Concilium Bulletin November 2010

Concilium Bulletin November 2010

Asia
PHILIPPINES
Mindanao Senatus:
A new Comitium has been formed due to continued expansion. A university praesidium encouraged 2 students to desist from having an abortion, now both happily await the birth of their babies. An entire Protestant family were instructed by legionaries and received into the Church.

Bicolandia Senatus:
One Curia has 14 praesidia each of which has a Spiritual Director. Visitation to jails, hospitals and homes is undertaken, as well as teaching catechism, preparing those interested in Baptism, Confirmation and Marriage validations.

Senatus of Northern Philippines:
Urdaneta Comitium has the Legion in 7 parishes. Eighteen juniors transferred to seniors in Pasig Comitium and 17 in Makati. A former junior was ordained a priest. San Pedra Comitium has 8 Patrician groups and 2 new senior praesidia started. A born again family converted to the Catholic faith and attends Mass every Sunday. Manila jail has 2 praesidia and they had their first Acies. A Patrician meeting and Eucharistic Holy Hours are conducted. The three Causes are given particular attention.

Western Visayas Regia:
Quarterly reports were taken from 11 Comitia, 1 junior and 17 senior Curiae. Exploratio Dominicalis projects are regularly reported on. Praesidia, Curiae and Comitia reports show an outreach to everyone, lapsed returned to the Sacraments, conversion of Protestants feature regularly. Many who had gone over to the sects are being won back to the Church. Arrangements for Confession for 10 prisoners were made.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Rabul Regia:
Reports received indicate that works of conversion figure prominently.
Mount Hagan Regia:
5,735 legionaries do heroic work in difficult situations.
Madang Regia:
Rev. Fr. Golly SVD Spiritual Director for many years passed away in May R.I.P. He translated and printed two editions of the Handbook into Pidgin, also the Tessera and Causes leaflets. He will be greatly missed. Reports featured combating witchcraft, conversion from sects, also an apostolate to drug and alcohol addiction sufferers. Juniors are doing excellent work with senior members.

NEW ZEALAND
Auckland Senatus:
A Patrician meeting has an average attendance of 16. Nine active and 15 auxiliary members were recruited after an extension project. Twenty-four legionaries took part in an Exploratio Dominicalis project. Aftercare of auxiliaries is well catered for. South Auckland Curia with 9 praesidia set up a new junior Curia with 6 praesidia.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Senatus:
Cardinal George Pell concelebrated Mass with 7 Priests on 7th November for the Servant of God Frank Duff. The Cathedral was packed. A Peregrinatio Pro Christo project with 19 legionaries visited over 3,000 homes and met 63 interested non-Catholics. A school principal brought 300 students to the Church where the Miraculous Medal was explained and all received a gift of the medal. The Parish Priest was delighted. The Korean Curia continues to evangelise and has been successful in bringing many into the Church. A book-barrow is conducted in a shopping center every Saturday.

Melbourne Senatus:
Adelaide Comitium governs 2 Curiae and 14 praesidia. Perth Comitium has 5 Curiae and 18 praesidia. Flemington Comitium has 16 Vietnamese praesidia, as well as 3 Curiae. They organize 3 sessions of study of the True Devotion to Mary after which 161 legionaries made the consecration. Hobart Curia in Tasmania has 6 praesidia, which visits the sick, promotes Rosary processions and visits the Seamen’s mission. The Senatus is visiting some of the Pacific Islands, which contain 14 councils.

South America
COLUMBIA
Bogotá Senatus:
1200 legionaries attended a Catholic Exhibition where there was a Legion stand and book barrow. The University praesidium is 26 years old and has formed 3 new praesidia recently; they do street contact. The Regia of Tunja has 28 extension workers.

Medellin Senatus:
Apart from the usual Legion works, legionaries teach reading and writing to groups of between 60 and 80 adults. Contacts are made in Parque de Bolivar. Evangelisation is done using local broadcasting media. A couple co-habiting decided to marry after advice from the Legion. As preparation for a Peregrinatio Pro Christo project, the Catechism of the Catholic Church was studied. As a result of evangelising in schools and colleges, there were 20 baptisms and 4 confirmations of youths, and the setting up of a senior praesidium.

