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In the News: Feb. 11, 2017

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

"True Devotion to Mary" Study

All are invited to learn about Saint John Paul II's spirituality of Saint Louis de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary. The Discussion Group will meet on Saturdays at 10:30-11:30 a.m. from February 18 - March 25, 2017 at the Spirit Center of Saint Albert Church in Kettering, Ohio.  Father Brian Phelps of Incarnation Parish will speak on February 18. The book, Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary by Father Hugh Gillespie (New York: Montfort Publications, 2012) will be available for $8.50. Free coffee and tea hosted by the Legion of Mary. To get the book at the first session, call Gloria Dodd at 937-229-1431 by February 15.

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

Mirror of Hope

Marian Library volunteer docent, Ann Persensky, gives a tour of this magnificent sculpture. Click here to watch the 8-minute video on YouTube.

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From the Marian Treasure Chest

Brother John Samaha sent us the text below.

Chaminade's Mission: Multiply Christians by Father Joseph Stefanelli, S.M.

Remember Abraham, who waited patiently and labored perseveringly for the fulfillment of God's promise. And Jesus in the gospel tells of how David stepped outside the traditional structure of his society to adapt to new circumstances. Both these positions are certainly reflected in the life of Father Chaminade: a patient and persevering living out of his call to multiply Christians, and his ability to adapt and re-orient his life in response to the many changes of his world. Let us reflect briefly on his long life, characterized, as it was, by repeated reverses and renewed initiatives. Through it all, we find the same purpose, the same goal, the same intent: to multiply Christians under the leadership of Mary, who first presented Christ to our world.

We begin at Périgueux, where he is introduced to the Mother of Jesus by his own devout mother. At the age of ten he goes to Mussidan where he will be pupil, teacher, administrator, business manager, priest. The Chaminade family--Joseph, his two priest brothers, his sister, his parents--will all live there. They invest all their time and effort and funds into changing a small, isolated, country school into an enlarged, improved, and highly-respected institute attracting boarding students from other areas of France. They intend to make of it a center of Christian radiation, where even the pupils become little missionaries to their families and neighborhoods. This is his dream for the future. But, after twenty years, the Great Revolution destroys the dream; it also soon leaves the Chaminade family jobless, homeless and penniless.

They all move to Bordeaux, where he borrows money to purchase a property. There he becomes a trusted and enterprising member of the local clandestine Church, carrying out his priestly ministry and serving as business manager for the clergy, most of whom are also homeless and penniless. A future archbishop, tracing back the origins of the multiple works of his diocese, will find the name of Chaminade at the head of all of them. But then comes exile, to which he must adapt. While in Spain he makes plans to regenerate Christianity in France, for he knows that the present upheavals cannot last.

In 1800 he is able to return to France where he develops energetic groups of the laity, men and women, to live and spread the Christian faith, to multiply Christians. But that work, too, is snuffed out and, like the clergy and religious of the Revolution, it is now the turn of the laity to operate underground. Under his leadership, they do--with amazing success and perseverance and expansion.

Out of that work, at the age of 55, he draws two religious orders. Originally intended for the guidance and maintenance of sodalities, they develop apostolic centers based on schools. By 1830 he is ready, in collaboration with the government, to launch a nation-wide teacher-training program, only to undergo another political reversal which drives religious out of all higher education.

The highlight of his long life comes in 1839. His foundations have been recognized by both state and church, and his constitutions for the religious groups have been received and praised by the Pope. He is exhorted to develop their spirit in all his disciples. Barely two years later comes the great crisis of 1841, when he is 80 years of age. He continues for almost ten more years to carry out what he thinks is his mission, undaunted by opposition, misunderstanding, criticism, and illness.

Throughout his life of plans, frustrations, hopes and disappointments he has been at peace with his God, with the beloved Mother of Jesus, with his soul. His dispositions are perhaps best summarized in his letter to an unsympathetic archbishop on receipt of the Roman document validating the election of his successor: "I accept this Decree from the sacred and most venerable Congregation with the same docility with which I would receive an order from Jesus Christ himself."

What was it that sustained this man during all these ups and downs, all these successes and tragic failures, all these dreams and disappointments? I believe there were two special insights. Like Abraham, he firmly believed that God would keep his promise, that "she shall crush Satan's head." His vocation, he was convinced, was to follow Mary's lead in bringing Christ into the world. His correspondence is replete with this idea which he seeks to communicate to his disciples. Like David, he firmly believed that God would provide the means to carry out his mission, that for those who love God, all things, both the ups and the downs, truly though mysteriously, work together unto good. He lived constantly in the presence of God, convinced that the creator would surely achieve the purpose of his creation, however distant it might seem to be to us.

As we recall his memory today, let us hope that we, too, may share in those dispositions: Deus providebit; Maria duce: God is in charge; Mary will lead us.

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Marian Events

Event: Mary Teaches Us Discipleship and Redemptive Suffering

Date: February 17-18, 2017

Time: 6:30 - 10 p.m.

Place: Saint Bartholomew Church, 9375 Winton Road, Cincinnati, Ohio

Father David Endres, Father Shannon Collins, MSJB, and Father Timothy Fahey will be among the presenters at this retreat.  For more information and to register, call 513-373-2397.  Click here for Directions.

