HOLY THURSDAY 1996
IN COENA DOMINI
Throughout many years of history the Popes have decried the evils of their day in this holy Bull, read on Holy Thursday. Today We must decry one of the greatest evils in history. Today there is much discussion of the many evils that surround us. Even the Pagans and Apostates recognize that there are numerous evils surrounding us. We have decried many of these in the past from Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost to usury, to abortion, to luxury to intemperance, issuing sermons, decrees and encyclicals on these sins, warning that those who participate in them shall soon be burning in hell. There is one evil We have not addressed. It is this evil and the sins against the Faith that led Jesus to tell us that this is the worst time ever. (Matthew 24:21)
Sins Against the Faith
It was over four hundred years ago, that Pope Pius IV, Our predecessor of happy memory, issued his famous bull, Cum ex apostolatus officio, detailing the penalties for the more serious sins against the Faith. These sins are the worst, because they hit at the very heart of our relationship to God. The first three Commandments outline our duty to God and today all three are totally ignored, even by the faithful! There is only one part of these serious sins We wish to consider for a moment today before going on to Our main point. This sin is Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and We shall consider only one part: Rejection of the Known Truth. This rejection of truth leads not only to eternity in hell but almost instantly to insanity here on earth, because to reject the truth knowingly is to so misuse the mind. Since misuse of the mind causes insanity, insanity is impossible to avoid. That this rejection is a mortal sin and nearly unforgivable is certain from reading the Scriptures, Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Unfortunately, many who will hear or read these words will refuse to admit that they are committing the sin, which We shall condemn and bring before their eyes today, and this rejection of the known truth shall surely lead to insanity here and to an eternity of misery in hell, when they go there at the three days of darkness , which shall soon come upon us, if not earlier.
How Serious Is This Sin?
Before going into the details of the sin We shall most seriously condemn, We must warn that its seriousness cannot be minimized. It is second in seriousness only to the sins against the Faith, because it hits right at the heart of the family. It is worse than abortion, intemperance and theft. The pagans currently running the governments of the world have recognized how terrible this sin is and are attempting, however feebly and wrongly, to prevent it. However, this sin is so wide spread that We believe there is scarcely an adult upon earth who does not participate in it in some manner; nor do We expect to find anyone who has not been a victim of this sin! Even the milder forms of this serious sin are more serious than abortion.
But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone be hanged around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6
We must first warn you that this bull should not be read by children, for fear of committing the very crime that We are condemning.
It has come to our attention that there is a serious sin that has affected many people today, but it has been hidden. Some hide the fact that they are victims out of shame, when in many cases they had no real idea of what was going on much less the ability to have the will to sin. Others hide this crime out of some sense of false modesty. True, we do not need to shout our life story from the highest mountain top, but to hide something especially when the sinner is not corrected and can harm another is to cooperate in that sin. However, before we can discuss the moral aspects of this, let us first discuss what the sin is in itself.
The sin in question is that of child abuse and We wish first to discuss the most pernicious and damaging form of child abuse, sexual abuse. Sigmund Freud once reported that one in three women had been sexually abused as children. However, in search of earthly honor he hid this shocking politically and socially incorrect fact and declared that it was all in these poor women's imaginations. Because of this frightening refusal to accept the known truth, this blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, this crime has become so wide-spread, that We fear that there are few if any who have not been sexually abused as a child.
This sin takes various forms. The most obvious and heinous is that of actual physical contact of a child by an adult or at least a person who has reached puberty for the purposes of venereal pleasure. Such a violation of a child is one of the crimes, deserving a millstone around the neck and to be cast into the sea as the Scriptures tell us. (Matthew 18:6) In fact all forms of child abuse deserve capital punishment, because of the fact that a defenseless person is sinned against and often most horribly, causing permanent damage. That this form of child abuse is a mortal sin is without question. This is the form, We believe Freud thought happened to one in three women and there is a probability that it is one out of two women and quite a few men as well today.
There are other forms of child sexual abuse that are mortally sinful that require no physical contact. These include improper suggestions and/or requests, exposing a child to knowledge for which he is not ready, whether by telling him or her stories or allowing him or her to look at pornography or have access to it. Pornography is not limited to that which is sold as such, but also many movies on cable and regular television; many books and magazines not just those kept behind the counter , but even Time or Newsweek could probably be found to be pornography on occasion. Many adults make improper comments or make improper actions toward children. The Fathers and Doctors unanimously hold that ANY ACT OF IMPURITY IS OBJECTIVELY A MORTAL SIN. Since these are certainly acts of impurity, they are certainly mortal sins.
Now a distinction must be made in this area. That adults always sin mortally, unless they are insane, is certain. (Drunkenness does not excuse, although the act may not be sinful because of the lack of use of reason, the drunkenness usually is.) However can children be held equally as guilty? There are children, who have been so exposed to such things themselves at a tender age, that they are committing acts of impurity without restraint. We know that a person cannot commit sin until he reaches the age of reason; therefore any child under that age committing acts of impurity, is actually not guilty of any sin. His parents and others often are grievously guilty of the mortal sin of neglect, but the child is totally innocent of any crime. Children must be raised to be modest and to fail in this is a form of child abuse in itself. However, even modest children will show innocent curiosity about such matters and even commit acts that for an adult are mortally sinful. (This is why prudent parents must keep a watchful eye, lest this curiosity is indulged in.) However, until a child reaches the age of puberty, he does not
understand the function of the organs of procreation and in such an investigation is not committing an act of impurity. In some cases it may be a sin of curiosity, just as watching improper television is, but due to a lack of understanding of the matter he is not committing a sin against the sixth or ninth commandments.
Canon Law presumes that a person who has reached the age of puberty understands what the marital act entails. (Canon 1082) Along with this assumption comes the implicit presumption that a person under this age does not understand these things. Therefore in judging these matters several things must be understood. First those under the age of puberty most probably do not consent to such an act, because they have no understanding of what such an act entails. Secondly once a person reaches puberty, he or she is presumed to understand the nature of the marital act and therefore can give consent to it and thus can sin. However, this is not always the case, as in the case of rape. Morally speaking the person raped, whether male or female, is not considered to have consented to the sin of fornication. Therefore child sex abuse of a person who has reached puberty may be totally innocent on the part of the person abused, especially if the abuse started at a younger age. There are many considerations here. First the abuse often makes a person mentally ill, at least in the area of the abuse, rendering one incapable of that particular sin. Second the abuse often makes one slightly mentally ill so that a person no longer thinks and considers clearly, especially on major decisions. Since any form of mental illness lessens and sometimes eliminates the ability to sin, the same must be applied here.
We must consider carefully the fact that child abuse causes mental illness. This applies not only to all forms of child sex abuse, but all forms of child abuse from simple neglect to the most heinous form of incest. Since this is so, it is necessary to root out and help abuse victims to regain mental stability and the ability to function spiritually, mentally and physically. Recent advances have proven that mental illness is often the cause of physical illness and that to merely treat the physical symptoms of such illness is a cruel form of medical neglect. Doctors are under a moral obligation to seek the cause of illness and treat that. Often physical illness is caused by mental and/ or spiritual illness. To treat the symptoms, which are sometimes severe and debilitating, one must cure the illness.
Types of Illness
Spiritual illness is the worst form of illness, since it renders one incapable of saving his soul. Spiritual illness comes from two sources. The first is a person's own sinful way of living. We sin through our disordered self-love or selfishness as it is often called. This selfishness is often a mortal sin in and of itself, as well as the sins that spring from it. The second source of spiritual illness is mental illness inflicted by either disease or trauma. This second form is only as sinful as the underlying cause was.
Mental illness is simply misuse of the mind. The first misuse is to deliberately or negligently believe lies. We often believe lies to defend our selfishness. We pick up some catch phrase to protect our pet sin . To be mentally fit one must be totally and often brutally honest with one's self. The worst form of lie is the lie to ourself about our true state of affairs. This type of liar will find himself with his father, the father of lies, Satan! The truth shall set you free (John 8:32), Scripture tells us that mental bondage often comes from blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, that is from refusing to accept the truth. Mental illness also comes from physical defect and/or injury and thus is only sinful if the defect was deliberately self-inflicted . For instance a person, who unknowingly drinks poison and dies from it is completely free from any sin, whereas the person who deliberately eats poison is guilty of mortal sin. Mental illness often comes from poisoning, especially from the nutritionally bankrupt diet we have been fed for well over a century. Mental illness also comes from mental trauma. For instance the son of
a child abuser may grow up to be a murderer, because of the trauma in his childhood. There is much more that could be said on this matter, but it would take volumes.
