FutureChurch
CALL TO ACTION
On Tuesday, Women's Equality Day, Jason Berry reported on a new, $100 million dollar project by the Legionaries of Christ in Israel to develop the Magdala Center at the Sea of Galilee.   A 138-page booklet, Magdala: God Really Loves Women is being used to promote the center and to raise the millions needed to cover the costs. 

 

The title is misleading.  The book gives little attention to how God "really loves women," or the true history of Mary of Magdala's role as a primary witness and leader in the early Church.  Rather, it draws a comparison between the disgraced founder of the Legionaries, Fr. Marcial Maciel Delgollado and Mary Magdala.  This is not the kind of equality that women seek; just the opposite.

 

While this comparison of Marcial Marciel and Mary Magdalene by the Magdala Center Project Director, Fr. Juan Maria Solana may be good for his fundraising business, it sadly epitomizes how St. Mary of Magdala continues to be exploited.  For those who don't know the real story of Mary of Magdala's witness and leadership or Macial's corruption, the offensive associations being made by Solana will pass uncritically.

 

For over eighteen years FutureChurch has sponsored thousands of educational celebrations around the world to restore St. Mary of Magdala's true identity as a primary witness to the resurrection and an important female leader in the early Church.  She was not a repentant prostitute, but a woman of character and strength.

 

TAKE ACTION!

Contact Fr. Juan Maria Solana of the Legionaries of Christ.

 

Tell him to stop exploiting St. Mary of Magdala to restore the name of their disgraced founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Delgollado.

 

1.  Leave a comment for Fr. Solana on the Magdala Center's Website here

 

2.  And PLEASE WRITE to Fr. Solana (and copy his superiors - see addresses below) 

 

SAMPLE LETTER 

Rev. Juan Maria Solana

Legionaries of Christ

Magdala Center

Migdal, Israel 

 

Dear Fr. Juan Maria Solana,

 

Please discontinue your use of the booklet, Magdala: God Really Loves Women, until such time that you have removed offensive comparisons of Marcial Maciel with Mary of Magdala. 

 

Further, we ask that you reconsider how your represent Mary of Magdala's history in the Church.  She was a respected leader, a primary witness to the resurrection and named an "Apostle to the Apostles" by early Church fathers.  There is no biblical evidence to support the mistaken notion that she was a prostitute or the anonymous sinful woman named in Luke 7:36-50. 

 

There are many fine scholarly books on the topic.  If you want to learn more go to futurechurch.org. 

 

Sincerely yours


 CC: (The Superiors of Fr. Solana below)

 

João Bráz de Aviz, Cardinal, Prefect

Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life

Palazzo della Congregazioni, 00193 Roma,

Piazza Pio XII, 3   Italy

Telephone: 06.69.89.25.11; 06.69.88.41.28

Fax: 06.69.88.45.26

 

Father Eduardo Robles Gil Orvañanos,

General Director

Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ
Via Aurelia, 677, 00165 Roma, Italia
Telephone: 06.88.961
Fax: 06.66.49.93.100
 
READ OUR PRESS RELEASE

FutureChurch
futurechurch.org
Facebook: @FutureChurch
Twitter:  @FutureChurchUSA

Working so that all Roman Catholics have the opportunity to participate fully in the life and leadership of the Church!
futurechurch.org
STAY CONNECTED

Facebook    Twitter    LinkedIn    Pinterest