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In the News: January 19, 2016

By Michael Duricy



Read recent items about Mary in both Catholic and secular news. Also see International Marian Research Institute news and updates.

ML/IMRI Features

Marian Events

Mary in the Catholic Press

Mary in the Secular Press

Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute Features

Updates

Marianist Educational Associate information sessions
The Office for Mission and Rector welcome all who are interested in becoming a Marianist Educational Associate or in learning more about the Marianist Educational Associates to attend an information session 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27, or 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, in KU 207. The initial formation program for those becoming an MEA next year will be held on the UD campus May 23 - 27. To read more about the MEA initiative or to download an application, visit https://udayton.edu/rector/formation-opportunities/index.php

Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.

Louis C. Tiffany Virgin Mary Ornaments--half price holiday sale from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store in New York! Click here for information or to order.

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From the Marian Treasure Chest

Brother John M. Samaha, S.M., sent us the article below along with the following comments: "Chaminade Day is coming soon. The Society of Mary (Marianists) and the entire Marianist Family are praying for and awaiting the canonization of their Founder, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade."

The Chaminade Legacy: Herald of Mary, Champion of the Laity by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

Biographical highlights

Born in Perigueux, France, near Bordeaux on April 8, 1761, William was the 14th of the 15 children of Blaise Chaminade, a cloth merchant, and Catherine Bethon. At confirmation he chose the name of Joseph, and thereafter signed his name W. Joseph Chaminade, so ardent was his admiration for the spouse of Mary and guardian of Jesus. In 1771 he entered the minor seminary program at the College of Mussidan. After ordination in 1785 he and two older brothers who were priests assumed the administration and taught at the College of Mussidan. 

With the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 his peaceful life turned into the stuff from which adventure stories are developed. Refusing to swear allegiance to the Civil Constitution, which rejected papal authority and aimed to establish a national church, Chaminade was driven into hiding to avoid exile or the guillotine. Fleeing to the larger city of Bordeaux with a price on his head, he disguised himself as a peddler to continue ministering to the underground Church. Numerous hair-raising experiences and narrow escapes from capture caused him to muse that several times only the thickness of a board shielded him from the guillotine.

As the revolution waned, Chaminade emerged from hiding only to be forced into exile at Zaragoza, Spain, in 1797 for three years. There he worked to support himself and spent many hours in prayer at the great shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar, where he was inspired with a vision for the re-evangelization of France. A special message from Mary helped him conceive of a family of religious and laity that would participate with Mary in her apostolic mission to bring Jesus to others.

While in exile, Chaminade's prayer and discussions about restoring the faith in his homeland convinced him to emphasize the concept of mission: his future collaborators would be a religious family in permanent mission employing new forms of apostolate to multiply Christians.

Apostolic vision

When Blessed William Joseph returned to Bordeaux in 1800 he opened an oratory and immediately attracted interested faithful, especially youth, to worship services and faith formation discussion. Within a year he formed a group of clerics and laity which became the nucleus for his famous and influential apostolic sodality consecrated to Mary Immaculate. From this grew the Daughters of Mary Immaculate founded in 1816, followed by the Society of Mary in 1817. The Marianist Family was born and the Marianist Movement launched.

Chaminade was reading the signs of the times and responding with imagination to adapt the Gospel to new needs. New circumstances required new approaches. He was heralding the age of Mary and ushering in the age of the laity. This apostolic genius said simply that he was looking for a new fulcrum for the lever that moves the modern world.

As the work of the Marianists developed in the establishment and management of Christian schools and teacher training colleges, and the formation of lay-managed faith communities, the Society of Mary reached out to North America. In 1849 the first Marianists came to Ohio in the USA and laid the foundations for the present University of Dayton the following year.

After a long, arduous, and faithful life that touched many persons and works, Father William Joseph Chaminade was taken to his everlasting home with God on January 22, 1850.     

Cause for canonization

The Marianist founder was proclaimed worthy of public veneration in recognition of the holiness of his life when Pope John Paul II beatified him on September 3, 2000. That action culminated a process of investigation begun in 1909. Pope Paul VI in 1973 declared him "venerable." The miracle required for beatification was the cure of Elena Otero of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1991. This miracle granted through the intercession of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade was approved in 1998. Elena Otero was present at her intercessor's beatification in Rome. Currently a second miraculous cure of a young woman in St. Louis, Missouri, is being studied.

Spiritual legacy

His legacy is a rich, apostolic Marian spirituality of living and working in union with Jesus and Mary. Recognized as the 19th century apostle of Mary, he is acknowledged as the most noteworthy Mariologist of the first half of the 19th century. He had the facility of relating doctrine to ministry and mission, and emphasized the relevance of Mary's role in the life of Christians. As Jesus chose Mary to cooperate with him in the salvation of the human race, Mary asks each Christian to participate in her apostolic mission to bring the grace of redemption to each person. His was an applied, pastoral theology inviting us to live fully our baptismal commitment. 

A favorite Gospel dictum was Mary's directive to the waiters at the marriage feast of Cana, "Do whatever he tells you." (Jn 2:5), because Blessed William Joseph Chaminade firmly believed that we are all missionaries of Mary. He directed his followers to do everything under Mary's guidance, to radiate Christ.

The Marianist Family invites you to join them in honoring their founder, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, and to share in his spiritual vision.

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Marian Events

Schoenstatt is a Catholic lay movement that strives to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the example and guidance of Mary. Schoenstatt was founded on October 18, 1914 by Father Joseph Kentenich in the Schoenstatt valley of the Rhine region in west-central Germany.

Schoenstatt is deeply and devotedly Marian and has repeatedly experienced how love of Mary opens new avenues to a vibrant relationship with Christ, to the Holy Spirit, to God the Father, and to a renewal of love of neighbor and self. Classes will be starting this Friday, January 22, 2016 at 9:15 a.m. in the Borromeo Room at Saint Charles Catholic church in Kettering, Ohio. The street address is 4500 Ackerman Boulevard.

If you would like to know more about Schoenstatt, please contact Father Steve Mondiek. The phone number for the church office is 937-434-6081.

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Mary in the Catholic Press

Pope Calls Priest to 'Ask Him the Favor' of Preaching Spiritual Exercises to Curia from Zenit (Vatican City) January 12, 2016

Father Ermes Maria Ronchi, priest and theologian of the Order of the Servants of Mary, will preach the Spiritual Exercises of Pope Francis and of the Curia, which will be held in Ariccia from Sunday, March 6, after the Angelus, to Saturday, March 12, said Father Ronchi, himself, to Il Messaggero Veneto.

The priest explained that the Pontiff called to ask him the "favor": "The Pope's call came to me as a surprise. My first reaction was one of astonishment, of emotion. When he said that he had to ask me for a favor, I didn’t hesitate to answer 'but of course, tell me, whatever you need ...' Then when he said that he wanted to invite me to organize some meetings of reflection, I tried to evade the question and answered that I wasn't sure I was the appropriate person, who would be up to the task he was suggesting." ...

Click here to read the complete article.

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Mary in the Secular Press

The director and editors of All About Mary 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.

Marian Apparition in Wisconsin (Catholic Stand) December 15, 2015

... Adele Brise was born in Belgium in 1831. She and her farm family moved to the Bay Settlement area near Green Bay, Wisconsin sometime in the early 1850's. The U.S. Bishops had already declared Mary to be the patroness of the US in 1846. In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which states that Mary was conceived without original sin. Just four years later, in 1858, at Lourdes, France, Mary appeared to St. Bernadette and declared that she was The Immaculate Conception. A year later, in 1859, the twenty eight year old Adele was surprised to see Mary appear to her in the wooded area of her farm in Wisconsin. As usual, her appearance had a very definitive purpose. Mary asked her to pray for poor sinners, to teach the young children how to make the sign of the cross, and to teach them about the catechism and the sacraments. Her exact statement is as follows:

“I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning and that is well. But you must do more. Make a general confession and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners … Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation … Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing, I will help you.” ...

Click here to read the complete article.

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Weekly Features: January 18, 2016

A wide-variety of topics from the ecclesiastical history of Mariology to the a story of the "Bombed Mary" in Japan.
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Weekly Features: January 18, 2016

A wide-variety of topics from the ecclesiastical history of Mariology to the a story of the "Bombed Mary" in Japan.
Read More