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Fr Fox on EWTN Nov. 30. 2008
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Please pray for the happy repose of the soul of Father Robert Joseph Fox, retired priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls and founder of the Fatima Family Apostolate, who died in Hanceville, Alabama at the age of 81 on Thanksgving Day after a courageous battle with cancer:
O God, Thou didst raise Thy servant, Robert, to the sacred priesthood of Jesus Christ, according to the Order of Melchisedech, giving him the sublime power to offer the Eternal Sacrifice, to bring the Body and Blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ down upon the altar, and to absolve the sins of men in Thine own Holy Name. We beseech Thee to reward his faithfulness and to forget his faults, admitting him speedily into Thy Holy Presence, there to enjoy forever the recompense of his labors. This we ask through Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
The Reverend Robert J. Fox (December 24, 1927 – November 26, 2009) was a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD and a prolific author. Father Fox ministered in a number of rural parishes in South Dakota, including the parishes of Millbank, Hoven, Bristol, Waubay, Redfield, and Alexandria. He was the Founder and Director of the national Fatima Family Apostolate and Youth for Fatima Pilgrimages as well as the editor of the Immaculate Heart Messenger.
He was born in Watertown, South Dakota in 1927. His father, Aloysius Fox, was a farmer. Fox was raised in a religious family and developed a vocation at an early age. After graduating from Watertown High School, Fox studied at St John’s University, a Benedictine liberal arts college in rural Minnesota, between 1947 and 1950. Fox graduated from the St Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1955.
After priestly ordination, Fox served as a parochial vicar in several parishes where some of his superiors suggested that he start working as a writer. He started sending in letters and articles to Catholic publications and they were published. He eventually became a weekly columnist for the National Catholic Register.
Fox became the pastor of St Anthony’s parish in Bristol, South Dakota in 1962. He was the pastor in a number of parishes in South Dakota between 1961 and 1971. He became the pastor at St Bernard’s Church in Redfield, South Dakota in 1971.
In 1971, Cardinal John Wright, the Prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy asked him to write six books as part of the General Catechetical Directory. Fox did so and started a prolific career with well over 50 books to his credit. In 2005, he published an autobiography entitled: A Priest is a Priest Forever.
In thanksgiving for his work for the General Catechetical Directory, Fox built his first shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in Redfield in 1972. He took his first pilgrimage group to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal in 1974 and continued to do so for almost 30 years.
Fr. Fox gave talks at many conferences across the globe, appeared often on television, and produced a quarterly magazine, The Immaculate Heart Messenger. He was also a frequent visitor to Russia for the purpose of evangelization, bringing message of Fatima to many Christians in that country.
Among Fr. Fox’s numerous television and radio appearances are several Mother Angelica Live Shows; an appearance on Johnette Benkovic’s The Abundant Life; EWTN Doug Keck’s Bookmark; Daily Mass; WEWN shortwave radio and Sirius Satellite Radio and Relevant Radio.
Prayer had always been first and foremost in his life and often he faithfully fulfilled the 81-day novena which is composed of nine nine-day novenas, in which one prays the Rosary Novena three times (27 days) in request, three times (another 27 days) in adoration, and three more times (final 27 days) in thanksgiving. It was a novena from ancient Catholic traditions he learned while a teenager.
Fr. Fox was responsible for having built four shrines to the Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Fatima since 1972: the second at Immaculate Conception Church in Waubay, SD, the third at St. Mary of Mercy Church in Alexandria, SD, and the fourth at the new headquarters of the Fatima Family Apostolate in Hanceville, Alabama.
He began the Fatima Family Apostolate in 1986 and has been the director of the apostolate since then, as well as the editor of its newsletter. In 1987, he began the first National Marian Congress in Alexandria, South Dakota. In June of each year the conference would attract an average attendance of 8,000. The last Marian Congress in Alexandria was held the weekend of June 13, 2003. Fr. Fox celebrated his Golden Anniversary of Priesthood (50 years) in 2005.
After his retirement, Fr. Fox moved to Hanceville, Alabama, where he celebrated daily Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, which is part of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. He took with him the Fatima Family Apostolate he founded in Alexandria, SD, firmly reestablishing it in Hanceville, Alabama, only 8 miles from the now famous Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Father Fox died in the early afternoon of Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009.