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Mary in the Catholic Press

Message of His Holiness, Pope Francis, on the Occasion of the Nineteenth Public Session of the Pontifical Academies (Vatican.va) November 20, 2014

I address my cordial greeting to those participating in the nineteenth Public Session of the Pontifical Academies, dedicated to the theme Mary, icon of the infinite beauty of God, Marialis Cultus and the Mariological and Marian Magisterium of Blessed Paul VI. Your meeting, organized by the Pontifical International Marian Academy, recalls the unforgettable figure of my venerable Predecessor, Blessed Paul VI, and his great love for the Virgin Mary, expressed in so many moments of his Pontificate as well as in numerous Documents....

Thus, let us not tire of learning from Mary, of admiring and contemplating her beauty, of allowing ourselves to be guided by Her, who always leads us to the original source and to the fullness of genuine, infinite beauty, that of God, revealed to us in Christ, Son of the Father and Son of Mary.

Wishing to encourage and support those who are committed to offering a serious and valid contribution to Mariological research, and especially to that which travels and examines the via pulchritudinis, I am pleased to award the Prize of the Pontifical Academies to the Italian Interdisciplinary Mariological Association, above all for the now twenty-year publication of the journal Theotokos. As a sign of encouragement for the precious work performed with passion on a pastoral level, I then present the Pontifical Medal to the Marian Centre for Cultural Diffusion of the Servants of Mary operating in Mexico.

Lastly, I wish for the Academics and all those present a productive commitment in your respective fields of research, and I entrust each one to the maternal protection of Mary, the Tota Pulchra, while I impart a heartfelt and special Apostolic Blessing.

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.

The International Marian Association (Press Release) January 4, 2017

On January 1, 2017, the Theological Commission of the International Marian Association, an association of more than one-hundred theologians, bishops, priests, religious, and lay leaders from over twenty countries dedicated to the full truth and love of Mary, Mother of Jesus, has released a ten-page document entitled, The Role of Mary in Redemption: A Document of the Theological Commission of the International Marian Association. This document respectfully requests that Pope Francis publicly acknowledge and honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as the "Co-redemptrix with Jesus the Redeemer" during the 2017 centenary anniversary of the Marian Apparitions at Fatima, Portugal.

A summary of the major points of the document produced by the thirty-three member Theological Commission is as follows:

  1. Mary's free consent to bring Jesus the Redeemer into the world (Lk. 1:38) began her unique participation with and under Jesus, in the mission of human Redemption.
  2. Mary's unique participation with Jesus in the work of Redemption is entirely dependent upon His infinite merits as the only divine Redeemer. Her sharing in the redemptive work of Jesus in no way obscures or diminishes His redemptive victory, but rather manifests its power and fruitfulness.
  3. Mary's participation in the Redemption is foreshadowed in the "woman" of Genesis 3:15 and her "seed" of victory, who will be victorious over Satan and his seed of sin and death. Mary's Immaculate Conception prepares her to be the perfect human partner with Jesus the Redeemer.
  4. Mary's ongoing mission with her redeeming Son is given testimony at the Presentation (cf. Luke 2:35) and culminates at Calvary (cf. Jn. 19:25-27) where Mary shares in the intensity of Jesus' suffering in her heart and consents to the "immolation of the victim born of her." (cf. Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, n. 58, 61)
  5. The development of the doctrine of Mary's Coredemption with Jesus within Tradition begins with the early Church concept of the "New Eve;" Mary's united suffering with Jesus at Calvary and the "Redemptrix" title (tenth century); Mary's compassion and being "co-crucified" with Jesus (twelfth century); the "Co-redemptrix" title (fifteenth century); the "golden age" of Co-redemptrix (seventeenth century), leading to its nineteenth century official teaching by the papal Magisterium and the repeated use of the Co-redemptrix title by Pope Pius XI and Pope St. John Paul II.
  6. The Latin prefix "co" signifies "with" and not equal. The Co-redemptrix title never places Mary on a level of equality with Jesus Christ, the only divine Redeemer, as to do so would constitute both heresy and blasphemy. The Co-redemptrix title is meaningless without Jesus the Redeemer, and in itself focuses upon the Cross of Jesus Christ. Mary Co-redemptrix proclaims to the world that suffering is redemptive when united to the sufferings of Christ.
  7. The year 2017 commemorates the centenary anniversary of the historic apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary at Fatima, which is in itself constitutes a powerful manifestation of Our Lady's Coredemption in action....

The document concludes:

Therefore, we, as members of the Theological Commission of the International Marian Association, and in full obedience and fidelity to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, humbly request that during this 2017 Fatima centenary, and in continuity with the papal precedents of Pope Pius XI and Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Francis would kindly grant public recognition and honor to the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary for her unique human cooperation with  the one divine Redeemer in the work of Redemption as "Co-redemptrix with Jesus the Redeemer." We believe that a public acknowledgement of Mary's true and continuous role with Jesus in the saving work of Redemption would justly celebrate the role of humanity in God's saving plan and lead to the release of historic graces through an even more powerful exercise of Our Lady's maternal roles of intercession for the Church and for all humanity today.

Click here to read the complete document.

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Special Chinese language content for February 2017.
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Weekly Features: Feb. 13, 2017

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