by a “new world order” ruled by a global elite who govern by deception; hatred of God, His Church and His order for creation; greed and lust for absolute power. The Kingdom of Christ advocates a culture of freedom and life built up in charity and truth, based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the kingdom of antichrist advocates a culture of lies which lead to slavery and death. For this reason, St. Paul seriously warned all disciples of Christ about the deception which will characterize the rise of the kingdom of antichrist:
Let no one deceive you in any way . . . For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2: 3-17.
Persecution against the Church is increasing from without and from within. The greatest threat to the Church from within is a growing spirit of indifference and apathy toward God and His Mystical Body, the Church. All of this was foreseen in the apparitions of Our Lady at La Salette, France in 1846 and in the now famous dream of St. John Bosco in 1862 in which he foresaw a very turbulent time coming to the Church like it has never experienced before. In this dream, Don Bosco saw the Church symbolized as a large flagship, guided by the pope, being attacked from all sides by countless enemies. The flagship had smaller ships around her following where she was going. Arising out of the sea were two columns, the smaller one atop with the Blessed Virgin Mary with the words “Help of Christians” and the other larger column atop with a large Eucharistic Host. The pope navigated the flagship (the Church) between these two columns and anchored herself to them. These pillars, true devotion to Mary and the Holy Eucharist, served as protection and safe haven for the flagship from further attack with all her enemies perishing amidst the stormy sea. Those smaller ships which followed the flagship to the columns and chained themselves to them were saved from the enemies and the stormy sea and after the enemies were destroyed, a period of peace followed.
The significance of Don Bosco’s dream was indirectly confirmed by Pope Leo XIII in 1888 when he fell into an ecstasy after celebrating Mass and witnessed a terrifying dialogue between Satan and God in which Satan asked for an extended period of exceptional power during which he would be able to destroy the Church. God granted him this period of time that was to carry into the twentieth century and into the present. In response to this horrific vision, Pope Leo XIII composed the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, which he requested be said after all Masses. This extraordinary period characterized by unprecedented turmoil and divine intervention is confirmed by hundreds of other noted prophecies in the history of the Catholic Church.
These are the extraordinary times in which we live. Few who are understand the signs of our times within the prophetic history of the Church would attempt to deny this. Do we understand them? St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians warns the Church that as the spirit of antichrist increases in the world, so will its sophistication of deception to lead others away from God and His Church. And this deception always comes in the form of the promotion of some good principle: freedom, security, prosperity, scientific progress. Stripping each of these from their origins in God and obedience to His will, the kingdom of antichrist used these terms to bring the world to slavery and death, manifested primarily by a scientific dictatorship which is Luciferian characterized by hatred of God and all things sacred — especially humanity which is made in His image and likeness.
As revealed in St. John Bosco’s vision, heaven is not passive to this extraordinary rise in attacks against God and the Church. He has given us two pillars to which we are to be anchored in order that we can withstand the stormy seas of our times and attacks against the Church and all that is good and holy: Mary and the Holy Eucharist. And God has confirmed this truth by blessing the Church with an extraordinary age of visitations by His Blessed Mother since the early nineteenth century. The Church has also received visitations from Our Lord Himself, in particular His visitations to St. Maria Faustina. By and in these, Our Lord and Our Lady undoubtedly confirm the critical importance of our times as an extraordinary period of Divine Mercy to obtain our conversion — before it is too late. The significance of this age of Mary and Mercy have been confirmed by the testimony of the saints and great popes of the twentieth century. And as Sacred Scripture and history have proven, whenever Mary enters onto the stage of history, something serious in the life of Christ and His Mystical Body is taking place. Therefore, all the extraordinary Marian phenomena of the last 200 years point to this time in history as being a critical hour for the Church which will be increasingly tested and persecuted before the reign of peace will be accomplished through the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is the hour in which the light of the Church must shine like never before amidst the darkness. It is indeed, the Catholic Hour.
Do we understand the signs of our times and how we can most effectively respond to them for our sanctification, that of our families and the salvation of souls? The Catholic Hour is a grassroots movement which was founded to respond directly to this need in the Church: to boldly proclaim and explain what heaven has revealed and the Church has confirmed as the most effective way for souls to obtain the greatest possible sanctification and respond to the evils of our times. In other words, The Catholic Hour is a response to the pivotal question of our times: how are we best to chain ourselves to the pillars of Mary and the Eucharist? And in this age of increasing deception where evil is disguised as good and good is called evil, we take the call of Archbishop Fulton Sheen as our own: “We need a Church and an authority that’s right, not right when the world is right, but right when the world is wrong.” The Catholic Hour, therefore, takes on with a sense of urgency the mission of restoring all things in Christ through Mary. Using all media available, retreats, conferences and seminars, it does so by teaching what Our Lady and Our Blessed Lord have revealed as the most authentic response to the difficulties of our times, for “the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will adore the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23)
“In spirit”: Drawing from revelation of Sacred Scripture; the Fathers, Doctors and saints of the Church; and the papal magisterium, The Catholic Hour emphasizes that the most effective and preferred means to the greatest possible holiness and restoring the world is through total consecration to Mary, daily recitation of the Holy Rosary, devotion to the Divine Mercy (especially recitation of the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy) and Eucharistic adoration (especially the daily Eucharistic Holy Hour as practiced and promoted by Archbishop Fulton Sheen).
