Dear friends,

We at Countdown to the Kingdom are continuing to discern seers.

I, Christine Watkins, have personally found Fr. Michel Rodrigue to be a man of deep prayer and profound love, having met and worked with him. God seems to have chosen him from a very young age (the age of three, to be exact, when God the Father told him he would be a priest) to be an apostle for these end times in which we are living. What is coming is not the end of the world, but the end of an era.

Jesus made a promise to us that if we are truly following him and doing His will, we can expect persecution. If God were not with Fr. Michel, if he were not seeking to help the world in spiritual and concrete ways in our tumultuous times, the devil would leave him and his messages alone. But Satan has too much at stake. He has souls to lose, so he continues his dismal fight. When we remember the great saints, we see that all of them were persecuted. Not one was spared. St. Padre Pio was silenced by the Church for a decade, as one such example. Jesus tells us:

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)

How does Fr. Michel respond to his persecutors?

But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you . . . (Matthew 5:44)

That being said, we need to have proper respect for bishops and our pope, and the authority that God has given to them. So we at Countdown to the Kingdom respect this authority, as does Fr. Michel Rodrigue.

I will seek to answer some recent questions that have arisen:

Why haven’t we heard from Fr. Michel Rodrigue recently?

Because in Canada, Covid-19 restrictions have stopped his travels, and because Fr. Michel said that the Father told him not to use email or his phone or technology, starting in August. He doesn’t not know why God asked this of him. He is simply being obedient to His Father in heaven, as He always tries to do. Fr. Michel is being led into deep prayer and intercession for the world at this time. He can still be reached by mail. However, due to the volume of correspondence he receives, he is unable to respond to everyone; but be assured of his love and his prayers.

Fr. Michel is still an Abbot of the monastery God the Father told him to found in Quebec: The Apostolic Fraternity of St. Benedict Joseph Labre. For many years, he has cast out the devil from suffering souls and performed numerous healings—one of the reasons he is so frequently sought out today.

Have others corroborated and witnessed the miracles that surround Fr. Michel?

Yes. My favorite story was told to me in person by Brother Louis-René, a member of Fr. Michel’s fraternity. Fr. Michel was walking down the street on day in his clerics. A man approached him, asking for prayer, and showed Fr. Michel his dead, blackened arm. “I am going to the hospital to have my full arm amputated right now. Will you pray for me?” Fr. Michel said “yes” and asked if the man would accept God’s will, no matter the outcome. And with his characteristic sweetness and humor added that God has many limbs in heaven. The man left and walked 5-10 minutes to the hospital. By the time he arrived, his arm was completely renewed with brand new skin. Sometime later, the man found Fr. Michel and thanked him in tears, showing off his new arm.

I, myself, owe my 16-year-old son’s conversion to Fr. Michel. Not only has my son fallen in love with God, but because of Fr. Michel’s witness and prayers, he desires to be a priest.

Is Fr. Michel Rodrigue still building the monastery?

Yes, and Fr. Michel is eternally grateful to all of those who have helped him in this endeavor that God has asked of him for the future of the Church. It will be a blessing for so many in the times to come. God the Father allegedly assured Fr. Michel that He, Himself, would protect the monastery. This gave Fr. Michel great peace, amidst the devil’s attacks. You will notice that the criticisms written about him on the Internet at this time are from people who have never met him, have never expressed their concerns to him, have never asked for his side of the story. I ask you, “Is this fair journalism? Is this even Christian?” Much could be cleared up and answered if this charitable approach had been taken. Fr. Michel, on the other hand, seeks to slander no one.

What about this article about him from Rome about his refuge?

There is an article that purports to be “From Rome,” which is not from the Catholic Church in Rome, but from someone in Rome who has an anti-papalist website. The article speaks of Fr. Michel’s purported refuge in California. This is not true. Fr. Michel does not have a refuge in California. He makes no money off of such a refuge. It is true that Fr. Michel wants people to be safe, especially spiritually safe, for the coming Tribulation. The article makes assumptions and then slanders, in my opinion.

If, as this article states, Fr. Rodrigue is spiritually supporting people who have built the refuge mentioned in this article, and if his timing was slightly off concerning when people would need to go there, and if someone who is less than holy was seen on the premises, I do not fault him for it. The place mentioned is clearly run by others, as Fr. Michel lives and is stationed in Canada. Many prophets have said events were imminent and they were delayed a year or two because of the intercession of the saints on earth and in heaven, and because of God’s mercy. One wonders how the followers of St. Paul felt about his pronouncement to everyone that the Lord would return in his lifetime. Have we as a Church discredited all of St. Paul’s words and his sincerity and holiness because he was over 2000 years off in his prediction? It is not fair to pounce mercilessly and uncharitably on Fr. Michel for having his timing slightly off concerning when the refuge would be needed. All of the refuges around the world will fulfill their purpose in time, likely very soon.

