Dear members of the Vincentian Family,

May the grace and peace of Jesus be always with us!

With hearts full of gratitude for last year’s 400th Anniversary of the Vincentian Charism and as we begin its fifth century, we are very much encouraged that each member of the Vincentian Family, as well as the Family as a whole, becomes more and more engaged in the life of the Church and the world. One very clear sign of commitment and vitality is the different initiatives in which we are involved and in which we encourage others to take part.

The Vincentian Marian Youth Association (VMY), one of the branches of the Vincentian Family, is beginning 2018 with, among other things, the initiative, “Here I am,” to strengthen in every possible way the existing VMY groups around the world, as well as to become more active members within the Church and in the world.

This active involvement and engagement in the countries where the Vincentian Marian Youth is already present surely will encourage others – parishes, schools, youth in different areas of society –to form new VMY groups in the given country, as well as to found Vincentian Marian Youth groups in countries where the VMY is not yet present.

Dear members of the different women and men’s Congregations of the Vincentian Family around the world, I would like to invite and encourage you:

1. to found new groups of Vincentian Marian Youth in the countries where the VMY already exists; and

2. to found groups of Vincentian Marian Youth in countries where the VMY still is not present.

To Jesus through Mary: During the apparitions to Saint Catharine Labouré, Our Lady expressed this very clear wish, “I would like an Association of Youth founded!” This wonderful and extraordinary invitation and wish came from Jesus and Mary themselves.

For us, this invitation and wish become nothing less than a clear sign that we must do everything possible to make Jesus and Mary’s invitation and wish a reality in the places and countries where the VMY already exists by founding new groups and by introducing VMY into countries where it is not yet present and founding it there.

The International Secretariat of the Vincentian Marian Youth, which has its headquarters in Madrid, Spain, has prepared a project to help found new groups of Vincentian Marian Youth in as many countries as possible. The international team of the VMY Secretariat is available to any Congregation, school, parish, or young person in other parts of society who would like to know more about the VMY Association, receive materials, guidance, and help in founding and accompanying a new group. You can write its members there in many different languages.

The Director of the VMY International Secretariat, Father Irving Amaro, CM, will send you a letter shortly with the details of the project.

I would like to ask the Superiors General and through them the Visitatrices and Visitors of the different Congregations within the Vincentian Family, who decide to found a new group or groups of VMY in a given country, to name a sister, priest, or brother as coordinator. They then should inform the Director of the VMY International Secretariat in Madrid, Spain, so that he can help the newly appointed leaders to organize the new groups.

I encourage and invite all of us, as members of the Vincentian Family, to do everything possible so that this initiative will bear much fruit and bring, God willing, many new vocations to the consecrated life.

Let us place this project in the hands of Divine Providence through the intercession of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

Tomaž Mavrič, CM
President