“In truth”: proclaiming and explaining the signs of the times: what the world is thinking, its errors and exposing the blueprint of Satan’s counterfeit kingdom; and boldly proclaim the truth about God, Mary, His Church, mankind and creation as revealed by Sacred Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the papal magisterium and approved private revelation. The bottom line is that truth yields responsibility. Thus, The Catholic Hour assumes a grave responsibility to proclaim the truth and direct the faithful on how Our Lady is asking us to live it in these times.
“Do not despise prophesying . . .” 1 Thessalonians 5:20
St. Paul exhorted his fellow Christians: “Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good,
abstain from every form of evil. May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Catholic Hour, therefore, does not ignore the prophetic history of the Church. On the contrary, it embraces and promotes awareness of it, The prophets of salvation history, as we see especially in the Old Testament, played a critical role in directing the lives of God’s people back to fidelity to their covenant with Him — always with serious consequence if they do not heed God’s mercy to repent and convert. The life of the Church, too, has had its many prophets who, as messengers of God’s mercy and justice, have been instruments of God in guiding the Church back to holiness. The last 200 years have been the most exceptional as the unprecedented Marian Age has brought forth serious messages of repentance and conversion to the Church and the world directly from Our and His Blessed Mother. The gravity of any message is weighed by the significance of the messenger who bears it. And the messages given to the world in our times are accompanied by prophetic warnings if they are not heeded.
The Catholic Hour is a needed movement to help bring about an authentic spiritual renewal of all states of life: married, single, priesthood and religious. It sets out to bring the spiritual pillars of the movement into every household, parish, academic institution and community, as expressed by Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother and which the Church herself has confirmed in her teachings and example. Consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, The Catholic Hour movement has every confidence that she will assist its mission to reach the maximum number of souls.
The Catholic Hour movement was deeply inspired by the teaching and example of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, whose life and teaching embodied the mission of The Catholic Hour. Archbishop Sheen was a prophet for our times, who understood that the Church is living in a critical hour in history and responded with a heroic witness to the Catholic faith both in his personal life and in his tireless dedication to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world. His extraordinary gift and manner of communicating the truths of the Catholic faith reached audiences of all faiths (and some with none at all) that counted in the tens of millions. His episcopal motto was “Da per matrem me venire” which he translated as “Grant that I may come to Thee through Mary.” Archbishop Sheen lived a life of tireless dedication for the salvation of souls as he did all within his means to bring souls to Jesus through Mary.
Archbishop Sheen was also the great apostle of the daily Eucharistic Holy Hour to which he attributed all of his success in effectively reaching and converting souls, while remaining uncompromisingly faithful to his priest-victimhood. He preached it forcefully whenever he had the opportunity, especially during the last decade of his life when he saw its importance for the Church more than ever. He never wavered in this daily commitment which he practiced faithfully every day for over 52 years.
In the last century, few possessed the gift of communicating the truth about God, the Church, Mary, man and creation, which characterized Archbishop Sheen. Thanks be to God that Archbishop Sheen selflessly made the wisdom entrusted to him available to the Church through his many books and audio & video recordings. These are a treasure which the Church needs to generously share with the world at a time in which it needs them most, as +Fulton Sheen truly was a prophet for our times and an icon for the mission of The Catholic Hour. For this reason, The Fulton Sheen Society was founded in order that the wisdom and heroic example of this faithful servant of Jesus and Mary may continue to reach millions of more souls.
We invite you to join this movement which has as its purpose the formation of the saints of the latter times, who St. Louis Marie-Grignion de Montfort and St. Maximilian Kolbe preached would be especially formed and characterized by their total consecration to Mary. God has placed her at the heart of the battle with Satan (cf. Gen. 3:15; Rev. 12) and as the inseparable Spouse of the Holy Spirit, she has the specific role of preparing the way for the coming of Christ!
Patrons of the Movement:
Our Lady of Guadalupe (Patroness of the New Evangelization)
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen (The Apostle of The Eucharistic Holy Hour)
St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe (the “Apostle of Our Difficult Age”)
St. Louis Marie-Grignion de Montfort (The Apostle of Total Consecration to Mary)
St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (The Apostle of Divine Mercy)
Blessed Pope John Paul II (The pope of Mary and Divine Mercy)