ECUADOR
Senatus of Quito:
In July a young boy was brought back from the sects and is now an ‘excellent catechist’. Soldiers are receiving catechesis. An apostolate is done to the native Indians in Riobamba. The 5 children of Evangelical parents were baptised. The Comitium in Portoviejo have 10 correspondents and some travel overnight to their meeting. English classes are given to catequists children. Old people are helped with personal hygiene. A report of a cure of cerebral haemorrhage through Venerable Edel Quinn was received; the correspondent has asked for more details.

URUGUAY
Senatus of Montevideo:
An elderly lady abandoned by her family, was cared for until death. Access to apartments with electronic gates is a problem. On 13 May a praesidium held a procession through the streets with torches and bagpipes.

VENEZUELA
Senatus of Caracas:
His Eminence, Cardinal Savino, a legionary in his youth, celebrated a Mass for the foundation of the Legion’s 89th anniversary. Many successful initiatives included Peregrinatio Pro Christo, Youth work, Columban Drive and Exploratio Dominicalis projects. Four native Indians were rehabilitated from drug taking, a talk on witchcraft was held in San Juan and a woman was brought back from the Jehovah Witnesses. Juniors hold Patrician meetings. A praesidium was suspended for not obeying the Standing Instructions. In Los Teques Comitium, a priest was brought to a school and heard confessions for 4 hours.

CHILE
Senatus of Santiago:
Street contact work is carried out by many praesidia. The Week of the Family was organised by the Archdioceses and all legionaries spoke of the importance of this event while doing their apostolate. Legionaries often take a small area for frequent visits to the families. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was started for legionaries but is now being extended to everyone as a means of personal sanctification.

BOLIVIA
Senatus of La Paz:
Some legionaries are illiterate but do fine Legion work as well as teach catechism. Housebound legionaries teach catechism in their own homes. Many conversions are reported which include a young North American drug addict and dealer. He was taught the Rosary and returned to his country totally rehabilitated. Some active legionaries work in the street markets and when their work is done for the day they contact the others who work in the market and say the Rosary.

PERU
Senatus of Lima:
Five Comitia, 3 Curiae and 3 praesidia reported. All reporting councils indicate extension; 8 praesidia were set up and there are a number in formation. Juniors figure prominently; one Curia has a very active junior Curia attached and others report junior praesidia. Jail visitation and work with drug addicts is carried out.

CUBA
Havana Comitium:
The Comitium reported that a praesidium in Matanza some 3 hours from Havana is active, they do home visitation, visit the jail and visit the families of prisoners.

Africa
GHANA
Senatus of Ghana:
The Archbishop of Accra, His Grace Charles Palmer-Buckle attended a recent Senatus meeting. He promised to assign some priests in the Archdiocese to assist the Legion as Spiritual Directors. Archbishop Emeritus Andoh also visited a Senatus meeting. He joined the Legion in the seminary and takes a great interest in the Legion and promotes the Cause of Frank Duff. He maintained that the Legion should be in every parish and encouraged the legionaries to extend. The praesidia and the work in the prisons continue to grow, with some of the warders recently joining the Praesidia and children born to prisoners being baptised. A copy of the “Meet the Legion” DVD was shown on the Catholic Digest Programme. The Senatus is currently working on a website. The attached Kumasi Regia organised a youth week /project in the Ashanti Region with 125 young legionaries participating in the organising of religious and social programmes. Seventy-three new members were recruited and three new praesidia started in 3 outstations. New praesidia were formed in the Major Seminary and Osei Senior High School and 9 other areas as a result of Curiae being tasked to establish new praesidia.

ANGOLA
Luanda Regia: The Regia organised a talk on Frank Duff on 7th June and had a very successful meeting with youth on 25th May.

ZIMBABWE
Hwange Comitium: 450 legionaries were present at a Congress from 20-22 August. Many legionaries came from Kadoma. Harare Curia: Fr. Eugene is the newly appointed Spiritual Director and is keen to build up the legion.

CAPE VERDE
Council reports were being presented annually and attention was drawn to the need to present reports every few months.

