Lay Association Memores Domini

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The lay association Memores Domini is an association of believers in the Roman Catholic Church . The lay association was founded in Milan ( Italy ) in 1964 and was recognized by the Holy See in 1988 as an international association of believers under papal law. It has around 1,600 members and 400 novices worldwide , spread across 32 countries.

history

The initial idea for founding the lay association was in the context of the "Gioventù Studentesca", a student youth that had emerged within the Catholic Action . Her spiritual father was Don Luigi Giussani , the founder of the Comunione e Liberazione , at the end of the 1960s . Since 1968 the "Gruppo Adulto" has developed from this into an independent group of adults; she aspired to want to live in communities. The first "families" were founded. After the lay families had spread across Italy and abroad, in 1981 the Bishop Enrico Manfredini of Piacenza recognized the association as an association under episcopal law. On 8 December 1988 received Memores Domini the decree of approval from the Pontifical Council for the Laity and was as an international association of the faithful of pontifical right in the official register on this day.

Word origin

The Latin "Memores Domini" means "mindful of the Lord" (plural); it refers to people who live in the memory of the Lord (an honorary title of Jesus Christ). In a broader sense, it is derived from the words “Do this in memory of me”, which are uttered in the suffix to the words of institution ( Lk 22.19  EU ; 1 Cor 11.24–25  EU ).

Self-image

Based on the brotherhood of Community and Liberation , from which the members are recruited, people have come together whose calling is complete surrender to God . You live according to the evangelical counsels and have decided to live in communities. Their clergy rests on two elements: the contemplation as a tending to continuous memory of God and the mission to proclaim Christ in life, where they want to live in the midst of people.

For this reason, the members live together in houses, women and men separately. Their rules include silence, personal and common prayer , poverty , obedience and charity . The members who have already taken their vows take part in retreats four times a year and spiritual retreats once a year . New members embark on a five-year novitiate , take part in catechesis and retreats every month and then take their vows.

Mater Ecclesiae

After his resignation from the office of Pope , Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. and his private secretary Georg Gänswein built a residential wing in the Vatican house Mater Ecclesiae . The household is managed by four housekeepers, consecrated virgins and members of the Memores Domini.

Organization and expansion

The core and center of life of the members are the community houses, in which the “families” live. Individual members can also be accepted there. The association currently has 1,600 members and 400 novices spread across 32 countries worldwide: three countries each in Africa and Asia , 13 countries in Europe , one country in the Middle East , four countries in North America and seven countries in South America . The association has its headquarters in Rome , while the secretariat is in Milan. The management of the Memores Domini is carried out by a board that elects a chairman ; the extended board includes the ecclesiastical assistant appointed by the Pontifical Council for the Laity .

In 2020 the Vatican initiated an examination of the statutes of the community, especially with regard to a careful "separation between the area of ​​management of the association and the spiritual accompaniment of its members" and a guarantee of privacy and personal freedom of the members. It must be ensured that priests are not allowed to make confessions to members of the community for which they are directly responsible; Insufficient separation of personal conscience (e.g. in confession , spiritual accompaniment or in therapeutic situations) and the area of ​​leadership and other community matters is considered a sign of spiritual abuse.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Benedict XVI: We are memores Domini because He is Memor nostri: The message and the sermon on the death of the Memor Domini Manuela Camagni of the papal family. (pdf; 157 kB) In : gemeinschaftundbefreiung.at. December 10, 2010, archived from the original on April 19, 2011 ; accessed on July 8, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Tanja Schultz: Mourning in the "Papal Family": Housekeeper Manuela Camagni died in an accident. In: Zenit.org . November 25, 2010, archived from the original on October 6, 2014 ; accessed on July 8, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Better protection of freedom of conscience and privacy - “Memores Domini”: Vatican has spiritual community checked. In: kathisch.de . July 6, 2020, accessed July 8, 2020 .