Celebrating Mary

The purpose of this study is to show that the formal definition of the spiritual Motherhood of Mary would constitute a doctrinal development from Vatican IIs teaching on Mary. It is my strong view that Marys spiritual motherhood should be explicitly acknowledged, accepted and stamped with the extra-ordinary infallibility of the Church magisterium so that it would become a dogma of the Church, as the sensus fidelium. Such formal definition would give the doctrine the seal of juridical authenticity and prevent it from denigration and rejection in future. This study argues that the Catholic Church needs to advance forwards from the Marian teaching of Vatican II by making concerted efforts to maintain the Marian trajectory in the Church. Also portrayed are the efforts of the papal magisterium and some noted Catholic theologians that have gone back to the sources of the early Fathers of the Church in order to teach that Marys spiritual Motherhood has solid foundation on Scripture and the Churchs tradition. The post-conciliar teachings of the above-stated papal magisterium and contemporary theologians have the aim to nurture and sustain the faith and understanding of the people of God about Marys spiritual Motherhood. The study also examines evidence to show that there is much in the Catholic Marian theology that could improve understanding among Christians of different denominations. In particular, it portrays the fact that Mariology always points to Christ, being indissolubly linked with Christology, and also has intrinsic unity with ecclesiology.

To all mothers and fathers, women who may become pregnant in the future, and to all parents around the world: May Mary Energy inspire and support you to give your highest gift to your children – the gift of your love. "Many answers to our own parenting questions can be found in the way that Mary loved Jesus. As she welcomed her responsibility to love unconditionally, she gave the world a Child who was free to fully pursue His own divine destiny. And as she loved Him, His own ability to love became magnifi ed." -Julie Salisbury "There is only one rule of thumb: love your children no matter what, no matter where, no matter how. Unconditional love fosters unconditional joy for all. My children became my best teachers when they taught me to listen and grow in love!" -Dolores Spivack

"Catholicism, like most world religions, is patriarchal, and its official hierarchies and sacred works too often neglect the lived experiences of women. Looking beyond these texts, Juliana Flinn reveals how women practice, interpret, and shape their own Catholicism on Pollap Atoll, part of Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia. She focuses in particular on how the Pollapese shaping of Mary places value on indigenous notions of mothering that connote strength, active participation in food production, and the ability to provide for one's family." "Mary, the Devil, and Taro contributes significantly to the study of women's religion and the appropriation of Christianity in local contexts. It will be welcomed by not only anthropologists and other scholars concerned with religion in the Pacific, but also those who study change in gender roles and Marian devotions in cross-cultural perspectives." --Book Jacket.

This collection of interdisciplinary essays examines the origins and growth of Mary Tudor's historical reputation, from the reign of Elizabeth I up to the 20th century. Re-appraising aspects of her reign that have been misrepresented the book creates a more balanced, objective portrait of England's last Catholic, and first female, monarch.

In Mary and the Liturgy Year: A Pastoral Resource, liturgical scholar and professor Katharine E. Harmon offers an engaging survey of Mary’s role in the Church’s liturgical prayer from the first days of the early Church to our own day. In this unique resource, pastoral ministers, theology students, and persons seeking to reflect on Mary as a source of wisdom and faith will discover the riches of Marian theology as Harmon examines the twelve prominent Marian solemnities, feasts, and memorials celebrated throughout the liturgical year. Looking closely at these liturgical days, the reader will come to understand how Mary always leads us to a deeper and more intimate relationship with her son, Jesus.

For women of the Italian Renaissance, the Virgin Mary was one of the most important role models. Who Is Mary? presents devotional works written by three women better known for their secular writings: Vittoria Colonna, famed for her Petrarchan lyric verse; Chiara Matraini, one of the most original poets of her generation; and the wide-ranging, intellectually ambitious polemicist Lucrezia Marinella. At a time when the cult of the Virgin was undergoing a substantial process of redefinition, these texts cast fascinating light on the beliefs of Catholic women in the Renaissance, and also, in the cases of Matraini and Marinella, on contemporaneous women’s social behavior, prescribed for them by male writers in books on female decorum. Who Is Mary? testifies to the emotional and spiritual relationships that women had with the figure of Mary, whom they were required to emulate as the epitome of femininity. Now available for the first time in English-language translation, these writings suggest new possibilities for women in both religious and civil culture and provide a window to women’s spirituality, concerning the most important icon set before them, as wives, mothers, and Christians.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is uniquely associated with Catholicism, and the century preceding the Second Vatican Council was arguably the most fertile era for Catholic Marian studies. In 1964, Pope John Paul VI published the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, or Lumen Gentium (LG), the eighth chapter of which presents the most comprehensive magisterial teaching on the Blessed Virgin Mary. As part of its Marian Initiative, the Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame invited scholars to a conference held at Notre Dame in October 2013 to reflect the rich Marian legacy on the eve of the Second Vatican Council. The essays unanimously stress that the Blessed Virgin Mary is not merely a peripheral figure in Christian faith and in the panorama of theology. More than fifty years after Lumen Gentium, students of theology as well as Marian devotees take their bearings from this document in order to promote the person of Mary and the study of Mariology, as well as grow in authentic Marian piety. This book will have great appeal to students and scholars of Catholic theology and history, particularly those interested in Mariology. Contributors: Ann W. Astell, Peter Casarella, John C. Cavadini, Lawrence S. Cunningham, Brian Daley, S.J., Peter J. Fritz, Kevin Grove, CSC, Msgr. Michael Heintz, Matthew Levering, Danielle M. Peters, James H. Phalan, CSC, Johann G. Roten, S.M., Christopher Ruddy, Troy Stefano, and Thomas A. Thompson, S.M.

In 2010, the Royal Society named Mary Anning one of the 10 British women most influential in the history of science. Though she wasn’t appreciated in her time because she was a woman, Anning certainly earned this distinction. Readers are introduced to one of the premier fossil hunters of 19th century England through biography, historic images, and detailed sidebars. Anning learned how to find and clean fossils from her father and began doing so when she was a child. With this in mind, readers can find inspiration—as well as interesting scientific content—in her story.