America Needs Fatima
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
America Needs Fatimais a campaign of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP). Its stated goal is to: “win the heart and soul of America for Mary by spreading Our Lady's Fatima message and promoting devotion to Her Immaculate Heart.”[1]
The effort was begun in 1984 under campaign directorship of American TFP member C. Preston Noell III. Leadership of the campaign changed to American TFP member Robert Ritchie in 1994, who remains as executive director today.
Throughout its more than twenty years of existence, America Needs Fatima has received letters of support for its initiatives from dozens of American bishops as well as hundreds of priests and religious.
America Needs Fatima is action-oriented and has organized pro-life rallies and protests against works it views as blasphemous, distributed millions of fliers, established a home visitation program enthroning statues of Our Lady of Fatima and published books.
To date, America Needs Fatima members have distributed millions of fliers describing the Fatima message and promoting the book: Fatima: Prophecies of Tragedy or Hope. They have also distributed fliers on other issues, including protest fliers against dozens of perceived blasphemies.
In addition to Fatima: Prophecies of Tragedy or Hope, which has over 100,000 copies in circulation, America Needs Fatima has also published an illustrated children's book titled Jacinta’s Story that received encouragement from over twenty U.S. bishops.
Since 1996, America Needs Fatima has visited over 10,000 American homes in forty-nine states with pilgrim Virgin statues of Our Lady of Fatima. The program of these visits includes a statue crowning, a short audio-visual presentation about Fatima and praying the rosary.[2]
America Needs Fatima also has experience organizing "anti-blasphemy" rallies. The most notable anti-blasphemy campaign they sponsored was against the film: The Da Vinci Code[3], in which they arranged more than two thousand theater protests nationwide, as well as major demonstrations outside the Sony headquarters in New York[4] and Los Angeles.
America Needs Fatima's most recent activity is the "Public Square Rosary Campaign." The stated goal of this campaign is for America Needs Fatima contacts all over the country to pray the rosary and proclaim the Fatima message in a public place, such as a sidewalk or street corner, on October 13, 2007, the 90th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun during the Fatima apparitions.[5] As of late August 2007, more than 1000 rosary rallies are scheduled to take place.[6]
