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In the News: Posted April 14, 2015

By Michael Duricy


ML/IMRI Features

Marian Events

Mary in the Catholic Press

Mary in the Secular Press

Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute Features

Reader Comments

We have received a number of emails from readers commending our institute and its website, The Mary Page. Thank you all for your encouragement and support. The following is a typical example.

"Can you help me find works of literature about Mary?" – Frank

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Updates

Dr. Virginia Kimball sent us information about some of her recent activities. Her article, "Ministry of Women on the Church" appeared in the Spring 2015 issue of Praxis, published by Greek Orthodox Education Department. She will also have an article published in the Summer 2015 issue of LOGOS: Journal of Eastern Studies.

Dr. Kimball is currently President of the U.S. chapter of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary (ESBVM USA). She invites our readers to their August 2015 meeting at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania. Dr. Robert Fastiggi, current President of the Mariological Society of America will be the keynote speaker. Click here for details.

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Mary in Books, Films, and Music

TV Series Airing Easter Day Faithfully Tells Story of Church's Beginnings

Easter Day saw the broadcast of a new twelve-part series on the American network, NBC, called A.D. The Bible Continues. For Catholics, the title could just as well be, A.D.- The Church is Founded. Based in the New Testament book, The Acts of the Apostles, the new television series is the brainchild of Catholic actress and producer, Roma Downey, and her husband, Mark Burnett.

"This production is for all Christians," she explained, "but we have worked with a Catholic publisher, Sophia Institute Press, to produce excellent Catholic study guides.”

We discussed how the series presents Mary, the mother of the Lord. Protestant film portrayals often neglect the important role of the Blessed Virgin. Downey assured me that Mary is portrayed at the foot of the cross as the Mother of Sorrows and is present at the center of the apostolic Church at the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Catholic doctrines are not explicit in the film, but they are portrayed accurately and visually as the kernel of the later doctrinal development.

Click here to see an informative article from Zenit, here to see a two-minute video clip with a character profile of Mary [played by Great Scacchi], and here to view episode two (43 minutes).


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From the Marian Treasure Chest
The Three O'Clock Prayer by Father Jean-Baptiste Armbruster, S.M.

                   Lord Jesus,

                   we gather in spirit at the foot of the cross

                   with your mother and the disciple whom you loved.

                   We ask your pardon for our sins

                   which are the cause of your death..

                   We thank you for remembering us

                   in that hour of salvation

                   and for having given us Mary as our mother.

                   Holy Virgin, take us under your protection

                   and open us to the action of the Holy Spirit.

                   Saint John, obtain for us

                   the grace of taking Mary into our lives as you did,

                   and of assisting her in her mission.  Amen.

                   May the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

                   be glorified in all places

                   through the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

          Father Jean-Baptiste Armbruster, S.M., offered these comments to help us appreciate more this revered  prayer recited daily by Marianists, their  students, and their associates.

  • "your mother and the disciple" indicate greater fidelity to the text of John's Gospel, 19:25-27, where these persons are presented in their relationship with Jesus on the cross. 
  • "this hour of salvation" is an expression of the Founder of the Marianist Family, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, and highlights the importance of the "hour" in the Gospel of John which refers to the hour of Jesus, but also, according to recent studies, the hour of the Woman.
  • "giving us Mary as our mother" is the older formula and uses inclusive language.
  • "your protection" is a Chaminadean notion which relates to the maternal mission of Mary on our behalf; the protection of Mary is the source of our confidence in her, of our courage in her service.
  • "open us to the action of the Holy Spirit" indicates another aspect of Mary's mission, which is to form us into the resemblance of her Son by rendering us open , as she was, to the divine action of the Pentecost Spirit.
  • "taking Mary into our lives" as John accepted her into his own house, into his life of faith, into his life of disciple of Jesus.  Mary is given by our Savior, "behold your mother;"  like John we receive her as a gift from God, our gift from God.
  • "assisting her" recalls our "alliance with Mary."  Chaminade taught, "We have committed ourselves to Mary...to love her, to respect her,  to obey her, to assist her.  Above all, we have committed ourselves to this last effect of filial love: assistance, benevolent action."
  • "May the Father..." is the Chaminadean doxology that has been the conclusion of all the successive formulas of the Three O'clock Prayer.  May it continue to be such, for everything is for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.

In our daily living may this spiritual rendezvous on Calvary be a time when all Marianists, religious and lay, are invited to renew with fervor their devotedness to Mary and to draw from it by a loving glance at our Redeemer Christ additional generosity to render better service to the Church, Maria duce. Ad majorem Dei gloriam Virginisque Deiparae

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Marian Events

Three IMRI students will give 20-minute presentations as part of the Stander Symposium at the University of Dayton (UD) on Wednesday, April 15, 2015. The presentations are: The Virgin Mary: 'the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valleys' by Maria Garcia; An Operatic Depiction of Mary's Spiritual Maternity: Boito's Prologue by Richard Lenar; and Mary, Teacher and Evangelizer of the Sciences? by James Koelsch. For more information on UD's Stander Symposium click into https://www.udayton.edu/provost/stander/index.php

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Mary in the Catholic Press

In the Central African Republic, a Narrow Escape From Death, Hope for Peace from Zenit (Rome) April 9, 2015

He was almost lynched by an angry mob. Italian missionary Aurelio Gazzera said the rosary as rocks pelted his car and furious people were pointing weapons at him. His offense? Support for the withdrawal of Islamist Seleka insurgents--most of them foreign fighters--from the Central African Republic. But then something extraordinary happened:

Two Muslims stepped in front of him and saved his life. One of them was an insurgent with a reputation for brutality, and who had himself once threatened to kill Father Gazzera.

The 52-year-old Italian Carmelite cited the Gospel: "Do good to those who hate you!" Immediately after his narrow escape, he began to head out several times a day with a few volunteers from his parish to visit Muslims who had barricaded themselves in to protect themselves from angry Christian mobs out for revenge.

He provided them with drinking water, rice and medicine paid for out of his own pocket. His main objective, he told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, was to give them comfort. He said: "These were the same people who had threatened me and broken the windows of my car with rocks. Now they were like frightened children--women and men who were in need...."

Click here to see the complete article from Zenit.

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Mary in the Secular Press

The director and editors of The Mary Page under the auspices of the International Marian Research Institute do not necessarily endorse or agree with the events and ideas expressed in this feature. Our sole purpose is to report on items about Mary gleaned from a myriad of papers representing the secular press.

At the Blue Cross (Mary TV) April 2, 2015

Dear Apostles of Mary our Mother, Queen of Peace:

Hallelujah! Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!

Blessed Easter to all Our Lady's Apostles

Boy, did you sound the alarm! Mary's army was roused! Because of your intercession, the Live transmission of the April 2, 2015 gathering at the Blue Cross was a total success!

Priests throughout the US (including the Johann Roten, S.M., of the international Marian Library at the University of Dayton) said Mass for the protection of Mary TV's LIVE streaming of Mirjana's April 2, 2015 apparition. The right hand to the President of an Episcopal Conference in Europe also emailed me saying he would be saying a Mass for Mary TV, as did priests in Australia, Uganda, Ireland, etc. A Divine Mercy Cenacle in New York spent the whole night before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament praying for Mary TV's Live streaming following the parish's Tenebrae service on April 1....

Click here to read the entire article.

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