excerpt from my book: The Secrets of La Salette and the End Times:

3. “A protestant nation from the north will convert to the faith and, by means of this nation, the other nations will return to the faith.”

Here the Virgin Mary is clearly predicting the unification of all Christians in one holy Catholic Church. One Christian denomination returns first, and then the others follow. But this particular Protestant denomination is closely associated with a nation, a nation in the north. The only Protestant Church that fits this description is the Anglican Church, also called the Church of England. Anglicanism is the official State religion of England (although citizens are free to worship as they choose). The other Protestant Churches are not so closely associated with any nation. Therefore, the Anglican Church returns to unity with the Catholic Church first. Then, by means of their return, the other Protestant denominations follow, one Church after another, one nation after another.

It is remarkable, even astounding, that we are already seeing the beginning of this prophecy unfold. The Catholic Church has approved of Anglican Ordinariates, which are a type of diocese for Anglicans who have converted to become fully Catholic. But they organize themselves in what is like a diocese, but not strictly tied to a geographic location. An Anglican Ordinariate would generally overlap at least a few different dioceses, but as if the Ordinariate were a separate diocese. These Ordinariates have a different form for the Mass. They permit the use of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. The Mass is similar to the Anglican worship services, but the celebrant is a validly-ordained Catholic priest (perhaps a convert from Anglicanism) and the Mass is entirely licit.

Many Anglicans have left the Church of England in recent years to become Catholic. But this outpouring of conversions is merely the trickle that presages the breaking of the dam. Soon a great flood of converts from Anglicanism will join the Church. The Blessed Virgin Mary has foretold this truth in her secret to Maximin at La Salette. Although at the time, in the 1800’s, the meaning was open to interpretation, in the present circumstances, the possible interpretations are quickly narrowing. And once the Anglicans unite with the Catholic Church, the first part of this prophecy will be certain and fulfilled.

Once the other Protestant Churches see the example of the Anglican Church joining the Catholic Church, they will imitate that good example. It will be reassuring to them, when they see that these Anglican-Catholics retain their own churches and leaders, and are allowed to be organized as a ‘sui juris’ Church (a Church of its own jurisdiction). The Anglican Catholics will have a form of the Mass that continues the Anglican tradition. They will not be forced to all worship in the same exact form of the Mass, with the same exact words. (This accommodation will anger some of the more conservative Catholics, who want the form of the Mass to be the same everywhere, with immutable specifics.)

More in the book: in print or in Kindle format

by
Ronald L. Conte Jr.
Roman Catholic theologian and
translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible.