Blogs
Mary in the News: Dec. 15, 2020
By Michael Duricy
Marian Library and International Marian Research Institute Features
Updates
IMRI Graduates
UD's graduation ceremony this Saturday will list three IMRI graduates in the program: Father John-Luke Stahr and Father Brian Taylor who graduated without a ceremony in August, and Father Christopher Roberts posthumously. Father Christopher will be featured around the three posthumous degrees to be awarded in the virtual graduation ceremony to be available from the University of Dayton starting this Saturday, December 19, 2020, at 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time USA. If you can't watch it at that time, the recording will be available on the website for some time afterwards.
If you are interested in the Baccalaureate Mass, it will be live streamed from UD's Immaculate Conception chapel on Friday, December 18, 2020, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time USA. The link is one of the two options towards the bottom of the same page as the virtual graduation page linked above.
Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.
Winter 2020 Newsletter of the Mariological Society of America (MSA)
Virtual Discussion with Father Hauke about His New Book
You are invited to a special virtual meeting of the MSA on Friday, January 15, 2021, at 3 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Central, 1 p.m. Mountain, 12 p.m. Pacific, for a presentation and discussion of Father Manfred Hauke's Introducti
Save the Date for the 2021 Meeting of the MSA
While details are still being finalized, the MSA plans to host its annual conference at Marytown in LIbertyville, IL May 11-14, 2021. Program will be announced soon. The theme of the meeting is "Mary and the Word of God."
UK Marian Journal Re-Launched
Dr. Sarah Jane Boss and Dr. Chris Maunder are delighted to let you know that the Centre for Marian Studies is relaunching its journal, entitled Maria: A Journal of Marian Studies, which was last published in 2003. The new journal will be peer reviewed, online and open access. We wish to attract new research relating to the Virgin Mary in the fields of theology, philosophy, literature, history, visual culture, music, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. In addition, the journal will include translations of texts not previously available in English, together with book reviews and short communications. We hope to encourage original contributions from Marian scholars of all religious traditions and none. Full details of how to submit an article or translation for consideration by the editorial board, together with the style guide, are available on the website of the Centre for Marian Studies.
Member Accomplishments
Father Matthew Mauriello has published three articles in the World of Apostolate of Fatima's Soul Magazine. The topics were: "Our Lady of Perpetual Help" (Spring 2020), "Mary Who Made a Place for Christ" (Fall 2020) and, "Our Lady of Good Counsel" (Fall 2019). For copies of the articles, email Father Matthew at: frmattmaurie.com.
Father Emery DeGaal published the following: "Die Bedeutung Mariens für die Einheit der Christen beim heiligen John Henry Newman (1801-90), dargestellt besonders anhand seiner XV. Universitätspredigt und seines Schreibens an Pusey," in: Manfred Hauke (ed.), Maria, 'Mutter der Einheit' (Mater Unitatis), in: Mariologische Studien XXVIII (Regensburg: Pustet, 2020), pp. 137-156. (John Henry Newman and Mary's Significance for the Unity of Christians, as demonstrated in his XV. University Sermon and Letter to Pusey). He also delivered a paper on "Carolingian Mariology and Leo Cardinal Scheffczyk" at an international theological conference convened September 14-18, 2020 at the University of Ticino, Lugano, Switzerland on September 17, 2020. Additionally, he and Father Dwight Campbell jointly taught a course "Mariology and the Reformation" in the Fall 2020 semester, and hope to teach jointly a course on the dogmatic tractate Mariology in Spring 2021 at Mundelein Seminary.
MSA Member Father Brian Taylor was appointed for service to the CDF.
More Information
Dr. Robert Fastiggi is teaching a free online class about Mary for Advent at Sacred Heart Seminary.
More Information
Richard May appeared on Virgin Most Powerful Radio to talk about Marian coredemption.
Marian Events
Title: Loving Jesus Through Mary
Theme: Six-week Virtual Retreat
Date: January 4 - February 8, 2021
Location: Online
Online Marian Retreat led by IMRI graduate, Chris Padgett. Registration is now open. For more information send email to lindapadgett@mac.com.
Facebook Page for Chris Padgett
Mary in the Catholic Press
Stopover of Miraculous Medal Statue at Vatican Parish (Zenit) December 15, 2020
The statue of the effigy of the "Miraculous Medal" of Rue du Bac (Paris), which Pope Francis blessed last November 11, made a stopover in the Vatican's Saint Anne's parish, at the start of its year-long pilgrimage in Italy.
Brought by Swiss guards, the statue was received at Saint Anne's on Saturday, December 12, 2020, and Sunday, December 13, 2020, reported L'Osservatore Romano. During Masses and Rosaries recited this weekend in the church, the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul distributed medals, in the year of the 190th anniversary of the Marian apparitions to Saint Catherine Laboure (1806-1876).
At the initiative of the religious Family of Saint Vincent de Paul, from December 1, 2020, to November 22, 2021, the statue will tour all the regions of the Peninsula, as a sign of comfort in the time of the coronavirus....
Mary in the Secular Press
Long Lost Poem by J. R. R. Tolkien Is a Beautiful Christmas Prayer to the Virgin Mary (uCatholic) June 25, 2019
J. R. R. Tolkien was not only the author of the best-selling novel ever written, but a fierce Catholic whose Faith was pervasive in his work.
"Besides the Sun there may be moonlight but if the Sun were removed there would be no Moon to see. What would Christianity now be if the Roman Church has in fact been destroyed?” – Letter 250, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Not a poet in the traditional sense, Tolkien published nearly forty poems throughout his life. In 2016, two lost poems by the Anglo-Saxon scholar were discovered originally published in an obscure 1936 annual magazine for Our Lady's Abingdon in Oxfordshire.
Of the two, one is a Christmas poem entitled Noel dedicated to the Virgin Mary:
"Noel is a beautiful and unusual take on the Christmas story, set in a wintry landscape. The focus is on Mary, which may be why Tolkien wrote the poem for the school magazine, given that we are dedicated to Our Lady." ...