News from the AtlantaProvince Laity Service Committee
December, 2007
Advent Greetings!
Greetings from the AtlantaProvince Marist Laity Service Committee! And welcome to the Winter edition of our Laity Newsletter!
The Season of Advent is already upon us. We are waiting, watching, preparing for the One who comes to us at Christmas, but also for our Lord who comes to us at the end of time.
During Advent, I like to reflect on Mary, our blessed mother. She was a very visible part of the Christmas story. She was probably waiting and watching as well, as all women do who are approaching their final weeks of pregnancy. I find that Mary’s strong faith and gentle spirit renew my own spirit and bring a gentle beauty to my advent prayer.
In our parish, our advent wreath is a bit “different” this year. We decided that we would create an advent wreath that circled the entire body of Christ, which is all of us! We placed our four candles in each of the four corners of our church. These cornerstones are connected with the “leaves” created by our children in the School of Religion. We felt a special closeness as our advent wreath surrounded the entire Body of Christ! Like our Advent wreath,may the loving arms of Jesus and his mother, Mary, enfold you and keep you safe. I pray that your Advent season be one of joyful expectation. Have a blessed season!
Here is a brief overview of our three day meeting:
The Marist Laity Service Committee of the AtlantaProvince met in October, 2007 in New Orleans at the Marist Laity House on Jackson Avenue. Here is a brief overview of their three day meeting:
- A report was given by Mary Ann Adkins regarding a meeting with Fr. Rafaele Qalovi, s.m., Assistant to the Superior General in matters related to the laity, in June, 2007.
- A report was given by Fr. Ed Keel and Fr. Al DiIanni regarding the meeting of the North American Animators/Promoters of Marist Laity in July, 2007.
- The group discussed future projects including new ways to assist the Marist laity groups with individual and group growth in all areas.
- We discussed the many areas of communication now open to Marist Laity groups, including our website, newsletter, group contact, educational materials, and information for new Marist laity inquirers.
Communication continues to be our primary concern.
Contacts – Our primary business of this agenda continues to be in the area of communication. The Marist Laity Service Committee strives to learn about laity groups within the province and provide support for them as they live the Marist way. Some time is spent during each meeting sharing what we know about new groups, existing groups, and individuals interested in joining groups. At this meeting we affirmed to keep in better contact with the groups on a personal level. Certain Service Committee members have been assigned to each group. If your group has not been contacted, or if your group has questions, please email us and we will do what we can to help.
Prayer for Children – We are happy to announce that a new brochue titled “Consecration of Children, Born and Unborn, to Mary: Our lady of good Hop,” is now available. Every group in the U.S. will receive a sample copy and an order form within the next few weeks.
Ongoing Communication - We continue to update and enhance these areas:
- Our Marist Laity website
- Our database
- Newsletter content
- Group training materials
- Communication with the other branches of the Marist community, including fathers, brothers, sisters, and missionary sisters.
The Marist Laity Service Committee is committed to serve you! How can we help you? Please let us know!
Historic Meeting of Lay Marists
On Saturday, November 10, 2007, a historic meeting of lay Marists from the Boston and Atlanta Provinces was held at our Lady of Victories Rectory in Boston, This was in view of the fact that by January of 2009 the Boston and Atlanta provinces of the Marist Fathers will merge into one United States province.
Mary Ann Adkins and Rosemary Kean, members of the Atlanta Lay Marist Service Committee, co-chaired the meeting with the assistance of Fr. Albert DiIanni, Promoter of Marist Laity in the BostonProvince. Ten lay Marists had a lively session that began with prayer and introductions and continued with many vibrant discussions.
Mary Ann Adkins began the meeting by bringing a message and
an invitation to the laity of the Boston province. She explained that at a June meeting in Atlanta, Very Rev. Rafaele Qalovi, s.m., Assistant to the Superior General of the Marist Fathers and Brothers had brought greetings and best wishes to the Marist laity from the Superior General, Fr. Jan Hulshof, s.m. Father Qalovi also brought a request. He asked the Marist laity of the United States “to attend to the possibilities for the laity” in view of the planned merger of the Marist Fathers and Brothers of the Boston and Atlanta provinces.
After explaining the messages received from Fr. Qalovi, Mary Ann then extended an invitation. She said that the Atlanta Marist Laity Service Committee invites the laity of the Boston province to join them in forming one service committee for all the lay groups associated with the Marist Fathers and Brothers in the U.S. The next meeting of this Committee will be held in WashingtonDC on the weekend of April 4-6. The Boston province lay Marists will strive to send up to four representatives to participate in this meeting.
Obviously, Marists in the U.S. face many unknowns until the administration of the new province is in place in January 2009. Nevertheless, those present agreed that much work can continue to be done to strengthen the Marist Laity/Third Order of Mary movement.
