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New Shrine in Kerala, India
"My House shall be a House of Prayer for all Peoples" (Isaiah 56:7)
The newly built Shrine of our Lady of La Salette at Kayakunnu, Wayanad was blessed on May 20, 2017 by Bishop Mar Jose Porunnedom. It is a dream comes true for the La Salette Missionaries in India as we consecrate and dedicate the Shrine of our Blessed Mother. This will be the first shrine in Kerala dedicated to our Lady of La Salette.
A Place of Prayer
From left: Our Lady of La Salette; New La Salette Shrine in IndiaThe La Salette Shrine is open for all people and will be known as a place of prayer. People of all faith will be welcomed at our shrine and I strongly believe that this shrine will be a center for reconciliation and a place of consolation for many souls.
I have a dream to see La Salette Ashram as a great spiritual center. I am sure that the new Shrine, new house and the retreat center will support us in making this dream come true. The Ashram ministries, the retreat center, vocation promotion, lay association and all other ministries that we do around the area will be supported by our blessed mother and her intercession.
Our Blessed Mother asked us to make her message known to all her people. We can be proud of the ministries we do in making the reconciliation message known to the entire world… The shrine becomes a reality for us through the great support of some well-wishers of La Salette…
Among the Ruins of Arakan
The Great Image or Mahamuni, Mandalay, Burma; author: Wagaung at English WikipediaAnd yet like every other corner of the world, wherever man has pitched his tent, Arakan has its history and its places of interest. On a recent trip through the districts of Akyab and Paletwa, I visited several old towns where there still remain extensive ruins testifying to the ancient glories Arakan once knew. In the chronological order the first of these is the old Mahamuni Pagoda, said to be the oldest in Burma, ante-dating even the famed Shwe Dagon of Rangoon.
Former Capital
Though I have often resolved before now to leave the visiting of ruins to younger legs, the prospect of another ruin in my neighborhood always seems to weaken my resolution. And so I found myself cycling along the six miles from Kyauktaw to Thayetbin in the mid-day sun grumbling to my companion that for a certainty this was the ruin to end all ruins in my life-time.The dust of the road, the heat of the sun, a burning thirst – all contributed to making my experience a feeling of kinship with the venerable old pile called Mahamuni Pagoda, when we arrived there. My kind companion and guide explained with thrilling eloquence how this was the first capital of the old Arakenese Kings who flourished (to use the terminology of the best historians) hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Here was to be found formerly the famous image of Buddha, deposited by that good man as he was sailing through the skies one day over this very town, and to which image he imparted the life-giving warmth – whatever that is.
Born a La Salette
Sister Antoinette Marie-Claire Raharisoa, SSND, on the Holy MountainAs good practicing Catholics, we went every Sunday to Sunday Mass, without asking any questions. We were not allowed to work on Sundays. Every evening at home we prayed. We prayed together to Our Lady of La Salette. I did not even know where these prayers came from or to whom to address it but I said it with all my heart.
Every Sunday before the celebration of the Word of God, while waiting for all to arrive, our catechists had us pray the rosary followed by the Litany of Our Lady of La Salette. In fact, since my childhood, the Message of La Salette has been an integral part of my faith journey. Thanks to this faith I received from my parents and the Church, I have always sought how to please Jesus, by giving myself entirely to him. This led me to answer a very special call.
Answering a Special Call
This is how I joined the Sisters of Our Lady La Salette! Arriving in France in 2004 as a novice on internship, I made my first vows in October, 2004 and made my solemn profession in March 2011. I have a religious sister with the Sisters of Christ.After my first profession, I was sent by Sister Marie Victoire, Superior General in 2004, with two other sisters of my promotion, to open a new community in the diocese of Gap. After 6 years, I am appointed in the diocese of Saint-Flour. Then return to the diocese of Gap. It was here that the Congregation appointed me provincial superior of the NSDS of France. It is in the community that I find fraternal help and the necessary moral support. It is this fraternal life that carries me.
Prayer, Community Life and our Congregation
I experience that praying is not always easy. It is not easy to confide in God in the face of difficult situations and trials, and even in the face of my successes. I need humility. I know that I must be guided by the Spirit. It is he who invites me to look further, towards the beauty of his call which I have benefited from.The Faith of Malagasies
Fr. John Brady, M.S. (1907-1970), a Missionary in Madagascar welcomes Bp. Francis Dantin, M.S. (1870-1941) in 1935A thousand answers might be given to these queries, fully justifying the foreign mission movement, if the words of Christ Himself were not enough: "Go and teach ail nations." The opinion seems to be quite common that the natives in uncivilized lands never really imbibe the true faith, even after years of endeavor on the part of the missionaries.
