Zeitoun is an event where Mary allowed herself to be both PHOTOGRAPHED and TELEVISED.

Abdul Gamel Nasser a known MARXIST claimed to have seen her.
Sadly this event did not reach much of the culturally orientated Marian following, in Australia, except via a Newspaper article of one page in an Australian newspaper. The Australian church also has not really acknowledged Akita (worthy of belief- the then Cardinal Ratzinger), and it has not really undertaken a significant move towards the 8th December, and the cultus of the Rosa Mystica – there have been several weeping statues- about seventy- and in 1985, an announcement was made to the belief in its cultus by the Pope, to Fr Laux the coordinator of the Rosa Mystica movement. Again much of this does not get to Catholic homes via the usual channels (school, parish), and children miss out along with the other faithful. So much is left out of the equation…
Meanwhile, the Secular Humanists (Richard Dawkins is a self confessed atheist) get the limelight, and gather up followers.
Church is there for a purpose, and Mary is deeply integrated part of that plan.
Holiness is all part of Mary, and sanctification of souls.

The church has a duty to assist that sanctification, and encourage others to follow- this is a common theme throughout all the apparitions of Mary. When instead of the Catholic press, the Secular Press does a better job, questions arise about church, and justifiably.
Various “laymen”, Wayne Weible for instance take a stand and promote as far as the can the cultus.
It is worth noting too that the very night the Bolsheviks rose as one, Irish Layman, convened the first Legion of Mary meeting.
Both events spread world wide.
But the Legion has continued long after the Soviets lost their effectiveness.
The New Zealand flag is a prime example of promotion of sanctification. In it and all Commonwealth flags with the union Jack show three saints. How many know these saints? Are children in schools asked to discuss each of the three? If a parishioner were asked, how many would remember?
TV, radio, video, the social media continue to intrude. Shame evaporates, and instead shamelessness thrives. Are parents concerned about values and the loss of these?
The words of an eminent professor of Law Notre Dame Law school, U.S., reflect the concern of many Catholics.
-Professor Charles E. Rice: “It is a mistake to regard the assault on life and the family as an isolated phenomenon. Rather, that assault arises from the imperatives of an anti-God religion. This religion is Secular Humanism, which shares a common materialism with Marxism. According to this secular religion, one cannot affirm that man is immortal or that he has any significance greater than a chimpanzee. Secular Humanism is now the official religion of this nation”.(1977)
It should be that Jesuits lead the way, with hope. When a Jesuit says that Gay marriage is inevitable it is not about hope. It is taking away hope. That has nothing to do with Holy Orders, which are about hope.
Mary is about hope. She brings a hope for a life eternal. It should be that the rosary is said more in community, and that a cultus of Mary more evidenced.
The alternative is the US styled hedonism.
” A Madalyn Murray O’Hair would have been powerless to remove prayer and bible study from the government schools if the Supreme court of the United States had not drunk deeply at the humanist foundation. A creche would still be part of the national and official observance of Christmas if the federal judiciary had not believed the humanist perversion of history which holds that America was founded not as a Christian state, but as a secular state.”
Madalyn O’Hair was touted by Time magazine as the most hated woman in America and eventually came to a sad end. But the move toward abortion that began in 1966 with a motion for elective abortion at the Asilomar Conference in California is now so bad that in Australia in 50 years given the current figures on birth rates, will be a Muslim country.

While the church dithers, the opposition gains ground.

Mary brings hope. She brings mercy. She brings hope in her Divine Son.

It is worth noting also, that prior to the pilgrimages to Medjugorje (predicted a whole year in advance by a Sufi mystic !!), Fr Browne OFM said he had heard in a prayer group “a word”, which was “I will send a woman”. Most regard this style as prophecy. It also shows the link between Mary devotion and Catholic charismatic renewal.

The latter in South America was alive and well, with glossolalia superabundant (singing in tongues), hands extended from all over the stadium towards Pope Francis, kneeling beside a chair he was about to sit upon.

This is hope, and this is mercy.

Those who perform acts that make the job of priesthood easier become closer to Mary than they can possibly appreciate, because they then proximate as closer to the brothers of her son, the priesthood.
And Mary blesses her own in new and beautiful ways….her patronage is so evidenced, through her attachments to ordinary people, many who see her, in an apparition, and many who are just “helped”.
New Zealand should claim Mary, reaffirm her patronage, and abandon themselves to her intercession.
They have nothing to lose, and much to preserve for future generations.