General Statutes of the Association of the Miraculous Medal
Project for Study of the International AMM
General Statutes of the Association of the Miraculous MedalProject for Study of the International AMM |
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I-ORIGIN
1. Origin of the Association
The Association of the Miraculous Medal is a living and constant reminder of the apparitions of the Immaculate Virgin Mary in 1830. In this apparition the Virgin gave a model of the medal which after being made spread quickly throughout the world. It was called “miraculous” by the people due to the many favors which God daily granted by means of it. The Association arose to spread the message of the Medal, as a catequesis of Salvation History, offered by the Virgin Mary, for those who have a simple heart.
2. Pontifical Approval
The Association of the Sacred Medal of the Immaculate Conception has been approved and recognized by the whole church, with its own Purposes and Statutes, by the Brief, Dilectus Dei Filius, of Pius X of 8 July 1909. The Statutes have been revised and approved anew by the Congregation of Institutes of Consecrated life and Societies of Apostolic Life 19 February 1998 (Prot N.P. 53-1989). The approval of 1909 bound the Association to the Direction of the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity.
3. The religious and devotional seat is: 140, rue du Bac 75340 Paris, Cedex 07 – France
4. The functional seat is the place of residence of the Subdirector General.
II-NATURE
The Association of the Miraculous Medal is an association of the faithful (can. 298), made up of laity, clergy and members of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, who working together, seek to promote a more perfect life in communion and to carry out apostolic activities for the purpose of spreading the message of the Blessed Virgin to Saint Catherine Laboure in 1830.
It is marked by three characteristics:
5. Ecclesial
6. Marian
7. Vincentian
III-THE END AND MEANS
8. The Association has as its purpose:
9. Means
IV. SPIRITUAL LIFE
10. The members of the Association have an awareness of an interior and communal life solidly constructed and lived, that gives strength and value to the witness that the Association proposes to live according to its ends. Besides including to live a Christian life, taken up with depth and joy, the Association tries to express itself in some virtues that arise from it own character:
11.—(PRAYING AND CONTEMPLATING) PRAYER AND CONTEMPLATION. Invited by Mary (Come to the foot of the altar…” “O Mary…pray…who have recourse…”) the members of the Association are devoted to an encounter with God in prayer and contemplation, as personal as it is communal. The strength of this practice sustains the whole Association and prepares it to leave the encounter as evangelizer of other human beings.
This assumes: keeping personally and communally the practice of prayer and contemplation.
12.—(BROTHERLY LOVE) COMMUNION in the encounter of evangelical Love, as work and joy, after the example of Mary, meeting in the Cenacle with the newborn Church. This enlivens the church, unites it, invites it to celebrate it in the liturgy and encounters, and binds it to the Church as well.
This assumes: The search for a way of personal and communal life in Charity which is meaningful to the world (Jn. 13: 35; Acts 2: 42-47; 4: 32-35). This Communion is expressed, because of its ecclesial character, in its being in tune with the Church and participating in a committed manner in its life and ministries.
13.—(EVANGELIZING) EVANGELIZATION: Bringing Life to the brothers, after the example of Mary, in the mystery of the Visitation, recognizing the wonders of the Lord and singing his praise because “he raises the lowly from the dust”.
This assumes: Trying to live in the spirit of Mary of Nazareth, towards God and towards our brothers and sisters, in order to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, especially to families.
14.—(SERVING) SERVICE: SERVING CHRIST IN THE POOR, staying together with them, like Mary in the house of Elizabeth, and in the characteristic style of the Vincentian vocation.
This assumes: Living the contemplative Vincentian spirit which urges us to express charity and bring about justice, physically and spiritually, in the service of Jesus Christ in the Poor.
The spiritual life informs all the EXPRESSIONS OF THE LIFE of the Association, concretized in: -Reflection and prayer -Celebration and encounter -Service to brothers and sisters who need us.