GUINE BISSAU
Guine Bissau Regia:
Reported that there were 103 Exploratio Dominicalis projects during the year. The Regia keeps regular contacts through correspondents with the Legion councils as they are scattered over five islands.

SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg Senatus:
The Senatus has 19 attached praesidia and 4 attached councils. Works undertaken include home and hospital visitation, teaching catechism and literacy classed to adults. The legionaries are in touch with young people who have drink and drug problems.

Cape Town Senatus:
The Senatus organised a Conference for legionaries on ‘Back to Basics’ and it went very well. The discussion was very good and legionaries learned a lot about the Legion. It has been suggested by the correspondent that as a result each attached Curia should organise a Congress.
Marionhill Comitium: In the May 2010 minutes Legionaries reported on “the wonders Our Lady did for them when they walked through a war-torn region to where they were going to introduce the Legion at that mission. Ever since, the unrest stopped and people went back to their homes and started re-building their homes as many were burnt down.”
Durban Comitium: A praesidium of ten visits an AIDS hospital.
Matatiele Comitium runs a patrician meeting.

EGYPT
Egypt Senatus:
The Senatus has a new website and they are constantly visiting their councils. Elections have taken place in many of the attached councils. The Sudanese praesidium divided into three new praesidia.

PEREGRINATIO PRO CHRISTO

On Saturday 30th October the Peregrinatio Pro Christo Conference was held in All Hallows College, Dublin. There was an attendance of 300 plus and we had the added joy of having 9 Priests present, it was certainly a day of rejoicing and celebrating. Hearing the reports from a few of the many projects undertaken during 2010 they gave a feeling of been in the presence of the Good Shepherd who was waiting with open arms to receive back many of His lost sheep; others who were hearing the Good News for the first time and were taking steps to gain more knowledge, and of course spreading the news of the love and concern of their Heavenly Mother for all mankind.

Finally, Tommy McCabe’s closing address was an aide-memoire for all of us to get back to basics and gain a greater knowledge of the Handbook. The contents of which are so valuable and relevant for today’s moral and social issues and focusing on keeping the “Fire of Faith” alive.

A campaign of prayer for the success of projects in 2011 - not to be forgotten! Deep gratitude was expressed for all those who promote Peregrinatio Pro Christo.

Commemoration of The Servant of God Frank Duff
Founder of the Legion of Mary

On Saturday 20th November 2010, the Legion of Mary celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the death of the Servant of God Frank Duff at the Pro Cathedral, Dublin, to a packed congregation of approximately 800.

Most Reverend Dr. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, concelebrated the Mass with 45 priests. It was a wonderful tribute to our founder. In his homily Archbishop Martin encouraged all legionaries to keep on spreading of the Gospel message. He himself is encouraged by the commitment of legionaries.

The Legion greatly appreciates the support of Archbishop Martin. Thanks were expressed to Fr. Damian O’Reilly, Administrator and staff of the Pro Cathedral and to the many people who made this event a wonderful, prayerful and reverential occasion. Thanks were also expressed to Fr. Bede McGregor, the Spiritual Director of Concilium, to all the Priests for their presence and to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councilor Gerry Breen for his attendance.

The following is the homily given at the Mass by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin:
Introduction
Frank Duff died thirty years ago. This quiet, personally unassuming man, in quiet simple external circumstances in Dublin, on 7th September 1921 established a movement of prayer, Christian care and Marian spirituality. The Legion of Mary is a movement which has spread worldwide and has enriched the Church in many parts of the world, especially at moments in which the Church was experiencing difficulty and persecution.

We have come to thank God for the charism of Frank Duff: a charism recognised in a special way by the Second Vatican Council, which he attended. We thank God for the spiritual enrichment that that charism has brought the Members of the Legion of Mary. We thank God for the Christian care and spiritual formation that millions have encountered through their contact with the Legion of Mary.

We remember especially the tenacity of this outwardly retiring man: tenacity in reaching out unashamedly to bring the message of Jesus to people in the varied circumstances of their lives, a tenacity driven not by human ambition but through a devotion to Mary who in every aspect of her life opened her heart to understand and to do the will of God.