A decision was made at this meeting to develop one unified database including all lay Marists in the United States. Fr. DiIanni will be writing to the directors of each BostonProvince laity group to provide updated information concerning membership.
Attendees to this Boston meeting also reviewed formation materials and will encourage groups to use the most updated formation materials available.
The Marist Laity Website was viewed by all who had not seen it and the groups were invited to send information to Christine Colomban, who manages the website. This site is a way to reach out to all Marists, especially in areas where there are no Marist priests, brothers or sisters. The address of this website is maristlaity.org.
Rosemary Kean also distributed a brochure designed to revive the devotion of consecrating children to Our Lady of Good Hope. The brochure contains an explanation of the devotion as well as prayers for children, born and unborn. It has been used with great success in Church services at which parents are invited to dedicate their children to Our Lady of Good Hope. It will be printed in the very near future and samples will be made available to all Marists, lay and religious throughout the United States. The brochure was received with great enthusiasm by all present and many ideas came forth on how to further promote this devotion.
The meeting ended with prayer – three Hail Marys and the Sub Tuum (We fly to thy patronage) - and as usual for Marist gatherings, with laughter and blessings and hugs.
Those in attendance were Helen Comeau and Patricia Kinsella, Lawrence; Marie King, Diane Hackett and Catherine McManus, Braintree; Dianne Romano, Methuen; Barbara Smith, Waltham; Kathryn Jenkins, Boston; as well as Mary Ann Adkins and Rosemary Kean, members of the Atlanta Committee, and Fr. DiIanni.
We offer special thanks to Fr. Gerard Demers, s.m., superior of the Our Lady of Victories Community for his hospitality and to the Mexican Sisters (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart) for preparing wonderful brunches and meals.
Group News
West Virginia is the home of several Marist priests, brothers, and sisters. Did you know that Wheeling, West Virginia has been the home of a Marist Laity group since 1926? Lillian Lauffer, former leader of the group from St. Vincent’s Parish in Wheeling (Elm Grove) sent us a very informative letter which included much of the history of the laity group there.
In 1926, Fr. Thomas Larkin, s.m. invited 12 ladies to become novices of the Third Order of Mary at St. Michael’s Church in Wheeling. St. Michael’s in Wheeling was staffed by Marist priests until 1982, when it was returned to the Diocese.
In 1962, the Third Order of Mary began at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Elm Grove under the direction of Father Cyril Jepson, s.m.
In 1982, a small group of ladies met at the invitation of Marist Sister Colleen Morris and Fr. Paul Morrissey, s.m. Fr. James Jackson, s.m. became the spiritual director, with Sister Colleen as coordinator. When Fr. Jackson was transferred, the position was filled by Father William Rowland, s.m.. and the meeting place was changed to St. Vincent Parish. Father Mariano Rizzuto, s.m.. became spiritual director when Fr. Bill was transferred.
Presently, there are 27 active members and nine inactive members of this group. Father Joseph Wilhelm, s.m. has retired and Fr. Jim McGoldrick,s.m. is the spiritual director and their new leader is Jean Hohman. The group meets on the second Tuesday of each month and holds an annual Day of Reflection for its members.
May God bless the Marist laity members of the St. Vincent de Paul Parish!
Website news
Our Website is growing! Go to view:
Laity groups in the United States
Members of the service committee
News of Marist events
Resources and links for resources
This website is available to better serve our Laity groups, Marist family members and friends. Please give us your input. What would you like to see?
During your winter prayer time, could you please pray for the following intentions?
For all those men and women who work to promote the study of Marist Spirituality.
For all Marists, that winter may be a time of spiritual growth and development.
For mothers, children, and unborn babies.
Father Bill Rowland, S.M. has graciously provided us with the following vocations article for our newsletter. Please feel free to copy this for your groups!
What does a vocation have to do with me?
I have been reading a book by Germain Grisez and Russell Shaw entitled, Personal Vocation: God Calls Everyone by Name. The authors point out that when we use the term vocation, most Catholics think it refers only to priesthood and consecrated life. What about the rest of the Catholic faithful who are not called to the priesthood or consecrated life? They argue that this narrow understanding of vocation exempts the vast numbers of laity from seeking and discerning their vocations and responsibilities as the lay faithful. I might add that this narrow understanding of vocation impacts negatively on vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Grisez and Russell speak about how the word vocation can be understood in three ways. The first and primary vocation is to be a Christian and to live the truths of our faith. All of us are called to love God and our neighbor and to contribute to bringing about the kingdom of God by participating in the mission of the Church.[1] We receive this vocation through baptism. How many Catholics minimize the significance of their having been baptized as infants by relegating it to being nothing more than a coincidence of having been born into a Catholic family? They do not consider that this was a carefully thought-out act of divine providence? Does not Jesus, the Good Shepherd, call us each by name?