The Association promotes this spiritual life by its own WAY OF LIFE , a text which serves as an inspiration or rule of life for the whole AMM, and which it considers as one of the fundamental means for living its ends in simplicity.
15. Indulgences
The members of the Association of the Sacred Medal of the Immaculate Conception enjoy the indulgences given in perpetuity by the rescript of the Apostolic Penitentiary dated 27 October 1995, and continued in the approved Statutes 19 February 1998 (Protocol No. 53-1989): on the day of imposition on the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, 27 November on the feast of the Queenship of Mary on the feast of St. Catherine Laboure, 28 November on the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, 27 September on the anniversary of the establishment of the Association on the local, diocesan, national or international level.
16. The Liturgical Feast Proper
The principal Feast of the Association is celebrated November 27, when the Manifestation of the Miraculous Medal of the Blessed Virgin to St. Catherine Laboure is commemorated. The Association remembers the feast the 27th of each month, with the celebration of Masses and Marian Days. Also, the members of the Association participate with joy in a special way in all the Marian and Vincentians celebrations of the liturgical calendar.
V-MEMBERS
17. Members in general
“All the faithful of either gender can belong to the Association and participate in its privileges when they wear around the blessed and imposed Sacred Medal suspended around their neck…The members are urged to repeat frequently the invocation: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to you!” (Pope St. Pius X, Statutes, arts. 5 & 7) This signifies: -having consciously accepted the message of the Medal, -wearing it with us as a continuous reminder of the message to be lived, -habitually invoking Mary with the invocation, to encourage our fidelity to her.
The Sacred Medal is a gift for all and whoever receives and wears it with devotion and confidence is considered a member of this Association.
18. Committed members
All persons who, having received a specific formation and having expressed their desire to belong to the Association, and who commit themselves to ends of the Association, are committed members of the Association. It is necessary to make this commitment in a meaningful way, by a rite of reception and by inscription in the Register Book of the members of the Association.
19. Rights and Responsibilities of the committed members
19.1 Rights
To enjoy all the spiritual benefits which the Association gives to its members and to have active and passive voice in their participation in it.
19.2 Responsibilities
To commit themselves to observe the Statutes and to participate actively in the Association. To take part in the planed activities for receiving formation and participating in its apostolate.
20. Reception of its committed members
For each person to become part of the Association as a committed member, it is required: -To take a basic formation in the principal elements of Christian doctrine and the identity of the Association for a minimum of six months. -To express one’s intention to be united in a spirit of Christian communion, with all the members of the Local Center. -To have participated in the apostolate of the Association. -To express in writing, if possible, one’s desire to belong to the Assocation and to sign the Book of members in one’s Local Center.
VI-GOVERNMENT
21. General Level
21.1 Director General
The Association is directed by the authority of a Director General, who is the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity, as named by the Holy See (Brief Dilectus Filius, 9 July 1909).
21.1.1 Competence of the Director General
Role of the Director General:
-To govern the Association, given the connection of the Assocation with the Vincentian family, recognized by Pius X, and in accord with the Brief Dilectus Filius. His authority, according to this text, assures a guarantee of “unity” and “constancy” to the Association. -To represent the Association before international bodies of the Church and as the President General in all the gatherings that are convoked. -To name a member of the Congregation of the Mission or of the Vincentian Family, a Subdirector General, after consulting with the General Council of the Association. -To name at the request of the Visitor or Visitors, and his Council,of a country the National Directors. -To name, at the request of the Visitatrix or Visitatrices and her Council, of a country the National Sister Delegates. -In cases where there is no member of the Congregation of the Mission or a Daughter of Charity available, the nomination would be at the request of the Subdirector General. -To confirm the nominations of National Presidents -To establish National Associations with the approval of their Statutes. -In exceptional cases, to call a General Council. -To remove a President or a member of the General Council according to the conditions of Canon 318, 2.