Physical illness often comes from a poor diet, that is eating the wrong food and/or poison. Eating a proper diet binds under pain of serious sin, because to willfully neglect our health is a mortal sin. The effect of diet is just now being rediscovered by scientists. Unfortunately most, if not all, of us have lost friends and relatives to this diet. We can take comfort in the fact that their ignorance was often not sinful and thus they can be truly called victims of Antichrist and his perfidious system.
Other Forms of Child Abuse
Besides the sexual abuse of children, there are many other ways of abusing a child. Any violation of a child's God-given rights is abuse.
The Rights of Children
All rights we have are connected with some duty we have. They either are necessary so that we can do our duty or as a reward for doing our duty. To insist upon our rights when we are neglecting our duty is sinful, often mortally sinful. Married people are granted certain rights to help them fulfill their duty of bringing children into the world and of educating them to be Saints. A parent's first duty after becoming a saint is to his or her child(ren), then to his or her spouse. A married person should consider that in the family he comes dead last after the rest of the family. However, no person should consider that his or her spouse comes last, for this is marital abuse.
When children are born they have no duties, but certain rights, which parents and others have a duty of giving them. In fact children's rights begin before conception. One of their first rights is to be conceived by two people who are properly married and properly trained to raise children.
Children also have the right to be conceived by parents who are healthy and properly nourished, as well as not addicted to any harmful substances, such as drugs, alcohol or sugar. This is because unhealthy parents often pass on their problems to their children at conception and mothers during the nine months of pregnancy and the months of breast feeding after birth.
In Summi Pontificatus, Pope Pius XII tells us: "The souls of children given to their parents by God and consecrated in Baptism with the royal character of Christ, are a sacred charge over which watched the jealous love of God. The same Christ Who pronounced the words "suffer the little children to come to Me" has threatened, for all His mercy and goodness, with fearful evils, those who give scandal to those so dead to His Heart."
Children's other rights are:
1. Moral training, for without this they cannot become saints without a miracle of grace, and any parent who neglects moral training commits a mortal sin. Pope Pius XII said: "Keep before the eyes of the child, from its early years, the commandments of God and accustom them to observe them. The youth of today ... is ready to do good, but it must be educated to do so." 2. Religious training, because in addition to morals children must know God so that they can love and serve Him. Their bedtime stories should come from the lives of the Saints and Scripture, not Mother Goose or some other pagan or even satanic source. However, religious and moral training is worthless if parents do not practice what they preach by living morally and religiously. "As regards family life, it is of the highest importance that the offspring of Christian marriages should be thoroughly instructed in the precepts of religion; and the various studies by which youth is fitted for the world should be joined with that of religion." reminds Pope Leo XIII. 3. Religious life and practice, for Saint John Chrysostom calls the home a little church . Children must be taught morning and night prayers, to meditate when they are old enough, to do spiritual reading, to go to church on Holydays, which includes Sundays, etc. Although most are unable to physically go to church, they can gather with the other faithful in their area on Sundays and other Holydays and pray together, reading the Epistle and Gospel with some approved explanation, other sermons from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, as well as Our sermon. They should make a Spiritual Communion and say the Rosary. After returning home, their conversation at Sunday dinner should be about what was read that morning at church . We have all been shocked by the revelation of the widespread abuse of children by priests in the Vatican II Church, which some call the Novus Ordo Church . Let us take this as a warning from God, so we can say "Here but for the grace of God, go I." How much worse is the abuse that is alleged to have occurred among the Traditionalists, because these churches were so closely knit communities. But what is worse is to have a child abused in the only church he knows, his own home. On Sunday morning the faithful gather for about an half an hour to make a Spiritual Communion, pray the Rosary, to read Our sermon and to read a sermon from some good older book. If after this half an hour, the teachings of the Church are ignored by the parents by their return to sin, what example does this give the children? If parents leave their knees only to return to abusing their children, this will lead their children to abandon not only their family, but also their God! 4. Intellectual training to prepare them for their vocation in life, whether it be a ditch digger or a doctor. "Train the mind of your children. Do not give them wrong ideas or wrong reasons for things; whatever their questions may be, do not answer them with evasions of untrue statements which their minds rarely accept; but take occasion from them lovingly and patiently to train their minds, which want only to open to the truth and to grasp it with the first ingenuous gropings of their reasoning and reflective powers. Who can say what many a genius may not owe to the prolonged and trustful questions of childhood at the home fireside!" Pope Pius XII said. Notice he did not mention the home television, but the home fireplace! 