Pilgrims of Saint Michael
November 28, 2022
Dear Social Crediters and Pilgrims of Saint Michael,
It is the month of our dearly departed ; let us not forget to pray for them and to ask for their intercession. Let us pray to our numerous deceased Pilgrims of Saint Michael, asking them for the grace to persevere in the battle.
"Dear Pilgrims of Saint Michael, friends, dear Social Crediters, dear guests, a welcome to each one of you. A particular welcome to Father Damase Douze from Paraguay. Father Damas, of Haitian origin, has been in mission in Paraguay for 12 years. He is responsible for the Pilgrims of Saint Michael in Paraguay. He was just named exorcist for his diocese.
"It is certainly a great joy, for each of us, to be together again to live this Congress and this Triduum in joy, friendship, and in the spirit of our charisma : To educate on the cause of poverty and the means to combat it. Like Louis Even, let us be educators, prophets in charity.
"Like many among you, I come from a Social Credit family : for this I thank God ; and I especially thank Him for the immense gift of the Catholic Faith.
"After the unexpected death of our dearly departed Marcel Lefebvre, you now have a new team of Directors. This loss which shook us greatly, as we always are when one of our own leaves us, is a wound that will take time to heal. Marcel Lefebvre made his mark ; the loss of his enthusiasm is sorely felt.
I have been a Pilgrim of Saint Michael for 53 years. With the help of the other Directors, we are doing our best to continue the mission. We ask for help from Heaven, the Holy Spirit, and we count on your prayers.
"Our charisma :'To educate on the cause of poverty and the means to combat it' is to work for social justice by educating our brothers and sisters for a better world ; it is to be prophets ; it is to practice charity, because we accomplish our mission freely.
"Social Justice, a well-balanced justice, certainly desired by God, is a just distribution of riches according to the needs of each, so that all individuals can have access, without difficulty, to the resources available to satisfy their essential needs. It is the social dividend, that is an important point in the Social Credit doctrine.
"This work, accomplished by the White Berets of the Michael Journal since its founding in 1939 by Louis Even, proves, as Louis Even said, that it is possible to educate a population. The results are here before us.
"We can all admit that Canada is the country which offers the best social conditions : old age pensions, family allowances and all types of assistance. It is because our people have understood their right to a revenue not tied to employment, which is the dividend. It is not perfect, but for the people who benefit from it, their state of life would be better.
"Once the population is informed, the governments must take notice. This education was accomplished through the voice of Michael and its apostles. As Msgr. Placide said at one of our study sessions on Economic Democracy : `There are here, in Canada, more White Berets than we see. The people understand Social Credit and are White Berets without knowing it.`
"The voice of the Pilgrims of Saint Michael is the Michael Journal… Whether it be in digital form on social medias or in paper format, it is always appreciated, and this we must maintain. And the voice of the Michael Journal is you, apostles of right thinking !
"An important point of the Social Credit doctrine is that the government must itself create its own money, and not borrow it, at interest, from private banks. Today, the challenge is sizeable, faced with this digital-identity plan. Michael and our leaflets denounces this diabolical plan. You have leaflets available to you… We must inform the population.
"Our mission is great. We must be like Louis Even : educators, prophets, apostles.
"Working with charity since its beginning, the mission of the Pilgrims of Saint Michael is truly apostolic. "Apostles of right thinking". The apostolate, the gift of self, through love of God and neighbor, is what truly gives results. Our charisma is on the temporal plane for Social Credit, and on the spiritual plane through prayer and by the example of a life lived honestly and by the apostolate.
"Such a life requires a continual exercise of faith, hope and charity.
"Only by the light of faith and by meditation on the Word of God can one always and everywhere recognize God in Whom "we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17 :28), seek His will in every event, see Christ in everyone, whether he be a relative or a stranger, and make correct judgements about the true meaning and value of temporal things, both in themselves and in their relation to man's final goal.
