During our annual Congress held in Rougemont, Canada, this past September 29-30 and October 1st 2018, we gave the floor to our most fervent apostles and the most successful solicitors of subscriptions to the Michael Journal. Without them, MICHAEL would not exist. We quote their most enthusiastic and enlightening comments, hoping this will encourage some of our readers to follow in their footsteps. Defending the Catholic faith and conveying the Social Credit message to others is an important vocation.
Our vocation, as Pilgrims of St. Michael, is to fight for God’s rights in the world, because Christ is the truth. It is for Christ that we take part in St. Michael’s battle. In each copy of the Michael Journal, we read: “For the Kingship of Christ and Mary, in souls, in families and in nations, and for social justice through Economic Democracy in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church through the vigilant actions of heads of families, and not through political parties.” We bear witness to being children of the Father and we defend the rights of the family.
My wife and I have been in charge of the Vers Demain/Michael offices in the United States for many years. We can see that MICHAEL changes people’s lives and hearts. Thanks to the Rosary Crusade, where we visit and pray with families and invite them to subscribe to MICHAEL, we can testify to hundreds of people returning to the Church in the last five years. Let us answer our calling and remain faithful to our vocation as consecrated slaves of Jesus through Mary. Let us not wait for people to come to us. It is our duty to go to the people and spread the light.
Louis Even was a prophet. He knew even before Vatican II addressed it that the laity have a role to play in apostolate work. It is on this principle that he founded the work of Vers Demain and MICHAEL.
Social Credit constitutes our main apostolate for the establishment of justice in the world. God must come first in our families, and everyone on earth must have their basic needs met.
In the first issue of Vers Demain, Mr. Even wrote that our goal is to create an elite that changes minds. MICHAEL changes our way of thinking. MICHAEL offers well-developed opinions; it is filled with ideas for a better world. Such a world will come about only if we remain united to Christ and to His Church.
All means, including new technologies, are positive ways to make MICHAEL known, but nothing will take the place of person to person contact, from one soul to another.
You will not have the same enthusiasm by watching a conference recorded on video as you would if you attended it in person. We need to meet one another, to shake hands. This is the kind of contact we have with families on the Rosary Crusade, and nothing will replace this. It is heavenly and divine. You must try this.
There is another objective that goes well with Social Credit. It is the celestial credit, or God’s grace, that is part of our apostolate work. People need to read the Michael Journal but for them to read it they must be a subscriber. To be a subscriber an apostle must visit and ask them to subscribe.
I wish to conclude by citing St. John Paul II: “Though it is not possible to establish a perfect social order in history, we know that all efforts made to build a better world receive God’s blessing. The seeds of justice and love planted today will bear fruit in the future.”
The apostolate is a necessity that is vital, primary and absolute. The present financial system is diabolical and changing it will require divine power. In his book, titled Economic Democracy, Alain Pilote quotes St. John Paul II on Christian duty:
“Anyone wishing to renounce the difficult yet noble task of improving the lot of man in his totality, and of all people, with the excuse that the struggle is difficult and that constant effort is required, or simply because of the experience of defeat and the need to begin again, that person would be betraying the will of God the Creator” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, n. 30).
God has laid a hand on each one of you. He has chosen you to make the Pilgrims of St. Michael known. Mother Teresa used to say that life has meaning only if it is lived for others. Let us accomplish our duty according to God’s will.
Social Credit has opened our eyes. Before knowing MICHAEL, I was naïve and believed that banks loaned their depositors’ money. I believed what the media repeated.
Jesus told Gabrielle Bossis, a privileged soul: “The most ordinary actions carried out in apostolate for the salvation of souls do save souls. Believe this truly, for this pays tribute to My power and My love.”
In devoting ourselves to the work of MICHAEL, we know we are doing God’s work. I became involved with MICHAEL at the age of 14. My parents were already subscribers to the Michael Journal. I spent 17 years in Rougemont as a full-time Pilgrim. I have been married for 22 years. My wife, Anne Bouchard, was also a full-time Pilgrim for 10 years. Our sons, Joachim and William, are here with us today and they also work for the Movement.
We do the work of the apostolate year round. We contact subscribers, we do the door to door crusade in our region of Saguenay/Lac Saint-Jean, and we distribute complimentary copies of the Michael Journal and Vers Demain.
Last summer, my wife, myself and son William went on a tour of the Prairies. We traveled some 16,000 km and took 616 subscriptions. Our goal is to take 1,000 subscriptions each year but if we stay at home nothing will happen.
We read the paper together as a family to cultivate the MICHAEL spirit. We raise our family in prayer and attend daily Mass. This is what keeps the fire of the apostolate burning. During our spare time, we come to Rougemont to help at the mother house. There is much work to be done and there are few full-time Pilgrims. This small army does a lot, so we come to give them a helping hand.
Here is a list of the Pilgrims who have taken 500 or more subscriptions from August 2017 to August 2018:
Mr. and Mrs. Yves Jacques, U.S.A. 2248
Marcelle Caya 2172
Diane Roy 1814
Christian Burgaud, France 1617
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Murphy 1328
Fatima Cervantes, Mexico 1088
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Fournier 773
William Murphy 773
Janusz Lewicki, Poland 764
Sister Lucie Toutabizi, Togo 703
Mr. and Mrs. Bertrand Gaouette 686
Lambert Boucher 660
Paola Santamaria, Mexico 566
Mr. and Mrs. Jean-Marie Gagnon 560
Mrs. Simone Gingras 555
Mrs. Micheline Thibodeau 510