Mark I. Miravalle teaches theology at Franciscan University and is known around the world for his lectures on Mariology, private revelation, and Marian apparitions. He also heads a Catholic movement promoting an understanding of the Blessed Mother as "Coredemptrix, Mediatrix of All Graces, and Advocate for the People of God."
It rained all morning before the Eucharistic Day of Renewal began, but the tent was nearly full when Anne made her first of two speeches. Nearly 1,500 people from 27 states had preregistered for the event. I was struck by how many young moms and dads were there with their children. This was not a gray-headed crowd, though it was predominately women.
I came to Chicago because I like Anne and find her common-sense spiritual teaching helpful. "We will not draw people into the Church with our hands on our hips, in a judgmental way," she said, talking about the need for evangelism among the laity. There’s nothing imperious about Anne as she speaks — she wears sandals, a work shirt, and what were described to me as clam-diggers.
The theme of her first speech was humility: "We cannot act," she says, "like we are any better than anyone else. . . . Jesus looks at us and he doesn’t see the sins, the mistakes; he sees the drama of our soul, the movement toward holiness and perfection. We should not concentrate on our sins, but on our potential for holiness. Our love is flawed, but it is there."
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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During the break I met a variety of people from all over the country: a wealthy lobbyist from Northern Virginia; women from Dallas who have written a study guide to one of Anne’s volumes; and the Dominican nuns who live at Rosary Hill where the American headquarters of Anne’s ministry is located. All of them were thrilled, and left somewhat stunned, by the way her books are making their way around the world.
She concluded with a description of a vision she says she was given of the "mountain of holiness." Anne saw a stark contrast between that mountain a century ago and today. One hundred years ago, "people were helping and encouraging each other; everyone pulled each other up."
Those on the mountain of holiness today are very different: "People are climbing toward holiness, but they are scared and isolated, without fellowship. There is no general spirit of obedience, but they are tough and hearty."
Those making it to the top do so by virtue of their obedience, even if they lack the advantages of fellowship that belonged to their counterparts a century ago. "They are saints; they aren’t at risk of falling, of back-sliding, because of their obedience."
When Anne finished, another speaker made his way to the stage, but someone rose from the audience and asked everyone to join him in a Memorare. Sitting in a front row, I suddenly felt hundreds of voices speak in unison the words, sounding like a women’s chorus, with absolute and resolute clarity. "Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to Thy protection . . . ."
Deal W. Hudson is the director of InsideCatholic.com and the author of
Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon and Schuster, March 2008).