Garabandal's Shocking Revelation -

English: Bishop Athanasius Schneider O.R.C. celebrating Traditional Latin Mass in Tallinn, Estonia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Crisis of the Priesthood
By Fr J. Pelletier A.A.

Many Cardinals, many bishops and many priests are on the road to perdition and are taking many souls with them." Even in the middle of 1965, this declaration made by Our Lady at Garabandal to Conchita, the main seer, came like a bombshell and caused much consternation. People reacted to it as Our Lord's contemporaries reacted to His announcement about the Eucharist and the eating of His body and drinking of His blood: "This sort of talk is hard to endure! How can anyone take it seriously?" John 7:60.

For some time now, in my constant gathering of new information on the revelations at Garabandal, I have come to a clearer understanding of the main reason why Our Lady came to Garabandal and better insight into the heart of the message that she brought to the world in that humble, Spanish mountain village.
We could say that one of the principal reasons Our Lady revealed herself in visions to the four seers from 1961 to 1965. was the crisis of the Church. With equal truth we could say it was the crisis of the priesthood. For this crisis at the very heart of the crisis of the Church. As goes the priesthood, so goes the Church.
Therefore it seems evident that the urgent concern of Our Blessed Mother, as she spoke with the four girls at Garabandal, was the crisis of the priesthood and the way to deal with that crisis. She spoke more of the priest, his problems and needs, than of any other single topic, with the possible exception of the rosary Other things that she spoke of frequently, such as prayer and sacrifice, she more often related to priests than to any other subject. She was continually asking the girls to pray and make sacrifices for priests.
A Simple Message - Hard to Accept
Our Lady came with a simple, forthright message for the renewal of the Church through the renewal of the priesthood. The means she proposed for this renewal were prayer and sacrifice. In essence, her message was the basic Christian message of redemption through the cross, the constant need of the Church, particularly in times of crises, for atonement and reparation. It is one of the hardest messages for us to accept.
It is significant that the time of Our Lady's visits to Garabandal coincided with the preparation and various sessions of Vatican II. Likewise, the purpose of her coming coincided with that of the Council, namely. the renewal of the Church.

The message of atonement, of prayer and sacrifice or penance, was a very important part of what Our Lady told us at Lourdes and Fatima, but there it was aimed at sinners in general and not so specifically at priests, as it was in Garabandal. Because penance runs counter to our nature, it is the part of heavenly messages that is always least heeded. This is true of Garabandal as it is of Lourdes and Fatima. It is most unfortunate but explains why these events have not borne the fruit - conversion and return to God and the blessings of peace which flow from this - that heaven was seeking.
A Sense of Urgency
It is important to show the tremendous emphasis Our  Lady  placed  on  prayer  and  penance in her Garabandal messages and how she requested this principally for priests.   As I gradually became aware of this new light on information that has become available, I made the most of recent opportunities which permitted me to question Mari Loli. one of the  Garabandal seers, and her mother. I was over-whelmed by what I gathered in these interviews and feel that it is more urgent to prepare all of this for printing as soon as possible.   It is now unmistakably clear the main reason why Our Lady came at Garabandal was the crisis of the Church and of the priesthood. It was evident to me from the beginning that the overall purpose of Our Lady's coming at Garabandal was the crisis of the Church, however, it is only recently that I have become aware of how much Our Lady said about this crisis and what precise and alarming things she predicted with regard to it.

Garabandal Pines 1 (Photo credit: garabandal archives)

There are three "unpleasant" things that everyone has known since my first books and pamphlets appeared. These are the prophecies about the Warning, the conditional Chastisement, and the statement of the Second Message of Garabandal: "Many Cardinals. many bishops and many priests are on the road to perdition and are taking many souls with them." Our Lady was fully aware that at the heart of the problem of a morally sick world and Church, was the crisis of the priesthood. It was the centre of Our Lady's attention in her many visits, messages and conversations with the girls at Garabandal. She may have mentioned the rosary more often than the priesthood, but ultimately even the rosary as a form of prayer, was very much linked to the priesthood.
Our Lady Gives the Remedy
There also exists a superabundance of evidence that the solution Our Lady proposed to alleviate the crisis of priesthood, was prayer and sacrifice. The forms of prayer she asked for were varied and included Mass and Communion, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, the rosary and reflection on the passion of Jesus. The wearing of the scapular can also be considered a form of prayer and supplication.
Thee sacrifice Our Lady explicitly sought above fidelity to daily duty and the acceptance of all the sufferings, pain and hardship it involves. When the girls asked Our Lady how to make sacrifices she told them to be obedient and to be patient. Every day God provides disagreeable things that irk us and cause us to suffer in various degrees. He is asking us to accept all this suffering in atonement for the sins of the world and particularly of the priesthood, and to join these to the rosary and other prayers that we offer for these same intentions.
The importance of praying for priests cannot be emphasized enough. Everyone can offer sufferings of their day and their daily rosary for this intention.  Holy Hours can be established for the purpose of praying for priests.
Our Lady has given us the solution - it is urgent that we fulfill her request.  

[From Garabandal International Magazine, Oct - Dec 2013]