5. Abiding love from their parents. Remember children are not slaves, but a holy duty given to parents. (Ephesians 6:4; Ecclesiasticus 4:35) Pope Pius XI says: "Parents, therefore, and all who take their place in the work of education, should be careful to make right use of the authority give to them by God, whose vicars in a true sense they are. This authority is not given for their own advantage, but for the proper upbringing of their children in a holy and filial "fear of God, the beginning of wisdom", on which foundation alone al respect for authority can rest securely; and without which, order, tranquility, and prosperity, whether in the family of in society, will be imperiled." 6. A decent home. This can be quite simple, as We have observed in the past. It is not size and luxuries that make a decent home, but the care given therein, both physically through feeding, clothing and sheltering children to the love and spiritual atmosphere of the home. 7. Children have a right to parents who put family first, before everything they want or think they need but really don't. Children do not need a TV, but they do need parents who spend time with them. "Guard yourselves against continuing a life which was perhaps thoughtless and frivolous: lazy and dissolute for the young men, frivolous and self-indulgent for the young women. Expend ALL OF YOUR ENERGIES upon the duties of your new state." Pope Pius XII advised newlyweds. Many today need to end their selfish way of living and get down to the business of taking care of their duty to their family! 8. Good example from their parents. This cannot be said enough times. "Never do anything contrary to the law of God and your consciences as Christians. The man (or woman) who does not want to master himself is incapable of doing so. He who believes he can do so, counting merely on his own strength without seeking sincerely and perseveringly help from God, will remain miserably disillusioned." Pope Pius XII reminds us. Let us remember that with God's grace ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, and we should ask Him for His grace to begin doing our duties! 9. Truth. Many parents raise little liars by their jokes and stories . Is it prudent to teach a child to lie and say Mommy is not home? Is it prudent to tell daddy that dinner is not even started when he comes home from work as a joke , when it is ready to come out of the oven as it should be every evening? Even the story of Santa Claus, being objectively a lie is not prudent. It gives a false idea of Christmas. Remember Christmas is Jesus' Birthday and not an opportunity to see how many presents we can get. "The only true educator is one who can kindle in the heart of his pupil the vision of beauty, illumine it with the light of truth and infuse virtue." Saint Bonaventure tells us. 10. Thrift, that is the wise handling of money. Money should never be borrowed for luxuries. To give this fateful bad example is to set your children as well as yourself up for bankruptcy. Pope Pius XII warns: "What a misfortune it would be if at home your indulgence and fond weakness were to undo all that has been done in school, at catechism or in Catholic associations, to form the character and foster the piety of your children. How much worse today when parents indulge in worthless luxuries at the expense of their children, giving them a very bad example of what people truly need."
The Worst Form of Child Abuse-Bad Example
"But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone be hanged around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:6
Scandal is simply teaching others how to sin by sinning ourselves. Children learn their habits by watching their parents.
A story best illustrates this. A person was conversing with another who was condemning some sin. He commented to this person who committed the very sin himself: What you are speaks so loudly, that I cannot hear what you are saying.
We cannot say to children: don't do what I do, do what I say do. True they should not follow our bad example, but can we expect themselves to restrain themselves when we don't? We are responsible for every sin our bad example inspires.
A father should not be surprised when his son goes out and gets drunk on the weekends, when he has been doing this every weekend since before his son was born. A mother should not be surprised when her grandchildren are neglected by her daughter, who would rather watch soaps all afternoon than take care of her duties, when she herself did the same thing when her daughter was a child. The father here committed two mortal sins every weekend; the first by getting drunk and the second by giving bad example to his son. Unfortunately his son will do the same thing when he gets married.
"I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me." Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 5:9
The mother also commits two sins, watching too much TV and bad example. There is a third sin in watching soaps , that of watching immoral TV, which promotes the violation of every Commandment there is at one time or another. By giving bad example to our children we train them to give bad example to our grandchildren, who will give it to our great-grandchildren, etc. We could be inspiring a hundred or a thousand people to become mortal sinners!
"Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee." Isaias 49:15
Cassian comments on this: "This providence and love of God therefore, which the Lord in His unwearied goodness vouchsafes to show us, He compares to the tenderest heart of a kind mother, ... And He uses this example, because nothing dearer can be found in human nature, saying: ... But not content with this comparison He at once goes beyond it, and subjoins these words: "And though she may forget, yet I will not forget you. By placing this in Holy Scripture, God is warning us that parents can and sometimes will forget their children. This is why He goes further to say that even though this may happen, He will NEVER FORGET US."
One of the worst forms of child abuse is found in homes, where the parents either neglect or actually verbally and/or physically abuse their children. This form of abuse destroys the family, replacing it with a collection of people sharing only a mailing address and last name, but not sharing anything else of value. Today it is found in almost every home on earth! It is even found in the homes of those few, the remnant selected out of grace (Romans 11:5) as Saint Paul calls us. He also reminds us to be sure of our election, and this can only be done by following the Commandments.
This form of child-abuse, second only to sexual abuse, is almost unforgivable.
"And if any man have not care of his own, and especially those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." I Timothy 5:8
The duty of ruling his house well, binds all fathers and husbands, because if he doesn't do this, then his damnation is certain. This care is more than bringing home the bacon , as the world calls it, but leading his family spiritually as well as taking care of their material needs. One of his duties is to see to it that his wife does her duty.
"Yet she shall be saved by bearing children, if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification with sobriety." I Timothy 2:15
The woman's duty is to raise her children well. A note in the Douay explains: She shall be saved by bearing children, and performing other duties of a wife, with due subjection to her husband, taking care to serve God, and to bring up her children in the faith of Christ, in piety, etc. ... This is the duty of the woman; upon the faithful discharge of neglect of which she must expect her salvation, of reprobation to hang. That men and women, who do not fulfill their duties as parents properly should be hanged is without question. This sinful neglect of duty leads not only to their own damnation and that of their own children, but also to countless future generations who carry on this sin by repeating the horrible example they received. Can one hope to be saved, when he appears before the judgement seat of God and thousands condemn him for his child-abuse, many of whom never even new his name while on earth but were victims of his child-abuse, which was passed on for a dozen generations!?
My Parents Gave Me Bad Example, So I Have An Excuse
Although a person will burn in hell for giving scandal, we who receive the scandal cannot excuse ourself from sin. All we can do is also commit a sin by following bad example. Our first duty is to break the cycle of abuse! We must become saints by refusing to be child abusers! We must study the science of the saints, so we can teach it. We must seek spiritual direction, as well as whatever mental or physical treatment we need. It is a sign of heroism to admit we need help and go to get it; whereas it is a sign of cowardice to deny our need for help.
What Do I Do, If I Have Been Abused?
Since abuse like any other major thing in your life effects you spiritually, mentally and physically, this matter should be submitted to your spiritual director. Spiritual direction is necessary for all who wish to follow the path of sanctity and few saints have become so without such direction. Only in times when spiritual direction is totally unavailable, can we rely on spiritual reading to supply for this need.
What Is A Spiritual Director?
The terms confessor and spiritual director are often used interchangeably, but this is incorrect. A confessor is any priest, who is authorized by the Church to hear Confessions. As such, the Pope, All Cardinals, Your Ordinary and Pastor are your confessors, as are any other priests sent to you by the Pope or your Local Ordinary. Spiritual directors on the other hand are usually confessors, but for each person he is that confessor to whom you normally confess. In extraordinary cases those, who are not priests may be allowed to be spiritual directors and Our own situation is just such a case. Spiritual direction takes place often in the confessional at the same time as confession. In spiritual direction we discuss with our confessor anything effecting our spiritual life directly or indirectly, especially temptations. Such things as marriage or entering the religious state should be discussed with a spiritual director to gain his advice and counsel. Those, who are engaged should especially seek out spiritual direction to preserve their chastity. Carelessness in the spiritual life is rewarded with eternity in hell. Because of the importance of the matter, we cannot take any half measures, because to lose our souls is to lose everything.