As Fr. Michel has mentioned in his talks, many Christians will be martyred for their faith. Refuges will be needed if Christians are to survive. The times are serious, and to fight against this prophecy, I feel, is to damage God’s plans and hurt the people of God. As Fr. Michel attests, the spiritual life of a person is what is most important, not the body. However, the Lord, in His goodness, is also acting in our time, as He did with Noah before the flood. To quote one of Fr. Michel’s talks, which can be found here (https://www.countdowntothekingdom.com/fr-michel-rodrigue-the-time-of-the-refuges/):

The Lord will cover you will his pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge. The Lord has prepared different refuges everywhere in the world now to welcome you, as in the days of Noah. Noah prepared an ark as a refuge for his family. He was the just one in the middle of people who laughed at him. If everyone who was called by the Father had already made a refuge, this would be wonderful. But many refused to do it. So we are in the days leading to the flood today for which He is preparing us.

One day, the Father showed me the Internet. I realized something very strongly. He said to me, “Michel, the devil thinks that he has a net, the Internet. He doesn’t know what a real net is.” And He laughed. He has a lot of humor, the Lord. He is a joyful one. Sometimes I can hear Him laughing. He said, “Look now and see the net of the Holy Spirit,” and He showed me every refuge in the world—a map with light revealing where all the refuges exist. It was amazing to see.

But the bishop says he doesn’t have faculties for exorcism . . . 

Fr. Michel has been sent the most difficult cases for exorcism for many years and been very careful not to work outside of his jurisdiction. In a talk he gives, which is on YouTube, he speaks of meeting a man who needed exorcism, but he was careful not to even perform the exorcism because it was outside of his jurisdiction and he wanted to follow church protocol.

I don’t know where the discrepancy is, but I trust Fr. Michel’s words. Perhaps he worked under another bishop. Fr. Michel is being attacked for doing the great good that others are afraid to approach. Many great saints have been treated as such, for the devil hates someone who is always casting him out and helping the Lord save souls.

Many of the unfounded criticisms on the Internet have already been addressed in other articles on this site. I invite you to refer to them, if your concern is not addressed in this article. Click here and scroll halfway down the page.

Recently two theologians, Dr. Mark Miravalle and Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi, have given their “negative assessment” of Fr. Michel Rodrigue. Does that mean he is condemned or a false prophet?

Not at all. These are two theologians whom I hold in good esteem and from whom have learned much, as have the other contributors to Countdown to the Kingdom. I am puzzled that they continue to attack Fr. Michel. With all the evil in the world, to focus on a fellow priest in their Church, who has done impeccable good in the world, who is orthodox, and who has a reputation for holiness and formidable fruits in the Spirit, strikes us as odd. Are there not true evils in the Church which would be better addressed? These two theologians do not have authority in the Church to make such a pronouncement of a priest and have simply posted their arguments up on the world wide web. They have not spoken with Fr. Michel, nor have they retracted the clear mistakes they’ve made. (See Professor Daniel O’Connor’s article by clicking here, which mentions, point by point, how Dr. Miravalle’s critique was notably flawed.) Only a committee formed by Fr. Michel’s bishop would have the authority to investigate Fr. Michel’s messages from God and then present their findings. Such an assessment and investigation has not happened. These two theologians are appropriating to themselves authority that they do not have, authority the Church has not granted them.

As with all authentic prophets, it is the passage of time that most vindicates them. Watch what happens in the world in the next few months and take note. (To note: Fr. Michel does not say, as some have insinuated, that the Warning will happen in October. He does not give a timeframe for it.) Fr. Michel is a priest who seeks to deceive no one, who has no personal interest in the words God gives him, who in fact was very reluctant to start a fraternity, given his overwhelming duties and poor health. He shares the messages he receives out of obedience to God the Father. His reward is persecution and hardship. There is nothing Fr. Michel personally has to gain from this, only the knowledge that He has done God’s will.

If you are still unsure of Fr. Michel’s credibility, I invite you to read the other defenses of him on this website (click here) and take a wait-and-see attitude. If what Fr. Michel Rodrigue has said begins to come true, the voices that shout loudly against him will be quickly silenced. Meanwhile, all of his detractors will receive his prayers and fraternal kindness.

—Christine Watkins, MTS, LCSW