5 February 2009

To All The National Association of the Miraculous Medal:

O Mary conceived without sin...!

Dear ones in the love of our Blessed Mother:

            First of all, greetings from the new team of the International Secretariat which started in the International Council of the AMM held in Paris this past January 3-5.  We wish to express our desire to put ourselves at the service of the AMM established in so many countries where the Blessed Virgin is loved and where the message of the Medal which she entrusted to us is spread.  You may rely on us in whatever ways we may be helpful to you.

            At the Council in Paris we broadly dealt with the content and dynamic of the International Encounter, to be held from the afternoon of November 15 until noon of November 20, according to the enclosed program, in the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity at 140 rue du Bac in Paris, as was already announced by Father General in the Memorandum that  began the Centenary of the Pontifical Approval of the AMM. 

            We want you to be participants in the Program that is already prepared, as well as to send you the Letter of Convocation.

            All the National Associations of the AMM are invited to the International Encounter in Paris.  Each country, that already has approved National Statutes, will be allowed four representatives: the National Director, the National Sister Delegate and two laypersons.  Each country that does not yet have its statutes approved can send two persons: The National Director or the National Sister Delegate and a layperson.  All the participants will have active and passive voice.

            The General Secretariat of the Daughters of Charity at the Mother House has volunteered to help anyone that needs to arrange their Visa for entrance into the country.

            It was agreed in the Council in Paris that the not only the Director but also the National Sister Delegate ought to be expressly named by Father General for this role.  If any Director or Sister does not have this nomination, it is still possible to receive it before coming to Paris from now until November.  The rationale that motivated this decision was the advisability that the persons who come to the Encounter would truly be people who are involved in the Association.

           We need to have the names of the persons who will come to the Encounter, the Director as well as the Sister and the laypersons by 1 May 2009.  We have enclosed a registration form for this to be filled out and returned by this date.  It is essential in order to be able to arrange lodging and the activities of the Encounter.

            As you can see from the Program of the Encounter, it will deal with one theme: the revision, discussion, and preparation of the definitive text of the International Statutes, which we have lacked in recent years.  Thus it will be a “constitutional” Encounter.  We have enclosed a possible text of the Statutes which have been prepared in recent years and which occupied the greater part of the deliberations of the Council in Paris last month.  It is only a proposed text, although tentatively examined by Father General and all the members of the Council.  It responds logically to what the Association has been, what it is, and what it will be, with its emphasis on recent years.  This text ought to be read and examined in every National Council of the AMM (including, if it is deemed convenient, in a dialogue with Diocesan Councils and Local Centers) and the summary of these deliberations, along with proposals that you might wish to make, ought to be sent to this International Secretariat before 1 September 2009 at the latest.  The reason for this is that time is needed to make a good synthesis and to translate it afterward into the various languages that we use.

            So, according to what has already been said, to repeat in summary:

            1 May—Deadline for receiving in the International Secretariat (ammintermex@yahoo.com.mx) the form with the names of those participating in the Encounter. (Could you include your name, mailing address, telephone, and e-mail to facilitate communication?)

            1 September—Deadline for receiving in this International Secretariat (ammintermex@yahoo.com.mx) the suggestions, comments, and considerations of the National AMMs to the proposed text of the International Statutes.  (We ask that paragraph numbers are cited according to the text to clarify to what the suggestions refer.)

            If you have any questions, do not hesitate to raise them.  The e-mail of Sister Carolina Flores, D.C., Secretary, is: ammintermex@yahoo.com.mx .  That of Fr. Enrique Rivas is: director@medallamilagrosa.com , or: enrivas@planalfa.es . You all know that of Father General.

            May we all join in prayer with Mary, asking her help in discerning what is the most useful in spreading the message of her apparitions to St. Catherine Laboure.  We ask that we all intensify our prayer from this time until the November Encounter in Paris.

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