With the help of Archbishop Vigneron, local apostolate sends hundreds of supplies, books to start new youth praesidia in Ghana
DETROIT — In December of 2022, Steve Badalament received an email he wasn’t expecting. It was from Fr. Francis Kanzong, a priest in the Diocese of Damongo in the Savannah region of Ghana, Africa. Fr. Kanzong had reached out to Badalament for help in establishing the Legion of Mary in his diocese. Young people in the diocese wanted to be part of the Legion, a lay apostolate that not only helps members develop spiritually, but also brings others to know Jesus through Mary.
To get started, Fr. Kanzong would need funding. Badalament, who served as president of the Detroit Regia of the Legion of Mary since 2016 and recently stepped down from the role, immediately took the request to his fellow members.
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“Fr. Kanzong was desperate for supplies. He wanted to form youth praesidia and he needed help to do it,” Badalament said. “One of the solemn duties of the Legion of Mary is to grow the Legion everywhere in order to evangelize everywhere, and I knew we couldn’t miss the opportunity to help them do that in Ghana.”
The Legion of Mary is made up of members of local chapters, called praesidia, who aim to evangelize through prayer and ongoing apostolic work. Each praesidium is based at a parish and works with the pastor to send its members out to help with the spiritual need of the parish and community. Working in pairs, members are assigned two hours per week visiting nursing homes and the homebound, going door-to-door inviting former parishioners to return, leading rosaries at funerals and outside abortion clinics, teaching religious education classes, and other work.
When Badalament was looking for help with the request from Ghana, he turned to Robert Fastiggi, Ph.D., professor of systematic theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary and a Mariologist who was then the spiritual director for the Detroit Regia Legion of Mary.
Fastiggi wondered whether Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron would lend the support of the Archdiocese of Detroit to the efforts in Ghana, and at Fastiggi's request, the answer was yes. Michael Trueman, the archdiocese's chancellor, worked with the archbishop to provide the funding, and Don Genotti, director of finance and controller for the archdiocese, ensured that the supplies were secured and shipped to Ghana.
“Archbishop Vigneron is a very holy and humble shepherd, and very Marian. I took a chance in asking about funding through Mike Trueman, and it was amazing how quickly the ‘yes’ came,” Fastiggi said. “We give thanks to God first and the Blessed Mother, but we also give thanks to the archbishop for his support of the Legion.”
Statues of Mary, candle holders, hundreds of hardbound books, and other supplies from the United States and Ireland were shipped to Fr. Kanzong. Since August, nine new Legion of Mary praesidia have formed in the Diocese of Damongo, with 700 youth attending weekly meetings and doing apostolic work and evangelization.
“We can’t even imagine the things that will come from this. When you get Our Lady involved, you can move mountains,” Badalament said. “Just like Mary had to say yes, so did the archbishop by saying yes. And it’s changing the faith of the people of Africa.”
The Legion of Mary began in Dublin, Ireland, in 1921 by Frank Duff. Inspired by St. Louis Marie de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, Duff set out to establish an organization that would resemble a Roman legion, giving the Legion of Mary a means to reach every country in the world. As the largest apostolate in the world, the Legion has 10 million members globally. In Michigan, 24 parishes serve as a base for the Legion of Mary, including the Upper Peninsula.
As one who has studied Marian spirituality for decades, Dr. Fastiggi enthusiastically supports the work of the Legion.
“God the Father gave his only son to the world only through Mary, and this is what the Legion of Mary understands. It’s a spirituality which is very much needed in the world today,” Fastiggi said.
Even for those who aren’t members of the Legion of Mary, praying a daily rosary or even a single Hail Mary is powerful, Fastiggi says.
“Our call is holiness. Our call is to be united with God forever in heaven, and we are baptized for that purpose,” Fastiggi said. “As St. Louis de Montfort said, devotion to Mary is the perfect renewal to our baptismal promises. That devotion is the most direct and sure way of reaching her Son. It is the shortest, most secure route because Jesus will never refuse his mother.”
At the Detroit Regia’s annual reunion on Dec. 16, Fr. Kanzong and one of the youth praesidia in Ghana made an appearance by video conference. The oldest legionary was 17, the youngest 15.
“Just seeing the faces of those young people and of Fr. Kanzong, you sense the power of the Gospel and the power of Mary bringing these souls to her son,” Fastiggi said. “We can get pessimistic because of the secularism and the atheism and immorality in the west, but to see the beautiful faces of these African young people, it fills me with joy. The Lord has not abandoned his holy Church.”
On Jan. 11, Badalament presented Archbishop Vigneron with a gift on behalf of the Legion of Mary in gratitude for the financial and spiritual support of the Legion’s efforts in Ghana.
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