COMMEMORATION OF FRANK DUFF

The Church in Ireland is on a path of renewal. Renewal is an essential dimension of the Church’s life at any moment in history. The need for renewal of the Church in Ireland is however particularly urgent at this moment.

The scandals that have been revealed about aspects of the Church’s life have opened our eyes not just to the particular horrors of the abuse of children and of an inadequate response to them. They have opened our eyes to a much deeper crisis within the Church in Ireland.

Society in Ireland has changed. Religious culture in Ireland has changed. Religious practice has dropped at times in staggering proportions. There is disillusionment among many believers. Many have opted for or drifted into a more secularised vision of their life. Many have become indifferent and live as if God did not exist.

The significant role of the Church in serving Irish society, a role assumed in good faith and in a spirit of service, which was undertaken with great dedication, is now being re-examined. What emerged are not just examples of evident failure and inadequacy alongside vision and commitment, but of a certain sense arrogance and power seeking, which has alienated many from the very message that such a presence in society was supposed to represent.

We face real crisis of vocations to the priesthood. Last Saturday here in Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral I remembered at Mass 20 priests who had ministered in the Archdiocese and who had died in the previous twelve months. A further dozen or so priests retired from active ministry in the same period. And yet in the past year I ordained just one new priest for the diocese. But the crisis of the Church is still a deeper one. It is not about the role of the Church in society. It is not about numbers. It is about the very nature of faith in Jesus Christ. It is about our understanding of the message of Jesus Christ. It is about faith in the God revealed in Jesus Christ and about the fundamental question: who is Jesus Christ?

We do not create our own identity for Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to bring a message of love. But it was not a message just of being nice to each other. We have to ask: what is it that makes a Christian different in his or her interaction with others? What is it that should mark the Church of Jesus Christ as a people driven by the message of salvation revealed through the death and resurrection of Jesus?

The Church will never be reformed from outside. Historically it must be recognised that the recent shattering revelations about abuse would probably never have come to full light without outside intervention. Renewal and reform of the Church, however, will only come from within the Church, that is from within a community of men and women who listen to the word of God, who come together to pray, who celebrate the Eucharist and are called to share in the very life of Christ himself. The Church is communion. That is not the same as saying the Church is a community, or an association or an institution. The Church is formed by the Word of God and is lived by men and women who allow that word of God to transform them.

The Church is communion. The theme of the forthcoming International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Dublin in 2012 is: Communion with Christ and with one another. It is however the communion of Christ, which determines the shape of communion we form with each other. It is not a network of social interaction which determines what our communion with Jesus Christ is or ultimately who Jesus Christ is. The Church is formed through our communion with Christ.

The Gospel we have heard is a complex one. It is an interesting insight into the friendship of Jesus with this family and their practical service to help him in his mission. Jesus on his mission was not just surrounded by the twelve Apostles. There were many who accompanied him on his missionary journeys; there were men and women who served him in different ways yet who together imbibed his teaching and his witness.

Lazarus and his sisters were close to Jesus in friendship. Friendship with Jesus for us means friendship in his service through understanding his word. Each of us can join with him in his mission and living out his mission in the great and small tasks of life. Frank Duff could never have been described in terms of what today would be called “a celebrity”. He shunned publicity. He shunned superficiality. Yet his work has spread to so many parts of the world and has affected so many lives through the fruits of constant bonds of friendship with the Lord.

Renewal of the Church is not about media strategies or structural reform. In the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus clearly indicates in the figure of Mary that what is vital - and what can never be substituted by any other merits - is the willingness to know Jesus and to enter into true friendship with him. That means allowing his word to capture our hearts; it means having the same mind that was within Christ Jesus himself. It is about knowing the Father through encountering Jesus.

Renewal in the Church in Ireland will be a painful renewal. Jesus message was not that anything goes. There is something radical about the commitment, which Jesus requires of us. “Let the dead bury their dead”, is not a message of compromise.

There are many indications that the Church in Ireland would seem to have lost its way. Let me be very clear: sadly many people, of various ages, no longer really know Jesus Christ. That is not to say that they are not good people, caring people. It is not to say that the Church is only for a holy elite: the Church is a Church of sinners; each of us has to repent day after day; each of us compromises and each of us lets Jesus down and betrays Jesus.

