STEUBENVILLE, Ohio, SEPT. 9, 2004 (Zenit.org).- A Marian Internet magazine was launched in time for the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.
A number of international Mariologists and Marian authors have joined in the online weekly journal Mother of All Peoples, says its editor Mark Miravalle, a professor of theology and Mariology at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
Miravalle shared with ZENIT his thoughts on the new project, launched Wednesday at www.motherofallpeoples.com.
Q: What inspired the beginning of a weekly Marian Internet magazine?
Miravalle: Two great Marian figures have inspired the Mother of All Peoples weekly Internet magazine. The first is John Paul II.
In preparation for this year’s 150th anniversary of the pronouncement of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father called for greater Mariological research, development and dialogue. The magazine will feature an international team of Mariologists who will offer commentaries on a wide spectrum of Marian issues including contemporary, classical and interdisciplinary topics.
The second source of inspiration for the magazine comes from St. Maximilian Kolbe. This extraordinary Marian apostle always sought to use the best of modern means for his evangelization on behalf of Our Lady. While personally living extreme poverty, he acquired the most advanced printing presses of his day to spread the Church’s truth about the Immaculata the world over.
Certainly the Internet represents one of the most effective technological means today of promulgating the Church’s profound and ongoing testimony to the Mother of Jesus to all parts of the world.
Q: Is the Mother of All Peoples magazine scholarly or popular in focus?
Miravalle: Actually, it is both. It is a Marian magazine that seeks to satisfy both «head» and «heart» in giving proper recognition and discussion to what the Holy Father commonly terms the «whole truth about Mary.»
Scholarly Mariological articles will be intermingled with Marian pastoral reflections offered by various cardinals and bishops. Articles on Marian devotions such as the rosary, Marian consecration and Marian apparitions will be juxtaposed with pieces on Our Lady’s contemporary impact on Christian culture, the nature of the Christian family, and the role of woman in today’s society.
The role of Our Lady as the Mother of all peoples reaches every aspect of Christian life and civilization. Our Marian subject matter, coupled with the remarkable diversity of a paperless Internet magazine, allows for optimum flexibility in terms of the nature and length of articles.
Q: Why did you decide to offer a free, weekly edition of a journal in honor of Mary?
Miravalle: The first reason for the magazine is actually to offer reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
During the Marian revelations at Fatima, Our Lord revealed to Sr. Lucia five offenses which most deeply wound the Immaculate Heart of Mary: 1) the rejection of her immaculate conception; 2) the rejection of her perpetual virginity; 3) the rejection of her role as Mother of God and Mother of all peoples; 4) the destruction of her sacred images; and 5) when children are led away from her maternal heart.
In an effort to atone for these five offenses, which continue today to a dramatic degree, we will post at least five new articles every Saturday, seeking to witness to the revealed beauty of God the Father’s greatest masterpiece and the corresponding love with which the Mother of our Lord should properly be venerated.
The second reason for the weekly publication is for greater Marian evangelization.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s famous maxim «de Maria numquam satis» — concerning Mary, never enough — certainly testifies to the endless volumes of potential testimonies, both theological and devotional, that we can offer to the Mother of the Redeemer and the Mother of the Church through the new outreach of cyberspace.
Q: Do you foresee the magazine as helping to facilitate a greater devotion to Mary among a younger generation that is much more computer literate?
Miravalle: Yes. In fact, the magazine also features an interactive youth section dealing with a myriad of Marian issues from a youth and teen perspective.
This was also inspired by the Holy Father and his innovate world youth days, which have been so remarkably successful in bringing in a great catch of the Church’s future generation of leaders and vocations.
It is our hope that the Mother of All Peoples weekly Internet magazine will in some small way encourage all Christians and all peoples of diverse ages and cultural experiences to offer the proper veneration due to the spiritual Mother of all peoples, as called for in the great Marian scriptural prophecy: «All generations will call me blessed.»
