On September 1, 2002 several hundred faithful assembled in Buffalo’s LaSalle Park on the Niagara River, for what was announced as a “Celebration of the Culture of Life and Civilization of Love,” to support the Arch of Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the International Shrine of the Holy Innocents.  Those gathered enjoyed a sunny Sunday afternoon, beautiful Christian music by two local groups, and compelling addresses by two speakers who stressed the role of sin in producing wars and devastations  but also offered hope for the future in words of comfort from the Mother of God herself, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

        Proposed for Buffalo’s Lake Erie waterfront in sight of the Canadian shore, the ascendable Arch of Triumph is planned as the world’s tallest monument, measuring 700 feet or 70 stories high, surpassing the Gateway Arch in St. Louis by 70 feet.  It will overarch a shrine for the Holy Innocents, intended to affirm perpetually, and in a manner that the world must notice, the sanctity of human life.  The project’s planners and advisors (who include an impressive array of national Catholic leaders such as Fr. Frank Pavone, Professor Mark Miravalle, Fr. Robert Fox, Joseph Scheidler, and many others) see King Herod’s attempt to murder the Christ Child by slaughtering the innocent babes of Bethlehem, as foreshadowing today’s worldwide abortion holocaust. 

        Guest speaker Daniel J. Lynch, a retired Vermont state court judge and Director of the Apostolate of the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, said that America has a choice between the Arch of Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which will be an “arch of mercy”, or else an “arch of justice” like the Arch of Titus in Rome.  That triumphal arch was erected to honor the emperor Titus’s destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., said by Lynch to represent God’s justice in action.  Lynch warned that if Americans do not repent, and eliminate especially the very serious sin of abortion from their country, they will feel the effect of God’s justice.  But if they will repent and eliminate this horror, then according to Lynch, God’s mercy will flood America, and the Arch of Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will symbolize God’s mercy and the victory of life over death.

        Judge Lynch also related our time to the 1531 appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to an Aztec Indian, recently canonized St. Juan Diego, resulting in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe being miraculously imprinted on the peasant cloak he wore.  Speaking beside a large replica of that image, Lynch maintained that the appearance of Our Lady produced millions of Indian conversions and thus put an end to the Aztec practice of human sacrifice, and what he called their culture of death.  Lynch asserted that God will accomplish the same result today, and again through Mary, by halting the practice of abortion through her intercession, and producing a new Culture of Life in America.  Lynch believes that when the United States rejects abortion, so also will other countries, following the U.S.’s moral leadership.

        Also speaking was the head of the non-profit lay association behind this proposed Catholic monument and shrine, Buffalo attorney Laurence Behr (also president and founder of Western New York Lawyers for Life), who sees the project as in keeping with revelations made by the Blessed Virgin to three shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917.  Mary announced that God was greatly offended that the people of the world were committing so many, very serious sins, that wars are always a result of sin, and that if people did not turn back to God, many evils and more wars would result.  She said that the Church and the Holy Father would have much to suffer and be persecuted, but, Mary prophesied, “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.”

        Important for understanding the motivation for the project, Behr believes, is Mary’s further revelation that “Our Lord wishes to establish in the world, devotion to my Immaculate Heart.”  He and his supporters see the Arch of Triumph as a means of broadcasting this message to the entire world, of greatly promoting this crucial devotion.

        Also present at this celebration were Amy Betros and Norm Paolini, co-founders of St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy in Buffalo, an apostolate to the inner-city poor.  The Mission’s singing group, the Voices of Mercy, was very well received with their combination of spirited and reverential music.   Amy Betros, who has been described by a writer for the Buffalo News as the “Mother Teresa” of Buffalo, affirmed her strong belief in the proposed Arch of Triumph and International Holy Innocents Shrine, and urged others to support it.  Additional music, directed perhaps more toward the many young people present, was provided by Bob Fera and his popular Christian Rock group.  The ceremonies concluded with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, reverently celebrated at a beautifully decorated altar by Father David Bialkowski, parochial vicar of St. John Gualbert’s Church in Buffalo.

For information on this year's event, go to http://www.archoftriumph.org or call toll free,
1-866-205-6512.

OTHER ARTICLES BY DAN LYNCH