Spread
The Marian Movement of Priests has succeeded in expanding in a silent and extraordinary way. In practically all the countries of Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, national directors have at this time been appointed and entrusted with the task of gathering the membership and assisting in the formation of cenacles.
To them has been entrusted the task of appointing the various regional and diocesan directors, taking every care that all be carried out with greatest fidelity to the spirit of the Movement.
In view of the autonomy which is given to each of the national centers, it is difficult to give a precise numerical picture of the M.M.P. But this is not of great importance, as there is question of a "spirit" which escapes external controls and which becomes a reality in the measure in which each priest, who belongs to it, seeks to live daily his consecration to Mary.
If one were to judge from the letters of inscription, members would now number about three hundred bishops and more than sixty thousand priests, coming both from the diocesan clergy and from all the orders and religious congregations. As to the laity, since there is no formal inscription we cannot give even an approximate figure, although they certainly number in the millions.
Moreover, it is consoling to note the existence of a large segment of priests who are sympathetic; although they have not yet been inscribed in the Movement, they demonstrate their solidarity with it in various ways and on various occasions. I believe they are more numerous than those who have been actually inscribed. If they live the spirit of the Movement, though they are not registered, they are already doing what is essential.
Although, almost imperceptively, we have become a numerous company, it still happens that many priests do not know their confreres who live quite close to them and are also members of the Movement. This happens in areas where the M.M.P. is just beginning, but it also happens in some other places. The reasons for this are the scanty organization we make use of—and this will remain one of our traits— and secondly, a certain reserve (given that we are concerned with a spiritual choice and a commitment that is mainly interior) which makes us unwilling to hand over lists and addresses to just anyone who asks for them.
And yet, we are everywhere witnessing the following astounding phenomenon: Our Lady is seeing to it that, through cenacles of prayer and brotherhood, her priests get to know one another, help one another, love one another as brothers and become a cohesive force throughout the entire clergy.
Through the consoling reality of the communion of saints, those priests who have already preceded us into eternal life seem still active members and closer to us than ever. Among them are some cardinals (the first of whom to enroll was Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro, then Archbishop of Bologna), many bishops (we recall, among others, Bishop Joao Venancio Pereira, formerly Bishop of Leiria and Fatima, who enrolled in 1973 and died in 1985) and now more than five thousand priests who enriched their last years of intense apostolate or of sickness by accepting Our Lady’s invitation and by living it in the M.M.P. Of these, it is good to recall a Servant of God, Father Gabriele Allegra, a well-known biblical scholar and translator of the Holy Scriptures into Chinese, whose last work was a translation into Chinese of "To the Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons."
In its wide and rapid spread, the M.M.P. has encountered fewer difficulties than one would have feared. As its characteristic is fidelity to the Church and obedience to legitimate superiors, where these (especially at the episcopal level) have shown themselves sympathetic and encouraging, things have proceeded with greater facility. On the other hand, it has been a question of exercising patience in knowing how to wait, in those situations where Authority has been undecided or indifferent.
We are constantly aware of the watchful and enlightening presence of Our Lady, above all as she guides "her" Movement: she comforts in difficulties and keeps enthusiasms on course; she teaches how to assume with courage the liberty of the children of God, while at the same time preventing from taking positions not in accordance with, or in outright rebellion to, superiors—a thing which is obviously in flat contradiction to the second fundamental principle of the Marian Movement of Priests: love for the Pope and the hierarchy united with him.