Perhaps the following short sketches of little incidents that took place here at our mission of Morondava, Madagascar, within the past month may help to convince the skeptic that the faith is really taking root and making progress in foreign lands. These examples are typical of a thousand other proofs we witness daily around us, showing that our Malagasies treasure the same faith of which we are so proud.
A Simple Envelope
The first incident I quote took place the day after the feast of St. Joseph. Our good lay Brother was removing the temporary altar which we had erected in the sanctuary as a shrine in honor of the saint. As he took down the statue, a small white envelope fell to the floor. Not knowing what it might contain, the Brother brought it to the house and laid it upon my desk.Returning to my room about two hours later, I found the envelope with two or three other Ietters. Ignorant of its origin and contents, I opened the envelope indifferently and read with amazement the following:
Promises Kept
In November 1941, three newly ordained La Salette priests boarded the S.S. President Grant in San Francisco, California, to sail to the La Salette Missions in Burma. On December 8, Pearl Harbor was bombed and America was at war with Japan. The passengers of the ship were ordered to disembark and sleep on the shore. At night, the ship slipped away with all the passengers' luggage to Australia.
On their way to Burma, in fall of 1941, they were captured in Manila: (from left) La Salette Frs. Frederick Julien, John Doherty, and Joseph Decoteau.Having discovered the Japanese plan to execute the internees, General Douglas MacArthur mapped out a daring rescue. In the early morning of February 23, 1945, while the Japanese were doing their calisthenics, some 200 U.S. paratroopers dropped from the heavens and separated the Japanese from their guns. As the first paratrooper touched the ground, the Filipino guerilla scouts, hidden in the nearby mountain, surrounded the camp and began their attack.
A Battle Around Us
"A fierce battle took place," said Father Julien. "Bullets flew over our heads. We all lay flat on the ground praying the rosary. I was convinced some of us would die. Trembling from head to foot and unable to control my head pounding on the ground, I promised Our Lady of La Salette to erect a Shrine in her honor in the Philippines should she help me survive."Amphibian tanks broke through the fences and the internees were herded on even as the Japanese continued shelling from the hills. Miraculously, not even one internee was killed. The camp went up in flames.
Soon the three La Salettes were reunited and deported to the United States where they petitioned the Seven Dolor Province to allow them to return to the Philippines. Back in Los Banos in 1944, Bishop Constance Jurgens invited Fathers Descoteau and Julien to come to Isabela, a province up north, to help when the war was over.
Patiently Seeking Permission to Fulfill His Promise
A postulatum, therefore, petitioning to accept the Philippine mission and signed by all the La Salettes in Texas and Louisiana was presented in the Provincial Chapter in 1948. But the decision was to maintain Burma. Henceforth, all ensuing correspondences were addressed to Father Elmeric Dubois, the Provincial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Province, eventually paving the way to the acceptance of the Philippine mission.LA SALETTE IN NORWAY
A mosaic of Icelandic martyred Bp. Jón Arason (c. 1484-1550) In an issue of "The Catholic Missions," an interesting article, entitled "Scandinavia and Baltic Countries," describes the vicissitudes of the Church in the land of the Norsemen, from the days of the Vikings, through the sad period of the Reformation, down to the present day. The author, Viggo F. Rambush, President of St. Ansgar's Scandinavian Catholic League in New York, in the limited space of a magazine article could do no more than trace this history in its larger lines. Called to Ministry in Norway
The subject, however, is of more than passing interest to the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, for Norway was their first foreign mission field. A few months before the Holy See had set her approval on the Community, raising it from its diocesan status to that of a religious Congregation of pontifical right, the Congregation of the Propaganda had already, by a decree dated March 6th, 1879, confided to the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette under the leadership of Monsignor Bernard, the evangelization of Norway and Lapland.A Time of Violent Persecution of Catholics
No mission could have been more difficult for the young and struggling Community, since, to climatic hardships there was added the hostility of the greater part of the people who resented what they considered foreign intrusion. In the days of the Reformation, Lutheranism had been established by violence as the national religion and was strongly entrenched in the hearts of the people. Craft and force brought about the victory of Protestanism so rapidly and so completely that in 1550 Jon Arason, the last Bishop of Holar, in Iceland, was executed for his beliefs and died a martyr . . .For centuries Norway remained as sealed to the Catholic Faith as Thibet. It was only in the nineteenth century that all "dissenters" (including Catholics who had come into the country) were released from control of the Lutheran State Church. The Catholic Church had waited long. At once, as soon as the doors of Norway were ajar to her, she recommenced her age-long struggle for people's souls. . . . "The first priests to settle in the country in recent years (1859)," continues “The Catholic Missions”, "were Frenchmen, the Abbés Bernard and Baudoin."
