Legion of Mary

Dear Friends in Christ,

Recently you heard about our parish evangelization group and perhaps you would like to know more about what they are doing and why. There is a precedent for this activity and knowledge of its history will hopefully show why it is important for the Church.

First, let’s look at the Gospels. We know that Jesus sent out his Apostles to preach the Gospel and they went two by two to towns and cities. Later, after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the Apostles separated and founded churches in various countries. The Church is by nature missionary, which means, that she continues to seek new opportunities to spread the good news of salvation. For this reason there are great missionary saints like St. Francis Xavier who spread the Gospel in the Far East and our own California Apostle, Blessed Junipero Serra.

In modern times lay people have been involved in missionary work. We have Lay Mission Helpers who work with clerical and religious missionaries in developing countries. We have the Legion of Mary, founded in 1921 by Frank Duff in Ireland, which blends spiritual and apostolic work.

One of the main works of the Legion of Mary is house to house visitation. In this work the Legion members visit homes in the parish and inquire about the Catholics present and whether they may need the Sacraments. They also invite inactive Catholics to return to Church and provide information about the local parish by leaving copies of the Sunday bulletin. Our evangelization group is very closely modeled on these home visits ofthe Legion of Mary. They gather at our church and receive a priest’s blessing before they go out to visit homes in the parish. They present Catholic literature approved by the pastor that encourage active participation in the Catholic Church. They have been studying Catholic Doctrine and are well-prepared to engage persons in dialogue and answer questions about the faith.

Members of our Legion of Mary Praesidium have joined these young people in their visits, and we have already seen some good fruit of their efforts. People they have visited have contacted us and are interested in learning more about the Catholic faith. One of these days you may hear a knock on your door and open to find a parishioner asking you about your Catholic faith. Please welcome them and encourage them in this excellent work.

All of these parish evangelizers have a personal prayer life that nourishes and strengthens their apostolic work. Please pray for them so that the kingdom of God will continue to spread in north Costa Mesa.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand