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Newest Issue of ‘Marian Studies’ Now Available

By Maureen Schlangen

On Oct. 15, the Mariological Society of America (MSA) and the University of Dayton Libraries released Volume 66 of Marian Studies, the open-access scholarly proceedings of the MSA’s annual meeting.

Volume 66, “Mary and Holy Families Living Today,” features eight articles on the Blessed Mother as a model for married life, family life, church life, catechesis and consecrated life, among other things. All were presented at the organization’s meeting May 19-22, 2015, in Hickory, North Carolina.

All content in Marian Studies is accessible free of charge through eCommons, the University of Dayton’s institutional repository; a bound version of Volume 66 also is available for purchase for $15 per copy.

Articles in the Volume 66

Mater Ecclesiae: History, Theology, and Consequences(Father Johann G. Roten, S.M.)

Ecclesiology involves an ongoing study of the church that will be fruitful for understanding its present only if one explores the church’s past in search of the future. The ecclesiology of the mid-20th century rediscovered the close relationship between Mary and the church, culminating in the title and the reality of Mater Ecclesiae (Mary, Mother of the Church).

Mary, Spouse of Joseph, Model for Married Life (Joseph Arias, S.T.L.)

This article responds to the question, “What does the unique spousal relationship of Mary and Joseph have to teach families and individuals about the nature of marriage and conjugal love, especially in Christian marriage?” While the circumstances of their particular relationship and calling might seem too extraordinary to appear relevant for recent thinking about marriage and family life, this paper posits that it is precisely in view of the unique features of their spousal relationship that Mary and Joseph can be appreciated as exemplary for married life, even in modern times.

Mary, Mother and Model for Family Life in the Thought of Chiara Lubich and the Experience of the Focolare Movement(Father Edward L. Looney, S.T.B., M.Div.)

Flourishing in the church prior to and following the Second Vatican Council were ecclesial movements such as Focolare, Communion and Liberation, and Schoenstatt. A particular characteristic of each is the unique expression of Marian devotion. Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare movement, recognized Mary as the mother and model of the movement and encouraged members to become repetitions of Mary in the world. The writings of Lubich lend themselves to the discovery of a familial spirituality, applicable to members and nonmembers of the movement.

Mary and the Domestic Church(M. Danielle Peters, S.T.D.)

Lumen Gentium (LG) 11 acknowledges: “The family is, so to speak, the domestic church.” The Instrumentum Laboris (IL) of the Synod of Bishops dealing with “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization” refers five times to the family as domestic church. The concluding prayer of the IL asks the Holy Family of Nazareth to “grant that our families, too, may be places of communion and prayer, authentic schools of the Gospel and small domestic Churches.” This paper seeks to explore the notion of the family as domestic church or Church in miniature; to make a contribution to a theology/ecclesiology of the domestic church and Mary’s role therein; to introduce the “home shrine” of the Schoenstatt movement as a place of prayer and spiritual encounter for the domestic church with a specific focus on Mary’s efficacy as educator of the family; and to show that the domestic church under the protection of Our Lady can be a prime promoter of evangelization.

Mary and Catechesis: Transmission of the Faith and Christian Initiation in/by the Family(M. Jean Frisk, S.T.L.)

This article calls upon the author’s catechizing experience and the extensive research behind her S.T.L. thesis, which shows the place of Mary in catechetical materials from the mid-1950s to the turn of the millennium. It is intended to provide scholars of Mary with an overview of the catechetical side of current Marian trends in the United States and, ultimately, to the Marian content in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (July 2006, fourth printing, September 2000) and to the current efforts to train catechetical leaders nationally and on the local levels of diocese and parish.

Mary as the Model of Faithful Love for Families, Spouses, and Consecrated Persons(Robert L. Fastiggi, Ph.D.)

This essay explores Mary as the exemplar of holiness for the faithful in the various states of life. In a special way, it draws upon the insights of Pope St. John Paul II (1920–2005).

The Mother of Fair Love: The Beauty of the Ever-Virgin for the Vocations of Christian Life(Kevin M. Clarke, Ph.D.)

The beauty of the Virgin-Mother gives spiritual life to her children. In that regard, this article explores the writings of some of the church fathers, the Marian psalter attributed to St. Bonaventure, and the theology-of-the-body audiences of Pope St. John Paul II to show how Mary is mother of the spiritual life and the exemplar of the life of the elect.

Maria Lactans in Depictions of the Holy Family(Cecelia Dorger, Ph.D.)

Scholarly literature about Western art is silent on the iconographic inclusion of the Virgin nursing the Christ Child in images of the Holy Family. This paper explores two interpretations of Mary nursing in Holy Family scenes and how the Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod on the Family (2015-16) elucidates God’s plan for the family as revealed in these depictions.

International Academic Marian Bibliography 2014-2015(Father Thomas A. Thompson, S.M.)

This bibliography includes selected works from around the world that address the Blessed Mother.

About the Mariological Society of America

The Mariological Society of America is a Catholic theological association dedicated to studying and making known the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the mystery of Christ and in the church and in the history of salvation. Through its annual meeting and Marian Studies, the society seeks to promote original research in Marian doctrine and devotion. Founded in October 1949, the society gathered for its first meeting in January 1950 in Washington, D.C. Since 1979, the society’s headquarters and the office of the executive secretary have been at the Marian Library of the University of Dayton.

Call for papers for 2020 conference

Submissions for the 2020 annual meeting are welcome through Oct. 31. For information, see the MSA website. The meeting will be May 13-16, 2020, at the Archbishop Brunett Retreat Center at the Palisades in Federal Way, Washington.

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