by Cesar Franco

On September 24, 2023, around 20 Catholics gathered in the late afternoon to pray, protest, and make public reparation for a Halloween blasphemy that made national headlines near Metairie, Louisiana. The peaceful protest was organized by Tradition, Family, Property (TFP)—Louisiana.

News reports describe the public blasphemy in the following terms:

• “[The] two-story display of a blood-stained Satan holding the severed head of Jesus above a crucifix where the rest of His bloodied body hangs.”
• “The display stretches across Miorana’s yard and includes a crucified nun and priest.
• “Above the crosses, a Satan with yellow eyes holds Jesus’ head. Pews of bloody skeletal worshippers face the scene, with ghouls lingering nearby.” (NOLA, Sept. 19, 2023)

The assembled protesters prayed rosaries, sang hymns, and shouted slogans such as “Blasphemy is not free speech!” or “Reparation! Reparation! Reparation!” They gather around a large picture of the International Pilgrim Virgin of Our Lady of Fatima that depicts her weeping.

 “She wept tears of sorrow over the sins of mankind in New Orleans in 1972. We thought it was appropriate to remind us how deeply blasphemy offends God and Our Lady,” said TFP volunteer Alvaro Zapata.  

Making Their Voices Heard

Those in cars and sidewalk pedestrians read the signs and received flyers against the blasphemy. Some waved and honked. Several neighbors watched the event from their porches.

Signs that summed up the spirit of those gathered read, “We stand with Jesus against this blasphemy,” and “He who confesses Me before Men I will confess him before My Father… [in heaven].” Protest participants thank the protest organizers, saying: “This is way too far. This is outrageous!” “Something needed to be done.” “Thank you for inviting us.”

One 19-year-old male observed the scene for a while and asked, “What is a blasphemy?”

“A sin that is an attack directly against God,” came the response.

 “Oh, that’s what it is! That is bad! Thank you for doing this!” 

One older woman favoring the blasphemy shouted, “Y’all are crazy! Y’all are crazy! Y’all are awful!” She then spoke kindly with the owner of the display and manifested her sympathy. A Muslim man angrily approached the rally and said, “This offends me. You praying out loud offends me.” A rally participant responded, “We are not the problem. That blasphemy is the problem!”

The event was peaceful, although three police cars monitored the protest. Although it threatened to rain, not a drop fell. However, thunder could be heard as all departed at the rally’s end.

Concerned Catholics from all over the Houston area gathered on August 28 for a special talk on October’s Synod on Synodality in Rome. Tradition, Family, Property (TFP) and America Needs Fatima sponsored the event at the downtown Coronado Club, which included a book launching and reception.

TFP Vice President John Horvat delivered the talk “How the Coming Synod Could Radically Change Your Parish and the Church.” The crowded room was overflowing with people who wanted to know what the October Synod of nearly 400 bishops and laity members would discuss.

Mr. Horvat also introduced the book The Synodal Process is a Pandora’s Box: 100 Questions & Answers, co-authored by TFP authors Jose Antonio Ureta and Julio Loredo de Izcue. Cardinal Raymond Burke wrote the foreword.

News of the book has spread all over the media, including major outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post. It was reported in Breitbart, MSN, the Catholic Herald, the National Catholic Register, America Magazine, LifeSiteNews and other sites.

The book is a precious tool to clearly understand what Cardinal Burke means when he says, “Synodality and its adjective, synodal, have become slogans behind which a revolution is at work to change radically the Church’s self-understanding, in accord with a contemporary ideology which denies much of what the Church has always taught and practiced.”

Cardinal Burke is not the only one sounding the alarm. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, claims that “They are dreaming of another church that has nothing to do with the Catholic faith…and they want to abuse this process, for shifting the Catholic Church—and not only in [an]other direction but in the destruction of the Catholic Church.”

Mr. Horvat, author of the best-selling book Return to Order, showed how the Synod could represent a revolution inside the Church.

“What the Synod on Synodality teaches is that Church teaching is defined by listening to ‘the spirit,’ not necessarily scripture and tradition,” Mr. Horvat affirmed. He also warned that the Synodal Path could radically change how the Church is governed and oriented.

Indeed, the book arms concerned clergy and laity alike with the doctrinal insight and facts necessary to defend the immutable Catholic teaching against those seeking to change it in the name of “synodality.”

The Houston event was part of a five-city tour reaching New Orleans, Lafayette, Beaumont (Tex.), Houston and Fort Worth, where the topic was received with great interest and concern.