The Church is the Church of Jesus Christ. It is not a vague moralising agency in society. It is not there to provide some sort of spiritual comfort zone for all comers. The Eucharist and the sacraments are celebrations of faith in Jesus Christ within a Christian community. Allowing the sacramental life of the Church become some sort of vague social celebrations is allowing the true identity of the Church to become distorted.

I am not saying the active members of the Church community have been authentic followers of Jesus Christ. The Church has indeed been betrayed by its own active members. In the face of such failure the Church has at times given the impression of wishing to be all-embracing and all-forgiving in a simplistic manner.

Where do we go on the path of renewal? Can we be happy to celebrate first communion services which put people into debt for thousands of Euro for empty external expenses, while neither the children nor their parents have been led to a true understanding of the Eucharist and the Eucharistic community which is the Church? Can we be satisfied when confirmation is looked on by many as a graduation out of Church life? In not addressing such issues we are not just deceiving ourselves but we are damaging the integrity of the message of Jesus.

The Church is not a holy elite. It is made up today as always by the humble of heart. Many people with little education have a deeper insight into the message of Jesus Christ than learned theologians or bishops. But in today’s society where the message of Jesus is less and less accessible, the Church must become a place where formation in the Word of God resounds in a way that it has not done so in the Irish Church for generations.

I would like to thank the Legion of Mary in the Archdiocese of Dublin for their generous participation in our diocesan project this year of making the word of God in the Gospel of Saint Luke available to families. I would like to thank the Legion of Mary nationwide for their renewed reflection on the Word of God and its application to daily life. I would like to thank you for your commitment to prayer and to the Eucharist where Jesus is present in our hearts.

I am very happy to see such a large representation of priests present at our ceremony today. I would like to thank the priests who act as spiritual directors to the Legion of Mary and who provide formation for the spiritual life of the members, helping them day by day to rediscover and to recommit themselves top the charism of the movement. The Legion of Mary is fundamentally a lay movement but the place of the priestly ministry is aloe essential to it. I particularly wish to thank those priests who have so many demands on their time and yet who are so dedicate to the work with the Legion of Mary.

Frank Duff founded the Legion of Mary in 1921 at a critical moment in Irish history. It was a time of political uncertainty, which eventually would explode into civil war. It was a time in which this city was marked by very harsh poverty and also of widespread moral impoverishment. Frank Duff was a man who in the face of a major social challenge did something. He did not write a Letter to the Editor. He gathered likeminded men and women around him into a movement of spiritual renewal, prayer and Christian service. He was not discouraged either by the size of the challenge or by the paucity of his means. He was a man of the Church - misunderstood by many in the Church, including Archbishops of Dublin. Like Mary, his model, he never flinched. Frank Duff pondered the Word of God day by day and through him then the Lord worked great things.

Prayer for the Beatification of
The Servant of God, Frank Duff

God our Father, You inspired your servant Frank Duff with a profound insight into the mystery of your Church, the Body of Christ, and of the place of Mary the Mother of Jesus in this mystery.

In his immense desire to share this insight with others and in filial dependence on Mary he formed her Legion to be a sign of her maternal love for the world and a means of enlisting all her children in the Church’s evangelising work.

We thank you Father for the graces conferred on him and for the benefits accruing to the Church from his courageous and shining faith.
With confidence we beg you that through his intercession you grant the petition we lay before you …

We ask too that if it be in accordance with your will, the holiness of his life may be acknowledged by the Church for the glory of your Name,
through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

This prayer can be obtained from the Legion of Mary website
www.legion-of-mary.ie

All Legion Councils, praesidia and individual legionaries are encouraged to actively promote the Cause of the Servant of God, Frank Duff, through the widespread dissemination of the Frank Duff prayer leaflets, through the organising of Frank Duff prayer groups and the holding of Masses to commemorate his life.

If you need Frank Duff prayer leaflets, please contact the Concilium.

Favours attributed to the intercession of
The Servant of God, Frank Duff

Should be reported to:

Legion of Mary,
De Montfort House,
Morning Star Avenue,
North Brunswick Street,
Dublin 7, IRELAND