Fr. Andrew Apostoli: "But gradually, all of our religious rights are being taken away...."

From an EWTN article about the 94th anniversary of Mary's appearance on October 13, 1917, at Fatima:

The author of an exhaustive study on the Virgin Mary's 1917 appearances in Portugal says her words are being fulfilled by the rise of aggressive secularism and loss of religious freedom in the West.

"Mary, as I see it, pointed out at Fatima that these things were going to happen," said Fr. Andrew Apostoli, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal and the author of "Fatima For Today" (Ignatius Press, $19.95), in an interview one day before the 94th anniversary of the last apparition in the Portuguese city.

"She said that an evil will begin in Russia, and will spread its errors around the world," Fr. Apostoli noted, recalling Mary's words in 1917.

"Those errors – an atheistic form of government, life, and society – have come upon us now, in the form of secularism, and the attack on life, the family, and religious freedom." ...

Even the anti-Christian French Revolution had publicly acknowledged a "Supreme Being," whereas Russian Communism went further by making atheism state policy.

The United States, Fr. Apostoli said, "would never have accepted communism if it had that label on it, directly. America would have opposed that."

"But that's being broken down, and we're gradually getting many things that were a part of communism."

"Pope Benedict has said that a wind has come over Western Europe, over North America, and has brought a darkness which prevents people from being able to tell right from wrong, truth from distortions," Fr. Apostoli observed.

"We don't have the secret police, coming into our houses and arresting us for saying the Rosary – we don't have that. But gradually, all of our religious rights are being taken away. Things that we support as part of the moral teaching of Christ are being suppressed, and things are being forced upon us." 

"They'll say, 'Oh, you can worship any way you want, but don't bring it into the public square. Leave it in church on Sunday, and don't bring it to work on Monday. Don't bring it into society.'"

"That, to me, is a sign of communism." 

Read the entire article. And here is an excerpt from Fr. Apostoli's book, Fatima For Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope: