The Director General (An Introduction)

Download this document in Microsoft Word.

G. Gregory Gay, C.M.
Director General

September 14, 2004

To the members of the Association of the Miraculous Medal

Dear sisters and brothers,

May the grace and peace of God Our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you, members of the Association of the Miraculous Medal!

My name is Gregory Gay. I am the new Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and, as such, I also have the privilege of being the Director General of the Association of the Miraculous Medal. I would like to begin by telling you a few things about myself.

I am originally from the United States, a little town outside of Baltimore, Maryland. I was born in 1953, the son of George and Jean Gay. I am the second oldest of ten children. We were raised to live our Catholic faith in a very simple, yet devoted way. My favorite time of living my faith was during Lent when my Mom and I would go to the evening Mass. I remember throughout my school years accompanying her in those special Eucharistic moments.

I was introduced to the Congregation of the Mission by my great-uncle who was also a Vincentian missionary. He worked both as Subdirector of the Daughters of Charity and as a missionary in the Republic of Panama. As an older man he spent his vacations with my family, so I had the opportunity to listen to many wonderful stories about his experiences both with the Daughters of Charity and also on the mission in Panama. I think it was his sharing with me about working with the poor which enkindled within me a desire to become a Vincentian missionary — God’s grace at work.

I entered the Congregation of the Mission upon leaving secondary school and began my university studies at the Congregation’s Eastern Province (Philadelphia) philosophy house in Niagara Falls, New York. It was a residence where 40 of us lived and studied at Niagara University. I later did my Internal Seminary, or what most religious communities call their novitiate, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Then I did my studies in theology at Mary Immaculate Seminary in Northampton, Pennsylvania where I received two degrees, a Masters in Theology and a Masters in Divinity.

After having been ordained on 24 May 1980, I was asked to go for further studies at the Catholic University of America, but this was not a very long-lived experience. I asked out of these doctoral studies after one semester and asked my provincial if I could go to the missions in Panama. My request was not responded to positively until five years later. In that five-year interim I worked as a subdirector of our philosophy house, where I had lived as a student myself. I was also part-time professor and campus minister at Niagara University.

Finally, in 1985, I was assigned to the missions in Panama. During the first four years, I worked in a rural section, attending 25 villages, all of which I traveled to and from on horseback. It was one of the most memorable times of my life as a Vincentian priest. I was formed by the people themselves, the poor, and taught by them how to live more deeply my faith.

Later I was asked to move into our formation program, recently begun in Panama. I had a number of years experience accompanying our philosophy students, our theology students, and then as Director of our Internal Seminary. It was one of the moments where I most enjoyed working in formation, having the opportunity to accompany these young men in coming to know more deeply the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul.

I then worked as a pastor for a period of only one year. I had the responsibility for more than 25 communities and an opportunity to work with lay leaders in their formation and preparation, accompanying them as they guided their villages in deepening their faith commitment to God and to neighbor.

Afterwards I took a sabbatical in the States, where I had the opportunity not so much to study in an intellectual way but, as I called it, “to study my heart,” to reflect on where God had brought me to that point in my life and where he wanted me to go. Later I returned to Panama and worked once again with our theology students. It was while I was their director that I was elected coordinator of the mission. Before I was able to finish the task, I was asked by our Superior General, Fr. Robert Maloney, to become the provincial of our Central American Province, beginning in March of 2000.

I learned a great deal from being a provincial. Central America is a small province of 40 men, working in four countries, with a desire to deepen our commitment to the poor, the formation of the laity, and at the same time greater commitment on the part of those in formation to live in greater proximity with the poor. I was the provincial for a four-year period and then I was elected to another four-year period. It was in the beginning of the first year of my second term that I was elected by the delegates of our General Assembly to be the new Superior General. That is my story.

I am happy to be able to serve as the Director General of the Association of the Miraculous Medal. I personally have a great devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. I gained a deeper knowledge of the Miraculous Medal when I was in our Internal Seminary in the Central House of the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission, where we have the Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Every Monday there was devotion on the part of the people and we, as novices, would attend the novena services, praying together with the congregations that came to worship Our Lord and to give honor to Mary, our Blessed Mother. Since that time I have always (or almost always) worn the Miraculous Medal, except when poor country people would happen to see the medal around my neck and ask me about it. I would share with them the story of the medal and then, in one way or another, seeing that they would like to have it for themselves, I many times wound up giving away my Miraculous Medal.

It seems to me that it is part of who we are as Vincentians, it is part of our devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. She is our patron. It is through the Miraculous Medal that we deepen our own devotion, love and commitment to Jesus Christ in serving the poor. Mary herself invites us “to give away” what we have received.

One of the things that has always struck me about the Association is the great devotion and love of simple people for Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. I witnessed this at the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal at our Central House in Philadelphia. We were always told, and I know as a fact, that as seminarians in formation if it were not for the prayers and the generous offerings of the members of the Association of the Miraculous Medal we would never have had the opportunity to prepare ourselves to be missionaries and to serve in the Congregation, evangelizing the poor. So, I want to thank all the members of the Association for your devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, for your faith witness to Jesus, for the economic support that you give to our Congregation for the formation of our seminarians and our missions throughout the world.

Another thing that I have since learned about the Association which I like and which I hope to see further developed on the worldwide level is the growth not only of the prayer apostolate, but also the apostolate of direct service of the poor in one way or another, on the part of the different associates of the Miraculous Medal. Such apostolates could be carried out visiting shut-ins, or those in hospitals, or in prisons. We can take as our guide the 25th chapter of St. Matthew’s gospel, where the Lord clearly invites us to serve him in serving the poor: “Whatever you do to the least of my little ones, you do to me.” I want to encourage all the members of the worldwide Association of the Miraculous Medal to continue to grow in your love and devotion to our Blessed Lady, to show that love through the witness you give in your service to the poor, in whatever way you might be able to do that, either through direct or indirect service, through prayer, or financial assistance.

Our Blessed Lady was the first to say yes in following Jesus, the Evangelizer of the Poor. She is more than just a model for us. She is an inspiring example of how we are called to live our Christian faith, bringing us to holiness and to happiness in serving the Lord, loving us daily and enabling us to love. Mary shows us that God is good all the time. God loves you and thanks for your example.

Your brother in St. Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, C.M.
Superior General

Return to the top.