Mary & Unity

Mary and Mission:  Not Only for December 8, 2019.

Very Rev. Louie Lougen’s insights for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, 2019, are even more needed as we cope with the corona virus and racism.  Click Here to learn More

Rolheiser on Mary of Scripture and Mary of Devotions (June 25, 2018)

There’s an axiom that says: Roman Catholics tend to adore Mary while Protestants and Evangelicals tend to ignore Mary. Neither is ideal.
Click Here to learn more

Cardinal Newman’s Import Way for Non-Catholics to appreciate Mary.  (2018)

During our May 22-30, 2018 Novena to Our Lady of Pontmain, here at Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence, Tewksbury, MA, the homilist on May 23, Father Frank Demers, OMI, reminded us of Cardinal Newman’s original and most important distinction between faith and devotion.  Click Here to learn more

100 Years of Mary at Fatima:  Eamon Carrol Rosary Story

The apparitions of Mary at Fatima, on the 13th of every month from May to October, 1917, very much influenced Catholic life. Pope Francis’ recent visit (May 12-13) attracted a great deal of attention. Many non-Catholics witnessed the Miracle of the Sun, on Oct. 13, 1917. The Wikipedia article on the Miracle of the Sun has a notice that “the neutrality of this article is disputed.”  Click Here to learn more

“Mary (Stands) Under the Cross” (Ron Rolheiser) (April 1, 2015)

One of the most popular images in all of scripture (an icon that’s been endlessly painted, sung, put into litanies, written up into poetry, and used to triggered every kind of pious feeling) is the image of Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing silently under the cross as her son dies.  Click Here to learn more

Mary ponders.  (2016)

The church has found many reasons to mark the importance of today’s feast. Aside from marking the calendar’s turn to the new year, an appropriate time for prayer and thanksgiving, this day is also the eighth day after the birth of Christ.  Click Here to learn more

Official Page of Our Lady of the Snows, Belleville, IL.  Click Here

150th Anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady of Pontmain

January 17, 2021 was the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to four children in Pontmain, France.    Click Here to learn more

Click Here for the Official Page of the Shrine of Our Lady of Pontmain

Mary, Evangelist and Ecumenist

When one looks at the New Testament, St. Paul is the outstanding missionary. But a story told by Cardinal Leo Suenens (1904-96) shows that Mary has a vital role too. Suenens reminds us that the Three Wise Men found Jesus in the arms of His Mother. Then Suenens asks “Who are the Three Wise Men Today?” He responded: “Let one be the Bishop of Rome, another the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the third, the Archbishop of Canterbury, representing the Anglican and Protestant Churches. Where will they find the Christ whom they seek together?   Still in the arms of His Mother.”

On this page we will do two things. First is a message of Mary at one of the many places she has appeared.   This will change about every six months. Second are ongoing developments in Mary’s role in Evangelization and Ecumenism.

Video below explains how Our Lady of the Snows journeyed from Rome to Belleville, Illinois.
https://youtu.be/z7WYe1G7VOI

The message of Mary at Pontmain, France, on Jan. 17, 1871, is that of Hope as she shows a blood-red crucifix. Oblates of Mary are especially interested in this apparition because one of the children to whom Mary appeared, Joseph Barbedette, OMI, (1860-1930), became an Oblate. The Oblates administered the shrine for many years. We still have a retreat center next to the shrine.

The website of Our Lady of Pontmain (www.sanctuaire-pontmain.com) has a very developed section in English because English Catholics discovered the shrine, which is close to the English channel, and now visit it in large numbers.

There are two very interesting signs that Mary is bringing Christians together, to make us better evangelists. First is the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the second, the statement of “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” on Mary.

Founded in 1967, the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary-USA (there is also one in the United Kingdom) has done much to bring main-line Protestant Churches, and the Catholic Church closer together on Mary’s place in Christian Unity. See the website www.esbvm.org/usa.

The movement “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” has done more in the area of joint evangelization with Evangelical Protestants. Their statement “Do Whatever He Tells You” (2009) agrees that Mary is “the first to give faith’s assent” to Jesus, and that she “is powerfully pertinent to our time.” The entire statement may be googled.