Q. Can you give me a snapshot of the worldwide Marian Congregation? Your call, where you’re located, and what you do? A. We were founded 340 years ago in 1673 in Poland b y Blessed Stanislaus Papczynski (1631-1701). He wanted an active, apostolic community to promote the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, to assist the deceased and the dying, and to help diocesan clergy in parishes. Because of religious persecution in Europe, we were at the point of extinction a little more than 100 years ago, having only one member left in the world! That’s when we were renovated by Blessed George Matulaitis ( 1871-1927). We currently have around 500 members in the world, including both priests and broth- ers, who serve in 20 countries. They include 12 countries in Europe —many that were either in the former Soviet bloc or once part of the Soviet Union. Our ministry there involves helping people to rediscover their faith after many years of suffering under communism. In the mid-20th century, we spread to Brazil, Argentina, England, and Australia to minister to immigrants from Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. In Brazil and Argentina, we branched out to serve all the ethnic groups there. In the 1980s, we opened a mission in Rwanda in Africa and helped the people there through dark days after the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Our ministry there today continues to involve spiritual healing. Then, at the beginning of the 21st Century, we opened a mission in a difficult region in Cameroon. Our most recent missions were opened in Asia in thanksgiving for the beatification in 2007 of our Founder. We are working at a shrine and a house of formation in the Philippines, and we have a formation house for our young candidates in South India. To sum up, we are missionaries. We run shrines, parishes, retreat houses, and schools. We are involved in journalism, media, and publishing. We run hospices and programs to help alcoholics. We are involved in religious education, work with youth, minister to the elderly, and assist families in a variety of ways. We seek to go where the need is greatest in order to serve Christ and the Church. Q. How do the Marian Helpers assist you as a Congregation in your ministries around the world? Please give examples. A. First of all, the prayers and sacrifices that the Marian Helpers offer up for the Marians are invaluable. Another important way that the Helpers assist us is by asking the Marians to remember their living and deceased relatives and friends in our Masses and prayers through enrollments in the Association of Marian Helpers. Their offerings then help support us. Many Helpers also request that a Mass be said for their particular intention. Our global Marian community, especially our mis- sionaries who say many of the Masses, is then supported by the Helpers’ Mass stipends. Through the years, the Marian Helpers also assisted the Marians in beginning our work in England and Brazil, as well as in returning to Portugal after a 100-year absence because of religious persecution. Further, funds raised through our Marian Helpers Center in Stockbridge, Mass., helped rebuild the Church in Central and Eastern Europe after commu- nism. More recently, the center in Stockbridge has raised funds for our missions in Africa and now Asia. Finally, among our Marian Helpers, there are many benefactors who help support our men in formation through- out the world. As the vicar general of the Marians, I join with our superior general here in Rome to offer our heart- felt thanks for all of the support that you, the Marian Helpers, have offered us in our world- wide mission. We are a small community, and we couldn’t do a frac- tion of what we do without your help. with Fr. Joe Roesch, MIC Marian Ask a Who are the Marian Fathers? Fr. Joe Roesch, MIC, welcomes your questions. Send them to: Ask a Marian, Editorial, Eden Hill, Stockbridge, MA 01263, or e-mail
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