21.2 General Assembly
The Association is one of the faithful of the Church, under the direction of the Superior General of the Congregation of the mission and the Daughters of Charity, and in solidarity with all the other branches which make up the Vincentian Family. It is governed in keeping with the dispositions of universal Canon Law and its own Statutes. The General Assembly tries to promote the participation and communion of each member in the Association. It is held at least every five years.
21.2.1 Participants in the General Assembly
The General Council, and for each National Association with approved Statutes, its National Director, the Sister Delegate and two laypersons participate. All have voice and vote. The National Associations that do not yet have approved Statutes, may send two representatives, of which one is the National Director or the Sister Delegate, and the other a layperson.
21.2.2 The Objectives of the General Assembly are:
-To elect the General President, and three more members, intended to be representatives of the regions where one finds the Association established. At least three of the four should be laypeople. -For the elections the conditions of Canon 119 should be taken into account. -To propose the revision of Statutes. Any change in the Statutes should be approved by 2/3 of the members of the Assembly, and have the approval of the Director General. These changes are presented to the Holy See for approval. -To study the status of the Association: spiritual, pastoral, economic, etc., and to suggest initiatives for the future in any of the aspects of the Association. -To offer topics of formation related to the spirit and development of the Association. -To approve commitments arising from the Assembly.
21.2.3 Decision-making
With the exception of the approval of Statutes, all the other decisions are made by absolute majority. If after two ballots there is a tie, the Director General can decide the issue by his vote.
21.3 Subdirector General.
The Subdirector General is a member of the Congregation of the Mission or another branch of the Vincentian Family, named by the Director General in order to help him in carrying out his duties.
21.3.1 Duties
His authority is delegated by Director General as described below and on certain occasions further given by the Director General. The principal duties of the International Subdirector are the following:
-To animate and guide the National Councils, in order to promote the fulfillment of the ends of the Association. -To promote the foundation of the Association en those countries in which the Association does not yet exist. - To examine the National Statutes of the Association making pertinent observations to them in accordance with the International Statutes, and to present them to the Director General for his approval. -To give his opinion to the Director General in the naming of a National Director as well as the naming of a Daughter of Charity as National Delegate. -To offer formation materials by the Association in various countries. To give criteria for the creation of new materials, in accordance with the recommendations of the two final documents of the International Encounter of the AMM: 2001 and 2005. -To present to the Director General at least once a year information about the life of the Association throughout the world. -To call and prepare a 2-day meeting at least once a year in which the General Council can meet with the Director General. In this meeting activities of the Council are evaluated and planned to further the animation and spread of the Association throughout the world. -To animate countries to study the Final Documents of the Encounters and to compose commitments and lines of action according to their own needs and cultural values. -To maintain communication with the National Directors of the Association, offering them information and materials of formation for effective animation and guidance of the National Councils and local groups. - To oversee the International Web page of the Miraculous Medal and by it to offer materials for the Association.
21.3.2 Term of office
The term of the Subdirector General will be five years, with the possibility of being named for a non-renewable second term.
21.4 The General Council
21.4.1 Members
Besides the members elected by the Assembly, the Director General, the Subdirector General, and a Councillor General of the Daughters of Charity, the executive secretary and the treasurer, if they are distinct persons, form part of the General Council. They are the major officials (Cf. Canon 318.2) of the Association.
21.4.2 Meetings
The General Council will meet at least once a year. This meeting is called and presided over by the Director General or someone he designates.
21.4.3 Duties
-To propose topics for reflection on important aspects in the life and activity of the Association. -To ensure communication with and among the Associations at the International and National levels by correspondence, visits and other possible means. -To evaluate the commitments approved by the General Assembly or international meetings. -To plan the General Assembly and the International Meetings. -To study and approve the yearly budget and financial report presented by the treasurer. -To oversee the observance of the General Statutes. -To have a plan for the distribution of goods in case of the Association’s dissolution, according to the norms to be established by the General Council.
21.4.4 Term of office
The President and the other three lay members will hold office for five years, and can be reelected for a second term only.
