Blogs
Mary in the News: March 10, 2020
By Michael Duricy
Read recent items about Mary in both Catholic and secular news. Also, see International Marian Research Institute as well as Marian Library news and updates.
Marian Library and International Marian Research Institute Features
Updates
Legion of Mary Cincinnati Senatus Acies 2020
Their annual consecration to Jesus through Mary will be held Sunday, March 22, 2020 at Saint Matthias Church, 1050 W. Kemper Road, Cincinnati, OH 45420.
The schedule for the day includes: the Senatus meeting in the Parish Center at 1:30 p.m. [all are welcome to attend this business meeting]; Acies Ceremony with Benediction in the Church at 3:15 p.m. [not a Mass]; Reception at Saint Matthias immediately after the ceremony [with finger food].
An R.S.V.P. by Monday, March 16, 2020 with the number expected to attend would be helpful. Please contact Dr. Gloria Dodd by phone at 937-229-1431.
Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.
Images of Mary In Lent - A Lenten Mediation on the New Eve and the New Adam
The New Liturgical Movement website posted a Lenten meditation by Monsignor John Myler. He is preparing a course on Mary and Art to be offered soon through Pontifex University. The article includes an embedded video with a 34-minutes lecture by Father Myler on Lenten Images of Mary.
Marian Events
Title: The Theotokos and her Role in Salvation
Topic: Scranton area Lenten Mission
Dates: March 16-20, 2020
Time: Reconciliation available starting at 6 p.m., Liturgy starting at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Multiple churches in the Scranton area--see link to More Information below for details
This Lenten Mission runs March 16 – 20, each night at a different church in the Scranton, Pa., area. The Mission theme is: "Theotokos and Her Role in Salvation." Each night liturgy starts at 6:30. Opportunity for Reconciliation/Confession starts at 6. After services, there will be time for light refreshment, fellowship, and discussion. Within the general mission theme, each night will focus on a specific aspect....
Mary in the Catholic Press
Cardinal Ouellet on "Woman in the Light of the Trinity and of Mary-Church" (Zenit), March 5, 2020
... Acknowledged today without difficulty is the need for a more concrete theological and practical recognition of woman in the Church and in society. In line with his predecessors, Pope Francis has confirmed several times that the implementation of more open ecclesial practices to the feminine presence and influence is slow in being realized, for reasons that are not only of historical and cultural order.
I leave to others the sociological and historical analysis of the problem, to concentrate on the theological research that has to do its part in this argument, in order to remove obstacles to the promotion of woman and make the most of her dignity from the resources of Christian revelation. Following the opening in our days of biblical exegesis and the intuitions of the holy Pontiff John Paul II, in fact, there can be further reflection on the "mystery and ministries of woman" in God's plan, moving from the Person of the Holy Spirit as reciprocal Love of the Father and of the Son in the Trinity, and better foundation given to the dignity of woman and to her role in the Church and in society....
What else can we add to conclude these theological reflections to stress the importance of the "mystery" of woman and of her indispensable contribution to social and ecclesial life? Given the closeness of the Spirit and of woman in the divine plan of creation and of the incarnation of grace, given the profound and insuperable participation of the Virgin Mary in the reciprocal Trinitarian relationships of the Word and of the Spirit, shouldn't one recognize this "mystery” of woman--qualifying as "sacred ministries" without clerical connotation of any sort--her multiple feminine functions and roles in society and in the Church: wife and mother, inspirer and mediator, redeemer and reconciler, help and indispensable companion for man in every task and social and ecclesial responsibility? How much listening, openness, reparation of injustices and utilization of feminine charisms should be given her on the part of all and, in particular, on the part of the civil and religious authorities, which can have the feminine difference recognized and integrated better!
Understood then, is how the Catholic Church, from the immense grace of Vatican Council II, has waged a decisive and incessant battle for respect of the difference of the sexes everywhere and at every level, be it in the field of work, of marriage and of the family, or in that of the Ordained Ministry, and continues to do so, even alone, against every "ideological colonization" (Pope Francis) that wants to annul the sexual difference in the culture and, therefore, the original figure of woman, in the name of an anthropology free from any transcendent bond. The question of woman is of such importance in our days, as to exact, on the part of the Church and of society, an enormous investment in thought and in action, in order to illuminate correctly the social choices and to allow the image of God in man and in woman, destined to communion, to access the divine likeness of Love without which there is no happiness possible for humanity or society worthy of this name.
Mary in the Secular Press
Marian Shrines in Portugal (All About Portugal website) March 3, 2020
Venerated in various ways over time, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, is a constant presence in Catholic religious expressions in Portugal. Visit some of the temples dedicated to her to discover the depths of this devotion.
Fátima, where Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in 1917, is undoubtedly the main place of worship in Portugal and one of the world's principal shrines of Marian devotion. This place of faith and peace has received pilgrimages ever since, especially on the thirteenth of each month, and they reach their peak in May and October, when crowds express their faith in a way that touches everyone, believers or not....