Spiritual direction also can take place outside of confession. In religious communities and seminaries and among the secular clergy, spiritual direction almost always is separate from confession. In fact some may take spiritual direction from one and confess to another. Although not strictly covered by the seal of the confessional, spiritual directors are often forbidden to use their knowledge, just as if they heard it in confession. Of course, any spiritual direction given in confession is subject to the same confidentiality as the confession itself.
Spiritual direction is especially needed by abused children. This includes not only those abused sexually, but also those who were abused physically, verbally or neglected. Children of alcoholics also need this direction, as do the children of other addicts, such as gamblers and TV addicts. Research has shown that the abused often become abusers in some way themselves. Therefore steps must be taken to prevent a person from abusing his children or others. These steps bind under pain of serious sin, if the potential abuse is mortally sinful or one has a history of such abuse or other mortally sinful habit, such as alcoholism or other addictions. Since We know without a doubt that there are few in this world who have not been abused in some way, We also know that the whole world is in need of spiritual guidance. This is especially true of the faithful and those of you who are still on the fringes of the Church. You profess to be Catholics subject to the Successor of Saint Peter, but your actions deny it and you have so far refused the help Holy Mother Church wants so much to give you.
Parental Blessing
We hereby grant parents the right to bless their children of whatever age. We raise this holy practice to the status of an official blessing of the Church, the only one permitted by Church Law to be granted to lay men. However, We do not prescribe any specific form. Merely making the sign of the cross over a child or children and saying In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. , is sufficient to gain the indulgences attached to this blessing. God's blessing should be called down on children at the end of each day by their father or in his absence, their mother. However, this blessing can have no effect, if parents are not fulfilling their duties.
I Have Abused My Children
By admitting this fact, you have come a long way to curing this terrible problem. The next step is to learn how to be a good parent. There is a book, Toxic Parents , which describes the horrible problems caused by all forms of child abuse. The main cause of child abuse is ignorance of our duties as parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents. In a book, The Sins of the Fathers , Fr. Doyle comments that if parents do not have a library of books on training children and do not study them, they are insane. He comments that we spend more time learning a profession than we do in training for the most important profession of all: raising children! This neglect to learn our duties is certainly a mortal sin. We should use every resource at our disposal to learn how to raise children properly. We must seek advice on this most important problem today before it gets out of hand.
Fr. Doyle, among many others, comments that problem children are formed by problem parents. If a person has a problem child, he should first examine his or her own life to see how (s)he formed this problem child and caused the problem. Many today are preparing their children to be problem children . The two year old of today who is neglected and/or not disciplined and trained properly, will in eleven years be the out of control teenager. The mistakes , which are often mortal sins, of today will be the headache and heartache of a decade from now. Many parents will cry when their son is carted off to jail on a DUI or their daughter comes home to inform them that she is pregnant, but today they must take the measures to prevent these tears from being shed. In fact, some experts believe that a child is formed by age seven. This would fit in with the fact that a person normally reaches the age of reason at seven years of age. The proper training of a child begins before conception with learning the proper method of raising children and preparing to do just that. Men and women have an equally grave duty of working with their spouse on this job, which will determine where they spend eternity. If parents raise their children properly, they shall be rewarded here on earth with caring happy holy children, who will bring them the joy of grandchildren, and in the next life praising God through all eternity with generations of their descendants. If parents fail in this duty, then they shall look forward to unruly out of control children, who are a burden until death, and eternal misery after death.
An Urgent Appeal to the Universal Church
We, the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, appeal to all of the faithful to be truly faithful. Since most are called to the holy vocation of marriage, We call upon you to live up to the duties of this sacred calling. We call upon all who have children related to them to care for these children and to bring them up in the love of God as best as they can. We call upon all parents to resolve today to learn their sacred duty and to do it. Marriage must be a school of unselfishness, because in marriage a person surrenders all of their rights to others. To his or her spouse, (s)he surrenders those rights connected with the procreation of children. Married people must know that in the family they now come dead last after their duties to children and spouse. Let us return to this self-sacrifice which will lead to true happiness in a happy family here on earth and in eternal delight in the next life. May God guide all to bring the little children to Him and to end this horrible crime of child abuse.
Given this fourth day of April, 1996, in the fifth year of Our reign,
Pope Michael I
Michael Fighting
"Michael…who standeth for…thy people," — Dan. 12:1-12