A second way of understanding vocation is in the sense of the states in life which most Catholics understand to be marriage, the single life, the priesthood, and consecrated life. Grisez and Russell make the point that “for a Christian, the term (vocation) should have a much richer meaning, for it implies a position in life that a person holds not by accident or even by simple personal preference, but essentially by divine choice, within a plan of love drawn up by God.”[2] In other words, to commit to living the sacrament of marriage or to be celibate as a single Catholic are true vocations along with priesthood and consecrated life.
Finally, vocation can be understood in the sense of personal vocation. “Every follower of Christ has a special calling from God, a role in the Christian community that is uniquely his or her own. Jesus implies as much when he says, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mk 8:34). The cross here is not something generic, one-size-fits all, but the particular cross of each individual. Each of us has a personal role to play in carrying on Christ’s mission.”[3]
Now, this understanding of vocation as pertaining to all the baptized has implications for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. For example, if parents choose to live the sacrament of marriage because they have discerned God as having called them to this state and if they daily seek to know their own unique role (vocation) in carrying out Christ’s mission; then, they will be open to and supportive of their son or daughter who may come to them and say, “I feel I am being called to the priesthood or religious life.” Parents who choose to be married because “this is what you are supposed to do” or because “this is what I want to do” and have no sense of their lives as serving a higher purpose will react negatively and fearfully when their son or daughter suggests they have a vocation to the priesthood or religious life.
If it is true that the vast majority of Catholics live without a sense of being called by God for a specific purpose that is unique and personal to them; then, I suggest that the vocation crisis is greater than we think. Living a vocation has everything to do with you, with me and with the well-being of the Church.
This is an email only newsletter produced by Marist Laity as a tool to keep in touch with our lay groups and Marist friends. Our Service Committee is committed to assist those interested in the Marist Way. We provide materials for starting new groups and provide existing groups with support and new study materials. Our Service Committee meets twice per year but we continue to share the spirit of Mary in all the work we do year round. We would love to hear from you and highlight your group in our newsletter. Please feel free to copy this newsletter or forward it to the members of your group.
Although this is an email newsletter, we do provide a copy of this to those without email service. If you know of anyone who would like to get a snail mail copy, please contact us.(Diane Poach, 14 Beech St., Buckhannon, WV26201)
This newsletter is being sent to all Marist Laity Group Leaders and to all our Marist family and friends who have requested a copy. If you do not wish to receive this email in the future, please contact Diane at .
The following letter was penned by Father Edwin Keel, S.M. Please read this letter to your group at your next meeting, or make copies of the letter and distribute them to your membership.
Dear Fellow Marists,
I am writing this on the day after Thanksgiving, and I trust we have all acknowledged and given thanks for the many blessings we have received, and have feasted abundantly on the Lord’s bounty.
I read recently a long poem by Catherine de Vinck. It is called “Peace Cantata” and is found in her book, Poems of the Hidden Way. After the feasting of Thanksgiving Day and as we look toward the coming Advent and Christmas season, I found this stanza from the poem quite striking:
More than on grain and meatwe feed on mysteries:gestures of loveintimations, hintsof what it is to be real, to be freein a world where all things breatheas one great body, serene and motherly.
“We feed on mysteries.” This line reminded me of something Pope Benedict XVI said in his recent book, Jesus of Nazareth. The pope was trying to show that many interpretations of the purpose of Jesus’ coming among us fall short of the reality. He was saying, “What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought?” Then Benedict goes on to give his response, which I feel is so obvious and yet so profound: “The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God.”
More than anything else, our spirits hunger for mystery, ultimately for God. (A modern Greek poet, Odysseus Elytis, said, “Man craves for God like a shark for blood”!) Jesus brought us God. Not that people didn’t worship God before Jesus came. But Jesus brought us the definitive revelation of the God for whom we crave. He came proclaiming the God who is Truth, the truth and meaning of our lives. He came inviting us into deep intimacy with the God who is Love, whose only desire is to bring us to the fullness of life. But the love Jesus proclaims is a demanding love. It is a love that can only be experienced by people who allow that love to make them into loving people. And so it is that Jesus’ revelation of the God of love is at the same time an invitation to crave for justice for all people, to seek peace and become peacemakers, to make room in our hearts for all our sisters and brothers.
In her poem, Catherine de Vinck reviews some of the horrors of war and cruelty and hatred that have marked human history. And she seems to see a continuance of the same darkness, unless...
The coming night will be darker
than the heart of stone