The Association of Marian Helpers
A Spiritual Benefit Society
Statutes | Benefits | Publications
| Pilgrimages | Clubs
Statutes of the Association of Marian Helpers
The purpose of the Association is to promote God's glory and devotion
to Mary, the Mother of God, by encouraging members to strive for Christian
holiness and by fostering and sustaining religious vocations through prayer
and good works.
To accomplish this goal, the Association
- promotes good works of prayer, penance and charity, offered to God,
asking Him to send many good vocations to the religious life; and
- supports the apostolic work of the Marians, especially the printing
and distribution of religious literature and publications about Mary, and
- publishes the Marian Helpers Bulletin magazine to keep in contact with
members and to inform them about the work of the Marians.
The purpose of the Association is to promote God's glory and devotion
to Mary, the Mother of God, by encouraging members to strive for Christian
holiness and by fostering and sustaining religious vocations through prayer
and good works.
To accomplish this goal, the Association promotes good works of prayer,
penance and charity, offered to God, asking Him to send many good vocations
to the religious life; and supports the education and training of young
men for the priesthood in the Congregation of Marians, and supports the
apostolic work of the Marians, especially the printing and distribution
of religious literature and publications about Mary, and publishes the
Association of Marian Helpers Bulletin magazine to keep in contact with
members and to inform them about the work of the Marians.
In 1944, the Association began as a small group of friends eager to
help encourage vocations and provide support for the handful of Marian
priests and brothers who had come to start an apostolate of mercy on Eden
Hill a year earlier.
The Association has since grown into a spiritual benefit society of
one million members, and its outreach has grown as well. Members now share
in the spiritual benefits of the Masses, prayers, and good works of some
600 Marian priests and brothers working to promote God's mercy and devotion
to Mary in Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, England, Estonia, Germany,
Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Ukraine
and the U.S.A.
Through the Bulletin (the second largest-circulation quarterly Catholic
magazine in the world!) and various other materials distributed annually,
members of the Association are kept informed about the Marian family they
have now become part of and are constantly encouraged to strive for personal
holiness, offering their own prayers and good works for the good of others.
In order to protect the privacy of Association members and ensure that
they will not receive unsolicited mail, the Association membership list
is not made available to any other organizations, individuals, or groups.
Benefits of Membership Enrollment
Enrollment in the Association of Marian Helpers is a very precious gift.
Each member shares in the daily Masses, prayers, good works and merits
of Marian priests and brothers around the world. A special Mass is offered
on feast days of Our Savior and His Blessed Mother. An additional Mass
is offered for deceased members on All Souls' Day, and for all members
on each First Friday and each First Saturday of the month. Another Holy
Mass is celebrated daily for all members in addition to those mentioned
above. All members also share in the perpetual Novena to The Divine Mercy.
Many apostolic projects originate from the St. Stanislaus Kostka Province
of Marians as part of its commitment "to serve Christ and the Church"
under the mantle of Mary Immaculate as "prophetic bearers of God's
merciful love, especially to people in greatest need."
Backing these projects is the prayer power and material assistance of
the one-and-a-half-million member Association of Marian Helpers. It was
founded in 1944 to encourage and sustain vocations to the priesthood and
the religious life in the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception
of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and to support the spiritual and material
works allotted to the Congregation by Divine Providence.
The Association takes its name of "Helpers" from one of the
charisms -- special gifts of the Holy Spirit -- enumerated by St. Paul
in chapter 12, verse 28 of his First Letter to the Corinthians (see the
Jerusalem Bible translation). It designates faithful who, within the body
of Christ (the Church), by the Holy Spirit's action, are particularly called
and empowered to minister to it with voluntary gifts to charity. They prolong,
as it were, Christ's action of self-giving for the building up of His Body
"until we become the perfect Man (the total Christ, made of Head and
members), fully mature with the fulness of Christ himself" (Ep 4:13),
where "God lives among human beings" and "makes his home
among them" (Rev 21:3).
At the heart of membership in the Association of Marian Helpers is the
"Spiritual Bouquet" or Enrollment -- a special kind of gift whereby
enthusiastic Marian Helpers can enroll friends and loved ones in the Association
so that they, too, can share the benefits of membership and play a part
in the apostolic work of the Marians.
When you enroll a living person, you send that person a special enrollment
card or folder, called a "Spiritual Bouquet." When you enroll
a deceased loved one, you send the card or folder to the family members
or close friends, who then also become members of the Association. In each
case, the new member receives a letter of welcome into the Marian Family
and begins to receive regular issue of the Association of Marian
Helpers Bulletin.
Members of the Association of Marian Helpers share in the benefits of
all the daily Masses, prayers, and good works of Marian priests and brothers
all over the world. In addition, they receive a specific remembrance in:
- Holy Mass celebrated daily for members;
- A Mass offered for members on the First Friday and First Saturday of
each month;
- A Mass offered for deceased members on All Souls Day;
- A special Mass offered on each feast day of Our Savior and His Blessed
Mother, including The Presentation (Feb. 2), The Annunciation (Mar. 25),
The Assumption (Aug. 15), The Birth of Mary (Sept. 8), and The Immaculate
Conception (Dec. 8);
- The daily Novena to The Divine Mercy.
Publications
Association of Marian Helpers Bulletin
Our 24-page quarterly magazine is sent free of charge to our members and
friends.
Roze Maryi
This publication is our bi-monthly Polish magazine -- very similar to the
Association of Marian Helpers Bulletin.
Fuente de Misericordia
Our new Spanish publication.
Spiritual Pilgrimages
Each year the Marians sponsor special pilgrimages to various places
throughout the world. Each is led by a Marian Chaplain. For more information
on our pilgrimages, call our toll-free number or write to: Pilgrimages,
Marian Helpers Center, Stockbridge, MA 01263.
Clubs
- 13th of the Month Club
Before 1973, when our Marian house in Detroit, Michigan closed, our friends
there met on the 13th of each month to pray the Rosary, learn the latest
news about the Marians, and take up a collection for our work. In December
1988, the club was revived through the mail. Each month members receive
a newsletter on some aspect of our work or of the Fatima story and Mary's
message. On the 13th of each month, each member prays the Rosary for our
monthly intentions, and our Marians in Fatima offer a special Mass just
for club members.
- Friends of Mercy Club
This club was first begun in the Spring of 1989 for people who wanted to
honor God's mercy in a special way, help support our Marian works of mercy,
and receive regular news about the Divine Mercy message and devotion. Every
other month members receive a newsletter, and every day at 3 o'clock they
join us in praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy -- or at least pause for
a moment of prayer, especially on Fridays.
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