Russian Orthodox believers might be surprised to learn that a traditional Roman Catholic in the USA finds most of what is published on this website to be spiritually uplifting and historically fascinating.

A Catholic conference[i] scheduled in Moscow, Russia on November 4-5, 2017, will explain the traditional Catholic perspective on why the world desperately needs Russia now: heaven has chosen Russia to turn the world back to Christian faith.

Speakers at the conference will include two prominent Russians: Elena Chudinova, author of the best-selling future-fiction novel The Mosque of Notre Dame; and Stanislav Protosenko, former political science and history lecturer at St. Petersburg State University.

The Fatima Center[ii] is a traditional Catholic organization sponsoring the conference. Many traditional Catholics believe that the 1917 apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima predicted (when understood in light of contemporary history) that Russia is God’s chosen nation to re-convert (re-Christianize) the once-Christian, now-essentially-pagan West.

In 1929, Our Lady of Fatima reappeared to Sister Lucia, the only surviving Fatima child seer, by then an adult nun -- and asked for the Pope, together with all the Catholic bishops of the world on a single day, to publicly consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart.

In the 20th century, Catholics assumed that this consecration was needed in order to free Russia from the dark night of atheistic communism. But the consecration has never been done in the specific manner requested.

Now it is clear that the consecration is needed precisely because Holy Mother Russia is appointed by heaven to bring a new period of peace to the world. In the 21st Century, Russia is emerging as the world’s most powerful Christian state, even while the formerly-Christian nations of the West sink into decadence and paganism. We traditional Catholics believe God wants Russia consecrated -- which means, set aside for a holy purpose.

The entire message of Fatima is explained in Russian Sunrise[iii], my 2011 novel explaining the promises of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917: Russia is chosen by heaven to become a mighty Christian confessional state, embracing Christian social and economic principles, restoring its Christian monarchy, and bringing peace to the world by re-evangelizing the once-Christian, now-pagan West.

Why is the West rapidly devolving into paganism? As goes the Catholic Church, so goes Western civilization. Since the 1960’s, the Roman Catholic Church seems to have been undergoing a great apostasy beginning at the top echelons of her hierarchy. The deliberately-ambiguous documents of the spiritually-hijacked council known as Vatican II were not the cause, but rather a symptom, of the gradual infiltration of the Church by Modernism -- dubbed “the synthesis of all heresies” by Pope Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907).

Traditional Catholics are those who believe that true doctrine consists in what the Church taught, always and everywhere, since the time of the Apostles. The Popes, as the successors of Peter, have no power to alter or add to the deposit of Faith, which was delivered to the Church by the time of the death of the last Apostle.

Traditional Catholics hold that only two Churches have unbroken apostolic succession and therefore valid sacraments: the Catholic Churches in union with Rome, and the Orthodox Churches. Traditional Catholics cringe at the antics of Pope Francis, who routinely says and does things that seemingly cannot be reconciled with the timeless doctrines of the Church. Some wonder if he is, in fact, a heretic.

We look upon the resurgence of the Russian Orthodox Church with hope and joy, wondering if perhaps God has used the millennium-long “schism” as a means of preserving true faith and Christian practice in the East -- for this very time when the West is forsaking its Christian roots and descending into paganism and chaos.

Traditional Catholics reject modernist thought and practice, and insist on personally following the timeless teachings of the Church. They attend the traditional Latin Mass, which was standardized by Pope Pius V in 1570, with very minor adjustments made up until 1962. They attempt to personally follow the strict Christian moral code that was never questioned prior to the modern era. Just as they strive to preserve timeless Catholic tradition in belief and practice, they view the resurgence of Orthodox Christianity in Russia as a cause for great hope.

Bruce Walters M.D. and his wife are traditional Catholics in the USA, a retired physicians, and the adoptive parents of a son born in Russia. They have grown to love Russia deeply, and pray daily for her glorious Christian destiny to unfold quickly.