Full Circle from "The Plain Truth"

J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*

When I was growing up in suburban New Jersey in the late 60's to the mid-70's I was apt to peruse the Reader's Digest and Prevention Magazine in the stack of waterlogged monthlies that rested on the bathroom floor.  Dad read The Digest, Mom read Prevention and we all used to share this throne room.

Oddly, a third somewhat out of place periodical gained entrance to this, our world of deep thought. It came one day and stayed for at least three years. It was definitely not for Dad, and I could not envision Mom thumbing through it. Who was it for? How did it get there in the first place, who besides me read it?

It was filled with colorful illustrations. It dabbled in history and geography. It was visionary in its conclusions.

Its name?

THE PLAIN TRUTH

How could a Roman Catholic household welcome such a Trojan Horse inside its walls?

What did it do to my faith?

How many other Catholic families were infiltrated?

How anti-Catholic was it?

Did my uncle, a priest and my aunt, a religious sister know about this?

Well, let us see..

It all started with this masthead...

A magazine of understanding, very understated, almost folksy.  Who would have known that its roots are grounded in rural Iowa.

I would not have seen this image, for it was from the 1940's.

What I did see and digest were issues like the following:

 

And here is a modern 21st Century
take from Herbert Armstrong's successor

Sincerely yours in Jesus through Mary,
Mike Rizzio

Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God

Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!

* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas;
St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael