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Prayer for the Triumph of the Catholic Faith
Almighty and eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we kneel before Your Majesty, and thank You from the depth of our soul for the inestimable gift of the Catholic Faith, which you have deigned to reveal to us through Jesus Christ, True God and True man. We received this divine light in holy baptism and have promised You to keep this faith inviolate until death.
Increase in us the gift of the Catholic Faith. By Your grace, may it be strengthened and made unshakeable. Daily increase in us the understanding of the beauty and profoundness of the Catholic Faith, that we might live in the deep joy of Your divine truth and be ready to sacrifice all things rather than compromise on or betray this faith. Grant us the grace to be resolved to undergo a thousand deaths for even one article of the Creed.
Graciously receive from us sinners an act of humble reparation for all the sins committed against the Catholic Faith by the laity and clergy, especially by high-ranking clergy who, contrary to the solemn promise they made at their Ordination to be teachers and defenders of the integrity of the Catholic Faith, have become champions of heresy, poisoning the flock entrusted to them and gravely offending the Divine Majesty of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Truth.
Grant us the grace to see all the events of our life, and the immense trials our Holy Mother Church is now undergoing, in the supernatural light of faith. May we believe that You will cause to arise from today’s vast spiritual desert a renewed flourishing of faith that will adorn the garden of the Church with new works of faith and give rise to a new age of faith.
We firmly believe that the Catholic Faith is the one true faith and religion, which you invite every person freely to embrace. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the destroyer of all heresies, and the great Martyrs and Confessors of the faith, may the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith triumph again in the Church and the world, so that no soul may be lost but rather come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of mankind, and through a right faith and righteous life attain eternal beatitude in You, O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To You be given all honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana
Bishop Athanasius (Anton) Schneider is the author of two books: Dominus Est – It is the Lord!, and Propter Sanctam Ecclesiam Suam (not yet available in English.)
He was born of German parents on 7 April 1961 in Tokmok, Kirghiz SSR in the Soviet Union, where his family received the pastoral care of Fr. Oleksa Zaryckyj, later to become a beatified martyr for the faith. Bishop Schneider himself received his first holy communion in secret, since the practice of the faith was outlawed under the communist regime. In 1973, he left with his family for Germany.
He later joined the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra, a Catholic religious order, where he was given the religious name Athanasius. He was ordained a priest on 25 March 1990. In 1997, he received a doctorate in patrology at the Augustinianum in Rome; and in 1999, he became a professor of Patristics at Mary, Mother of the Church Seminary in Karaganda.
In June 2006, he was consecrated Bishop at the Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter in the Vatican. He was then assigned to the position of auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Astana. He is the General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Kazakhstan and Titular Bishop of Celerina, Switzerland.