21.5 Duties of the President General:
-With the General council, to animate the Association. -With the consent of the Director General, to call a General Assembly. -With the Subdirector General and the Executive Secretary, to organize the holding of a yearly meeting and an agenda for it. -With the Director General or his Delegate, to represent the General Council at national and regional meetings of the Association. -To maintain a relationship with other branches of the Vincentian Family and other lay movements. -To organize activities with the General Council.
21.6 General Secretariat
21.6.1 Constitution
It will be made up of the President General or one of the two laypersons of the General Council named by the President General, the Subdirector General, the Executive Secretary and the Treasurer General, if he or she is a distinct person from the Executive Secretary. Persons for the service of the General Secretariat and Treasury are named by the Director General, after consulting with the General Council of the Association and their respective Visitors and Visitatrices, if they are members of the Congregation of the Mission or of the Daughters of Charity.
21.6.2 Duties of the General Secretary
-To promote the vitality of the Association by carrying out the proposed actions of the General Council. -To foster ways of unity among the National Associations. -To inform about the life of the Association. -To receive news of appointments on the national levels, as well as that of the creation of new Assocations. - To organize and carry out on the international level encounters and other initiatives which the Director General or the General Council deem advisable for promoting the life of the Association spiritually and apostolically. -To daily maintain the archives of the Association. -To present to the General Council a budget and a financial report at the beginning of the year.
21.6.3 Term of office
The term of office is five years, with the possibility of being named to a second term.
22. National Level
To establish a National Association it is required to have the approval of its National Statutes, drawn up to conform with Canon Law and the present General Statutes, by the Director General. In the National Statutes is established the particular norms that are considered advisable in its country concerning the organization of its members, their rights and obligations and the apostolic work that the Association proposes to carry out. The Association in each country will have a National Council. Besides the laypersons designated by the National Statutes, a National Director and a Sister Delegate named by the Director General will form part of the National Council. The National Director will the Director General, via the Secretariat General, about the life of the Association in his country. This will be done at least once a year.
23. Local Level
The true life of the Association is expressed in the activities of the Local Councils.
To begin a new group or center of the Association, the approval of the National Council and the consent in writing of the competent ecclesiastical authority is necessary, in virtue of common law and the law proper to itself.
VII-FINANCES
24. The Association of the Miraculous Medal has a not-for-profit status. Its members are aware that the goods that are administered by them are the patrimony of the poor, and they have to be at the service of the Association and its apostolic ends.
Not only the General Council but also the National Councils and the Local Centers will name a Treasurer who is charged with administering the goods of the Association according to its ends and under the direction of the respective Councils. The treasurers ought to periodically make a report of their administration to the officers of the Council.
In the General Council a report is given once a year. In the other Councils, it is given according to what the National Statutes specify. The service of the Treasurer may be one with that of the Secretariat, if is deemed advisable by the Council.
For the functioning of the General Council and the General Secretariat, the Association in each country will pay an annual tax fixed by the General Assembly.
VIII-GENERAL REGULATIONS
25. Insignia
The insignia of the Association of the Miraculous Medal is the Medal itself as it appears in the emblem below:
Each Association is free to adopt its own distinctive emblem for its country, the emblem of the Association adopted for world notwithstanding.
26. Dissolution of the Association
The Director General may ask the Holy See for the dissolution of the Association for a just cause. The General Council will make the proper dispersals. The resources that remain, once the debts are resolved, will be used for the poor as directed by the Director General.
IX-Final Exhortation
The members, aware that Mary, “taken up to heaven does not lay aside her saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation” (Lumen Gentium, 62), tries to repeat frequently the words which appear on the medal, “Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you”. However, they need to remember that true devotion does not consists neither in sterile or transitory affection, nor in a certain vain credulity, but proceeds from the true faith, by which we are let to recognize the excellence of the Mother of God, and we are moved to a filial love towards our Mother and to the imitation of her virtues” (Lumen Gentium, 67).
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