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     Bishop Sheen, quoting Don Bosco many years ago, said that the path to renewal of the faith would occur by rediscovery of devotion to the Mother of God and devotion to the Holy Eucharist. I am pleased to report that both here at the Seminary are coming back strong!

     First, the Blessed Virgin Mary. When I came to the Seminary 20 years ago, there were three class periods on Mary, and of course, her perpetual virginity was so confused that some wondered if it was still a doctrine of the Church. Anyone who was bold enough to pray the Rosary in the Chapel was taken aside and told it was Pre-Vatican II and if he did it again, it would become a formation issue because of his “rigidity.” The only nod to the Blessed Mother was the annual Lessons and Carols concert, which was held the day before our Patronal Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

     Now, some twenty years later, we have a four credit hour course on Mariology tied in with Eschatology, every Monday in October we gather and publically recite the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament. We sing the Salve Regina after Evening prayer on Tuesdays. In May, we honor Mary with a May crowning of one of her statues on the grounds. We still have the Lessons and Carols on the evening of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

   More good signs! In the month of August, I was privileged to be asked to give a morning of reflection to 44 members of the Lay Pastoral Ministry Program and some visitors on Marian spiritual discernment based on the title of Mary as our Lady of Good Counsel. It was well received by all. Yesterday I gave a morning of reflection to 50 members of the Bishop Fenwick Society, a group of benefactors. My first talk was on Why we need the Mother of God. In this talk I discussed the role of the Virgin Mary as Mother and Guardian of Christian culture. I connected the decrease of devotion to the Mother of God from the late 60′s to the early 80′s with the rise of the contraceptive mentality, the denigration of Motherhood, the exploitation of women through pornography and the culture of death. For a moment, I was afraid the roof might cave in, but it didn’t. The second talk was on “Marian devotion and the Rosary.” At Mass we celebrated the Vtovie Mass in honor of Mary, Mother of Fairest Love. Those in attendance seemed to be geniunely appreciative and were glad those in formation were getting strong Marian education.

     I am glad that Marian devotion and all devotions are making a strong resurgence. I recently ran into a priest who discarded these rosary rallies that were popping up as mere nostalgia, so I know there is still a long way to go to integrating Mary back into parish life and the lives of individual believers. May the Holy Spirit renew in us the true gift of piety, which gives us the grace to live our heritage with pride, flourish in it and then pass it on to those around us. We need to especially pray that young girls and young mothers come to a deeper love for the Mother of God as a way to preserve their true Christian strength and femininity.

With any luck, I will soon have these talks on the website once I learn how to do it.

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