A warm welcome in the Gaspe area

From May 31 to June 17, Mrs. Simone Gingras and I made a fantastic tour of apostolate in Gaspe along with three young ladies: Lucie Parenteau; 17 years of age, Full-time, Kateri Couture, 15 years of age, and Francine Breton, 19 years of age. They did the door to door in 14 parishes around Gaspe. The people of the area warmly welcomed our Pilgrims, and remembered the other "White Beret" apostles who had visited them in the past.

Many people of the Gaspe area come from families of 10, 13, 15, or even 20 children. They told our Pilgrims that in the past, the daily Rosary was recited in every home. We prayed a decade of the Rosary in 320 families, and in many other places, we recited one "Our Father", one "Hail Mary", and one "Glory Be". One day, in L'Anse-au-Griffon, Lucie Parenteau and Francine Breton recited 14 decades of the Rosary in 14 families.

In three days of door to door in Petit-Cap, we prayed in several families, and got excellent results: one day, Mrs. Simone Gingras and Kateri Couture took 27 subscriptions; myself (Yvette Poirier), I took one day 29 subscriptions. In this town, Lucie Parenteau and Kateri Couture were walking on the sidewalk, when seven teenagers saw our two Pilgrims wearing white berets. They asked our apostles: 'Come here', and the two Pilgrims had them sign the petition against taxes and gave them "Michael" leaflets such as "The Money Myth Exploded". All these young people knelt down on the porch to recite a decade of the Rosary with our two Pilgrims. Those driving by and the parishioners who saw them were very edified.

Seeing that our two Pilgrims were modestly dressed, wearing dresses, the boldest of the group asked us: "Why are you wearing dresses?" Lucie Parenteau answered, "In the Bible it is written:' A woman shall not be clothed with man's apparel, neither shall a man use woman's apparel: for he that does these things is abominable before God'. (Deuteronomy 22:5.)"

Some Gaspe families spoke to the visiting Pilgrims against television. A nudist festival that recently occurred in Montreal was shown on television. The people were indignant. "And another scourge, not the least," said one man, "is the Internet. Even here in our small town of 75 families, four families are separating because of the Internet. One left with someone from Mexico..." How many souls go to hell because of these diabolical devices!

The five Pilgrims gathered 3,421 points, 639 subscriptions, 1,884 signatures for the petition against taxes. They sowed thousands of Miraculous Medals. The people were edified to see young girls of 15, 17, and 19 years of age come to pray with them in their homes.

Another trip to Gaspe is being organized for the first two weeks of August. If we had many more young people, we could visit every door in Canada from Halifax to Vancouver every year!