Challenges for Fr. Bernard Bernard
Father Bernard Bernard, one of the first missionaries of the North Pole region was appointed Prefect Apostolic of Norway and Lapland in 1862. He established his official residence at Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and thence was accustomed to set out on his mission tours to all parts of this great and desolate field.Fr. Gardner Gave His Life
On August 14th, 1937, Father Philip J. Gardner (1905-1942), Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette, bade fond farewell to home and country, and set sail from New York, one of a pioneer mission band of five, whose destination was far away Burma (now Myanmar).A Sad Passing and Too Soon…
Fr. Philip J. Gardner, M.S. (1905-1942), Missionary to Burma Death came to the young missionary some five years after he had set foot in Burma and begun his strenuous work among a benighted people. Few yet fruitful had been these brief years in the darksome land of pagodas. The sudden closing of a promising missionary career brought a crowning glory to Father Gardner's cherished dream – that of laying down his life for his people. Blessed was he with the words of the Master, "Well done", as he appeared before him to report "Mission Completed".
An Unfortunate Situation
The sad Odyssey of Father Gardner's death trek began in Mandalay, in central Burma. When he learned that the storm of war was approaching his favorite mission in Prome District, he bravely set out with his companion, Father Joseph A. Proulx, M.S., to make his way back to one of his Catholic Chin villages near Prome.Breton Lay La Salettes
The Chapel and Grounds for the Augustinian Sisters in Morlaix, FranceThis place became a meeting place for the Laity Salettins of the West. Together with Sister Anne-Marie and another sister, regularly four times a year, the group prays, reads and shares its experience in community, in light of the Gospel and the Great News entrusted by the Beautiful Lady. It is in this rereading that the life of laity and religious sisters finds breath and is excited by the mission entrusted to them by Mary: "Make this message known to all my people."
The eldest daughter of La Salette
By the concluding days of 1846, the Great News of the event of La Salette found a special resonance at Morlaix among the Augustinian Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus. In her message the sisters immediately discovered a God who, through Mary, came to tell the world not about God’s vengeance toward the sinner, but of God’s infinite mercy. The Beautiful Lady confirmed "her people" in her ability to pray for change – "if they convert..."
Augustinian Sisters of La Salette
In 1834 the first community of the Augustinian Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus arrived in the area of Morlaix (Saint Martin des Champs), France. They managed a hospital and boarding school, carrying out by their ministry as caregivers their mission to testify to all of the Mercy of God.Our First Days in Tanzania
Habari! Greetings from Tanzania!
A gathering of concelebrants for MassWe would like to give you some news from here in Tanzania since our Superior General, Fr. Silvano Mrisa, M.S., left on July 24, 2016. In our first month here, some of the diocesan clergy who were not able to attend the inauguration on the July 17th were coming to visit us and to personally welcome us into the Bukoba Diocese. We experienced the warm welcome from every priest that we met here as well as from the religious (women) in the diocese.Our parish is composed of 43 Small Christian Communities from the 15 villages entrusted to our care. For now, we already visited some of the villages and celebrated Mass there but we are not yet visited half of them. We have 3 sub-stations, including the Parish Center.
Here are some of the highlights of our stay here:
A Time to Celebrate La Salette – 1846-2016
The Weeping Mother by the French artist, ArcabasWe are reminded in the La Salette Rule of Life that: “Invoked under the title of Our Lady of La Salette, Reconciler of Sinners, Mary is the Patroness of the Congregation. The anniversary of her Apparition is celebrated with solemnity by all the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.” (Rule of Life, 2cp)
Pope Francis also recites again the marvelous qualities of God: “Throughout the history of humanity, God will always be the One who is present, near, provident, holy and merciful” (Misericordiae Vultus, #6)…
Our Merciful Mother of La Salette
. . . for 170 years the Beautiful Lady’s message of reconciliation and of mercy has resounded throughout the Church and the world, thanks above all to the witnessing of the shepherds, Maximin and Melanie, and that of the Missionaries and Sisters of La Salette who have accepted this heritage; as well as the witnessing of so many faithful laity – men and women who have embraced and appropriated for themselves this charism of the Apparition.
This is truly a significant host of persons who have been touched by the tears of the Virgin, and who have not hesitated, throughout these years, to commit themselves in their journey of personal and community faith, to announcing and spreading the Gospel in light of what has transpired on the Mountain of La Salette September 19, 1846.