Yasmine Cajuste
International President of VMY

I thank with all my heart the International Council of the AMM for giving me the opportunity to share with you, leaders of the Association in your respective countries, this brief reflection on the transition of the members of the VMY within the AMM. Let me first emphasize that this reflection is the result of a process experienced by our associations these past years.

On the one hand, at the 2nd General Assembly (Paris 2005) and in response to the concerns of several member countries, VMY has published a training document entitled "Formation Processes and Endways in the VMY”. If the first part of the text offers some guidance for the development of the formation process of the countries, the second part emphasizes the importance of treating the end of the training process, which we call “Endways”. Since 2005, we are trying to spread this vision and we were happy to see many young people involved in the Vincentian Family and in the local Church.

For its part, the International Coordinating Council of the AMM has started an interesting dialogue with the International Council of VMY on the importance of a transition "more natural" from VMY to AMM. This exchange has led us this far.
Today, while you close the Centenary of the AMM and you've renewed the text of your International Statutes, my words are an urgent call to revitalize our associations, to open roads attractive to young people.

We start with certain beliefs:

1. Vincentian Marian Youth is an association of youth and for the youth. The journey of our members is not confined into the Association. Young people who evolved within the VMY are called, at some point in their personal history, to leave the Association and engage in a steadily in the Church and the society accordingly to the light of the Vincentian charism, like a vocation freely received and a clear option in favor of the most disadvantaged.

 

2. At VMY, we consider the endways as an opened reality. We know that some young people feel called to assist other members acting as facilitators or advisers. However, members may opt for one of the following endways: a stable commitment as an adult in VMY; integration in a Lay branch of the VF (AIC, SSVP, AMM, MISEVI or other); a choice of consecrated life (in or out of the VF) or service in the local Church or in society, with a Vincentian stamp.

 

3. The ideal is that members of the VMY join the adult classes of the Vincentian Family to bring their energy and creativity. We believe that the Vincentian associations and congregations, given their characteristics and their extensive presence in the Church and in society, can offer young people an attractive place where they can express their enthusiasm of youngsters and live a healthy leadership enriched by the experience of the elders, where they can also respond to the significant challenges of world poverty as prophets and witnesses of God's Love.

 

4. There is great affinity between VMY and the AMM from our common history and purpose of Providence. We were born twin sisters, we have the same cradle and we share a common treasure. Indeed, the Miraculous Medal, outward sign of membership in the AMM, is also the official badge of the VMY that the member receives solemnly the day of his/her Marian Consecration.

 

Despite these beliefs, VMY acknowledges that, in practice, the transition of its members within the AMM and the FV is not lived naturally. On the one hand, we are not always able to help our members toward this transition. Thus, in some countries (Mexico, Philippines, Spain), JMV has yet an adult section. Secondly, and paradoxically, the Vincentian Family is not always showcased in the eyes of our young like an attractive place where they can continue to live the charism of St. Vincent de Paul. However, we, all Vincentians, are driven by the same outlook on life and service of the poor ... This must be felt and must make a difference.

Faced with this reality and with a desire to give you food for thought at the International, national and local level, I venture, as International President of JMV, to present certain challenges to any Association of the Miraculous Medal:

1. Like Mary, be an Association with open arms, ready to welcome young people who want to integrate your group and learn about your ministry. This means that you are prepared to adjust your schedules and lifestyles to the world of young people you want to attract; this also implies that you're ready to leave up your structures and your ways of working to questioning and suggestions. In other words, you should take the risk of transforming aspects that can constitute an obstacle to the integration of young people and today marginalized people. It is not so important to adapt the premises, plan interesting activities for young people or to seek the best way to keep them using temporary means. Young people are looking for communities that continue to share the faith and where their ideas will be taken into account and where they are accepted as they are. VMY is encouraging in the transition to the branches of VF; however, this is teamwork. It is important to overcome the distance that separates us. On one hand, young people are somewhat afraid to face the change which represents for them a break with the VMY and the initiation in another association with established regulations and sometimes rigid. On the other hand, there is some fear in our associations, that the presence of young people implies that what is already established needs to be modified.

 

2. Remember that we only like what we know. The AMM and the Vincentian Family cannot hope that young people are attracted by their branches if our areas of training, service and prayer continue to be sporadic actions limited in time (on the occasion of punctual celebrations) and organized like a model that leaves little room for informal exchanges, interaction and the heart to heart meeting that young people look for. It comes to my mind a very simple image: that of two lovers who barely know each other. No doubt that the VMY and the AMM love each other. However, as new lovers, we need to know and see each other, learn and grow together, rediscover that we have many things in common, that we share the same mission and the same values.
1. Accompany and share the life and the language of the youth. I believe it is essential that the AMM, besides awaiting for the integration of young people from VMY, learn to use a language meaningful for youth culture. As always, young people need symbols and signs. A key element to bring the youth of today is to translate into a language that challenges them the secular experience of the AMM: house call and ministry, prayer and celebration of faith, training and enlightening of the message of the Medal.

 

1. Be real pilgrims with Mary. Your testimony of life as members of the AMM is a unique way to attract young people, whether members of VMY or not. Give us the opportunity to discover that you, members of the AMM, even as adults, are still people on the move, with a life plan very clear, passionate for Christ and the poor. Be convinced witnesses than masters. Be a testimony that Mary can be our whole life, this Mother and Companion who teaches us to do “everything He says (John 2, 5). Only then, we can discover by experience that the AMM may be an association where we can continue to grow and bear out.
5. Live systemic change from within. In recent years the Vincentian Family reflects on this theme and wants to see its branches involved in original projects that are a response to the problems of our impoverished brothers and sisters. You have a unique opportunity to attract young people in service projects that mean a real change in their lives and that of the poor. For this, we young people, as well as you, members of the AMM, we need to live this conversion of heart and this transformation of our association structures, as to get closer to each other without prejudice and without fear, like real sons and daughters of St. Vincent and St. Louise, our eyes fixed on our lords and our masters.

 

If we try to live these challenges, the transition of the members of VMY within the AMM will not only be a subject of reflection but a life experience, a source of wealth for some and for others, and a reason for thanksgiving to God and our Mother.

           

One last word before concluding: consider the future, not as a place of risk, but as a place of hope. While we finish the Centenary of the AMM and we begin the Vincentian Jubilee Year, I am absolutely sure that the Lord will continue to bless the work He has entrusted to us. For us to dare to dream, with the young ones, the dreams of God, in the respect our differences, the love of the Church and the passion for the Kingdom. May the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal, Mother of the Vincentian Family, help us meet the challenges of today with the same creativity displayed by our Founders.

Return to the top.