Greetings from the PRESIDENT OF THE APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT

THE CARDINAL
HIS EMINENCE MGR. ANGELO SCOLA
PATRIARCH OF VENICE

(Catanzaro “Gallo” Palasport – May 12, 2006)

Eminence

I give you my greetings and thanks on behalf of the Inspirer Founder and of all the Apostolic Movement. Your presence among us gives our meeting a very high ecclesial significance. For through You we feel visibly united to the Roman Pontiff, of whom you are very close collaborator, as Cardinal of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
Today, we are gathered here to offer our lives to the Church, the Body of Christ, for the fulfillment of her mission of evangelization and witness in the whole world; listening to the Italian Episcopate, that, in preparation for the Ecclesial Congress of Verona, invites us to reflect on the theme: “Witnesses of Risen Jesus, Hope of the World”.
In this reflection, the meditation of one of your authoritative interventions on the occasion of the World Congress of Ecclesial Movements held in St. Peter’s in May 1998; has especially helped us. In that context, you stated: “To manifest the common utility of the charismas and movements is the fact that they make persuasive the recurrence of the Tradition in the Church. Therefore, charismas and movements are factors of self-realization of the Church, in the sense that they are constitutive of the historical self-realization of the Church as a movement.” In light of these principles and according to our charisma, we prepare ourselves diligently to the Ecclesial Congress of Verona, so that our life is a testimony to Risen Christ, Hope of the World.
Eminence, the Apostolic Movement, founded November 3, 1979, by Mrs. Maria Marino, is called to be a “voice” in the Church that proclaims the word of Jesus, announces and reminds the gospel of hope to every heart, realizing, as one of Her members, the whole Gospel with the end of making the Body of Christ visibly brighter and holy.
Guided by a genuine love in giving the truth of Jesus Christ to every man, so that he may come to the Father’s House and worship the Lord in Spirit and Truth, we hand ourselves over in obedience for the faith to those whom Jesus Christ has chosen and ordained Shepherds, so that they lead us all into his truth, feeding us on his grace.
I insist on reminding you, Eminence, that we have already had an occasion of experimenting with gratitude the invaluable fatherly encouragement with which you supported the Apostolic Movement, as Bishop of Grosseto, from 1991 to 1995. Today, in this Assembly, we renew you our gratitude and our devoted respect; and, with filial sentiments, by joining our Inspirer who always reminds you in her prayer, we invoke upon you the special protection of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, of the angels and saints. Moreover, through Your Person we wish to renew our sense of religious submission to the Holy Father, whom we love as devoted children, ready to give their lives to Christ and his Church.
To all of you who wanted to attend this first National Convention of the Apostolic Movement: Most Excellent Bishops, Civil and Military Authorities, Reverend Priests, male and female Religious persons, representatives of groups, movements and associations, Holy People of God, my personal thanks along with those of the Inspirer, of the Central Committee and of all the Apostolic Movement. Thanks Eminence.

Cettina Marraffa
President of the Apostolic Movement