Join us at this summer's MLNNA Continental Assembly, which will be held from July 27 to 30, at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas.

This year's theme is "Come to Cana: Many Stories, One Table, One Family."

"Come to Cana" is an opportunity to reflect together on the meaning of community life and how Marianist Lay Communities can use their diverse gifts to grow in faith, spirituality, family spirit, and social concern.

Keynote speakers will include Jacqueline Landry, former Catholic chaplain at Harvard University, who also grew up in Dorothy Day's community, and Neomi DeAnda, a lay Marianist and professor of religious studies at DePaul University.

See the link below for registration material, a discount offer on air travel, Assembly schedule, and child care information.

(Artwork used through the permission of Cletus Behlmann, SM, http://www.brothercletus.com/)

If you would like to share information about your ministry or gather people around a particular theme, you may want to request exhibit tables or a focus group at the Lay Continental Assembly.

(A focus group is a time when participants can ?focus? on an area of interest.)

There are a limited number of exhibit tables and rooms for focus groups, so please get your request to Susan Vogt, SusanVogt@fuse.net or 859/291- 6197, by June 30. (The fee for each of these is $10.)

Tony Garascia, the president of the International Organization of Marianist Lay Communities, has penned a lovely, challenging, and spirit-filled reflection on the recent lay congress, held at the Vatican from May 30 to June 2, 2006.

The event included a vespers service with Pope Benedict XVI. (See Tony's reflection below.)

_____________________________________________ Reflections on Lay Congress and Vespers . . .

First, the pushing to enter St. Peter's Square. At least a half million people are here, packed in, and pushing is part of the pilgrimage. Second, Marianist Lay Communities (MLCs) are in a place of honor; I have a front row seat, about 20 feet from the dias where Benedict XVI will celebrate vespers.

This is because I am the president of the International Organization of Marianist Lay Communities. It is no particular honor because of who I am, but an honor due to the fact that MLCs are recognized by the Church as an ecclesial movement. I say by the Church, not necessarily by the Vatican, although the recognition came through the Vatican.

But it is important to realize that this recognition, above all else, is from the entire Church, lay and hierarchy alike.

By Patti Gehred

Forgiveness. This is a value or trait that I feel is undervalued in our society. I think that holding onto grudges or clinging to past indiscretions is the biggest obstacles we face in our world.

Until Christmas 1986, if you asked me about my relationship with my father, I would have had a laundry list of complaints a mile long with which to bend your ear.

[Editor's Note: The summer University of Dayton Quarterly contained the following article on a new style of Marianist community.]

Feasting at Mary?s Table

By Mary Harvan Gorgette

Exiled from France after the Revolution, Blessed William Chaminade often prayed before the statue Our Lady of the Pillar in the basilica of Saragossa, Spain. There he discerned the mission he would undertake on returning to Bordeaux: creating small Christian communities dedicated to Mary and her mission of bearing Christ to the world.

Honoring Father Chaminade?s innovation and invoking contemporary images of Mary, a new lay Marianist community calls itself Our Lady of the Round Table (OLRT).

MLNNA E-News will be on vacation during the month of July. It will return after the Marianist Lay Continental Assembly.

On October 15, 2006, the Marianist Family around the world will gather in a spiritual piligrimage with our sisters and brothers in France around the shrine of Our Lady of Verdelais, a place dear to Blessed Chaminade. At fourteen years of age he suffered a leg injury that stubbornly refused to heal.

His brother, Jean Baptiste, suggested that William Joseph have recourse to the Virgin Mary, ?who is never invoked in vain.? William eagerly and happily took up his suggestion, and the two brothers vowed to make a pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Verdelais if the Blessed Virgin would obtain the cure they were seeking from her goodness.

The healing occurred so quickly that William Joseph always regarded it as miraculous. A short time later, he and his brother were able to walk on pilgrimage to Verdelais, about fifty miles (80 km) from Mussidan, where they thanked the Blessed Virgin for her favor.

A document has been prepared for distribution among our communities in preparation for the World Day of Prayer. Please click on the following link for the English version. French and Spanish versions of the document can be accessed through the 'Quick Links' at the side of this E-News.

?People are Fragile, Handle with Prayer.?

As members of the Marianist Family, let us lift up the following prayers that our brothers and sisters have requested.

• For the recovery of Brother Alfredo Ch�vez, SM, who was hospitalized in Puerto Rico.

• For Robert Pluta, for his strength in coping with his neurological disorder that has taken away his ability to walk, for his positive mental outlook, for prevention from falls, and of course, for his healing. (Submitted by his daughter, Christine Pluta.)

• For Alice Makodanski, a wonderful woman, wife, mother, and grandmother who is fighting stomach cancer. She is undergoing yet another round of chemotherapy. (Submitted by Valerie Bergeron, MLNNA Area Representative for Winnipeg)

• In blessing for Santiago born to Cynthia and Alejandro Ca�adas on June 11 in Columbus, Ohio. (Submitted by Santiago?s dad)

• "I will be completing my Marianist Lay Volunteer year this coming July, and I will be looking for work and Marianist support when I return to New Jersey. Please pray that I may find both meaningful work and a good prayer support group. Thank you." (Submitted by Elizabeth Cooke, Marianist Volunteer)

• For the healing of Angela Schmidt, sister of NACMS librarian Teresa Trimboli, who is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for leukemia. (Submitted by NACMS staff)

• For the continued healing of a 13-month-old boy to correct a birth defect. (Submitted by his grandparents.)

• For a man bedridden with muscular dystrophy and for his wife: his caregiver. May God grant them peace.

• For a friend who is undergoing a surgical procedure to determine if a mass in his colon is pancreatic cancer.

• For a woman with breast cancer that is spreading and who has two toddlers.

• "Continued prayers for the recovery of lay Marianist Janet Krumm (my bride) from cancer. After nine solid months of chemo, and six months after its end, she remains cancer free. . . . This should be proclaimed a miracle, as she was given two months to live when first diagnosed, sixteen months ago! We asked for the help of Our Lady of Good Health, from our association with Father Tony Attukaran, SM, of Bangalore, India." (Submitted by Jack Krumm)