The National Catholic Register portal (July 13, 2026) publishes a promotional piece by Joseph Pronechen previewing an EWTN “Hidden Gems” episode featuring the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. The article details the July 14 broadcast—coinciding with the feast of the false saint “St. Kateri Tekakwitha”—showcasing the shrine’s “Coliseum” church, dramatizations of the Jesuit martyrs, and the site’s transition from Jesuit administration to a lay-run nonprofit under “Bishop” Edward Scharfenberger. The piece functions as a travelogue for religious tourism, highlighting architecture, drone footage, and lay board members like Kathryn Jean Lopez and William Baaki. This article exposes the conciliar sect’s strategy of commodifying the blood of true pre-conciliar martyrs to legitimize a false saint canonized by an antipope and a shrine usurped by laymen under a false bishop, all broadcast on a paramasonic media network.
The Conciliar Propaganda Machine: EWTN and the National Catholic Register
The cited article originates from the National Catholic Register, a flagship publication of the EWTN media empire founded by the charismatic Mother Angelica. This network functions as the primary propaganda arm of the conciliar sect, ceaselessly promoting the “new pentecost” narrative. The article reads not as Catholic journalism but as a press release for a television product: “Watch on EWTN: Hidden Gems: National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs airs on Tuesday, July 14.” The host, Nell Andrzejewski, is described as guiding viewers through “dramatizations of the story by a company of actors.” This is religious entertainment substituting for the worship of God, a hallmark of the Church of the New Advent where the lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of praying is the law of believing) has been replaced by lex spectandi, lex credendi (the law of watching is the law of believing). Joseph Pronechen, the author, is identified as the writer of “Fruits of Fatima — Century of Signs and Wonders.” Given the definitive theological exposure of the Fatima apparitions as a Masonic psychological operation involving ritualistic dates (1717, 1917, 2017), mass optical manipulation, and a disinformation strategy to divert attention from the modernist apostasy within the Church (see Context: False Fatima Apparitions), Pronechen’s involvement marks this piece as fruit of a poisoned tree, promoting the very “ecumenism project” and “diversion from apostasy” condemned by sound theology.
Usurpation of the North American Martyrs: True Saints Enslaved to a False Narrative
The article rightly notes that Sts. Isaac Jogues, René Goupil, and Jean de Lalande were “the only canonized martyrs in the United States” canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930. These are true saints, martyrs of the true Faith, canonized by a true Pope before the great apostasy. However, the conciliar sect holds their relics hostage. The article describes the “Coliseum” church (built 1931, seating 6,500) not as a place of the Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary, but as a venue for “dramatizations,” “drone’s-eye views,” and “rustic” atmosphere. The shrine archivist Beth Lynch details “brutal forms of torture” for dramatic effect. This is spiritual pornography—exploiting the suffering of Christ’s witnesses for content consumption. The true martyrs died in odium fidei (out of hatred for the Faith); the conciliar sect uses their memory to bolster a counterfeit church that has abandoned that very Faith. As Pius XI taught in Quas Primas, “Christ reigns in the minds of men… because He Himself is Truth”; the sect uses the martyrs’ truth to adorn its own lie.
The Imposition of the False Saint “Kateri Tekakwitha”
The central theological crime of this shrine and this broadcast is the veneration of “St. Kateri Tekakwitha.” The article admits she “was not a martyr” but was born on the site in 1656. She was “canonized” in 2012 by the antipope Benedict XVI (Ratzinger). Cum ex Apostolatus Officio of Pope Paul IV teaches that a heretic cannot be validly elected Pope, and Bellarmine teaches a manifest heretic loses the papacy ipso facto. Since the line of antipopes begins with John XXIII, Benedict XVI lacked jurisdiction; his “canonizations” are null and void, devoid of infallibility. “St. Kateri” is therefore a pseudo-saint, a construct of the conciliar “ecumenism project” aimed at religious syncretism with indigenous paganism. The article notes her statue stands in the “Coliseum” and the four altars represent “the four saints associated with this land (the three martyrs and St. Kateri).” This places a false saint on equal liturgical footing with three true martyrs. It is the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place (Matt 24:15), using the martyrs’ glory to legitimize a counterfeit sanctity manufactured by the enemies of the Cross.
Laicization of the Sanctuary: The Usurpation of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction
The article casually reveals the canonical catastrophe: “In 2015, Bishop (now emeritus) Edward Scharfenberger of Albany, together with some laypeople formed a not-for-profit exclusively to own, operate and continue the shrine, the Jesuits signed it over to them.” This is the laicus non potest habere jurisdictionem (a layman cannot have jurisdiction) principle violated flagrantly. “Bishop” Scharfenberger, consecrated in 2014 under the invalid Paul VI rite of episcopal consecration, possesses no valid orders and no jurisdiction. He cannot transfer what he does not have. The Jesuits—already corrupted by the modernist virus long before 1968—abandoned the shrine due to “lacking vocations,” a divine chastisement on a false order. The shrine is now run by a lay board of directors including journalist Kathryn Jean Lopez and William Baaki. Lopez tells viewers “there’s just such holiness everywhere.” This is the democratization of the sacred, the Protestantization of the sanctuary where the munus regendi (office of governing) is usurped by a nonprofit corporation. “Msgr.” Roger Landry, identified as “national director of The Pontifical Mission Societies USA” and a board member, offers a homily in the Coliseum. A “Monsignor” of the conciliar sect, likely invalidly ordained under the Paul VI rite, presiding over a lay-run corporation: this is not the Church, it is a paramasonic NGO managing a museum.
Religious Tourism as Substitute for Pilgrimage
The EWTN series is explicitly framed as tourism: “Hidden Gems: Catholic Shrines in America.” The article highlights “beautiful scenery,” “drone’s-eye view,” “magnificent celebrations,” and “inspire viewers to make a visit.” This is religious consumerism. True pilgrimage is a penitential exercise for the remission of sins and growth in grace, undertaken sub conditione of the Church’s authority and the validity of the sacraments. Here, the “faithful pray in the Coliseum” (photo caption), but the Mass offered there—if the Novus Ordo—is a cena (supper), not the Sacrificium (Sacrifice). The architecture itself—the “Coliseum” with 72 doors for the 72 disciples, four altars facing four directions—is described in architectural terms, stripped of the theology of the Cross. The article notes the altars’ reredos are “built as wooden stockades to recall those of the Mohawk village.” This is archaeological nostalgia replacing liturgical theology. The martyrs died to plant the Cross; the sect builds a museum to the village that killed them.
The Fatima Connection: A Masonic Thread
Returning to the author, Joseph Pronechen, and his Fruits of Fatima: the provided theological context demonstrates conclusively that the Fatima operation is a Masonic psychological operation utilizing 200-year cycles (1717, 1917, 2017), the “Miracle of the Sun” as mass autosuggestion, and a three-stage disinformation strategy culminating in the ecumenical reinterpretation of the “Third Secret” and the canonization of the seers by the modernists. Pronechen’s promotion of Fatima aligns perfectly with the Auriesville event: both use supernatural spectacle to distract from the loss of the Faith. The North American Martyrs died converting souls to the one true Church; Fatima (as exposed) and the conciliar “Kateri” serve to build a one-world religion. The EWTN broadcast unites these threads: a TV special on a lay-run shrine honoring a false saint, promoted by a Fatima apologist, aired on a network founded on charismatic emotionalism.
Conclusion: The Abomination of Desolation in Auriesville
The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Martyrs stands as a microcosm of the conciliar apostasy. It possesses the relics of true saints (Pius XI’s canonizations) but has become a stage for the veneration of a false saint (“Kateri”), administered by a lay corporation under a false bishop, promoted by a Masonic-media complex (EWTN/NCR/Fatima). The true faithful, adhering to the integral Catholic faith and the sedevacantist necessity of rejecting the post-1958 antipopes, cannot participate in this charade. Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. The blood of Jogues, Goupil, and Lalande cries out not for “Hidden Gems” episodes, but for the restoration of the Catholic priesthood, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Social Kingship of Christ the King—Regnum Christi non praeteribit (The Kingdom of Christ shall not pass).
Source:
Watch on EWTN: Another Spiritual ‘Gem’ Reflects St. Kateri and the North American Martyrs (ncregister.com)
Date: 14.07.2026