"In the pilgrimage of this life, hidden with Christ in God and free from enslavement to wealth, they aspire to those riches which remain forever, and generously dedicate themselves wholly to the advancement of the Kingdom of God and to the reform and improvement of the temporal order in a Christian spirit. (Apostolicam Actuositatem n.4)
"In reading these lines from "the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity", it seems to me to represent the life of a Pilgrim of Saint Michael. It is truly in this spirit of spreading the reign of God that we pursue our apostolate, especially when we go visit families for the Rosary Crusade. In our visits, we always want to bring to our brothers and sisters a positive message, a message of hope, of charity.
"The Rosary Crusade apostolate is certainly a celestial credit. Praying a decade of the Rosary with a family draws them closer to their celestial credit. For my part, the visit to families is a great motivator ; bringing the Michael message is a reward. Michael is a light on their road. Michael must go into as many families as possible.
"Let us remain faithful to the Church ; let us be convinced that the Holy Spirit is always at work, today, as always.
"Let us be true Pilgrims of Saint Michael : let us subscribe to Michael, distribute leaflets. And especially, let us not forget that we are on the winning team, on Saint Michael the Archangel's team, of our mother Mary Immaculate, and on the team of Christ the King. Let us not fear the future but let us live in the present time. Let us live our Congress with enthusiasm, according to the greatness of our mission.
"Sincere greetings to each of you. Have a good Congress ! May God bless us."
Marcelle Caya
"Saturday, October 29th, while doing our apostolate of the Rosary Crusade in the area of St. Leonard in Montreal, we visited a lady who happily welcomed us for the recitation of a decade of the Rosary, and this is what she confided to us after the prayer : 'Last July 29th, my mother passed away, and on August 29th my father passed away.' The lady, with tears in her eyes continued, 'Today is the 29th (October 29th) and you have come to pray with me. It is a great consolation.' We are thankful to God who guides us in our visits and permits us to bring consolation and joy to families. This day's apostolate ended with 39 subscriptions and a decade of the Rosary in seven families.
November 12th in St. Leonard : 23 subscriptions.
"In each family we present the calendar in Michael : it is greatly appreciated and a trump for the subscription.
"The harvest is plentiful. What a joy to be at the service of God to spread His Reign."
Marcelle Caya and Diane Roy
Ecuador : During the months of October-November, we held a study session lasting 10 days on the Social Doctrine of the Church and Social Credit in Portoviejo (the Archdiocese of the Coast of Ecuador) with seminarians and priests.
Among the attendees was a priest from the Academy of the University of Latran in Rome, who was staying in Portoviejo, teaching philosophy to the seminarians. This humble priest told me that the teachings of Louis Even are so simple and easy to understand that they enrich the spirit. He was happily surprised about the existence of Social Credit.
He encouraged us to continue our work. After the sessions, we stayed at the seminary for the feasts of All Saints and of the Souls in Purgatory. We spent almost two weeks with the group, and the ambiance was enriched by the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, by the participation at the parish Mass, and at the evangelization. We have now returned to Quito.
Thanks be to God !
Carlos and Teresa Reyes
Ottawa: Mrs. Simone Gingras from Ottawa sends us a report of 21 subscriptions. She is a great apostle of the families she visits in the Rosary Crusade. An example to imitate.
Yves Jacques (United States) came to the House of Saint Michael to pick up a load of leaflets.
He regularly sends us subscription reports that he gathers in different prayer groups which he attends. The Michael Journals and the leaflets are always well accepted by the participants. He had the honor of providentially meeting with Pope Francis while on a trip to Rome. You will have the details in the next Michael Journal.
We received a report of 8 subscriptions from Robert Roy, St. Jean-Port-Joli, with this little note : "I passed 500 leaflets on the microchip."
Congratulations and thank you to all the apostles. All efforts are precious and appreciated, and bring us closer to the Triumph of the Immaculate.
Lise Rodrigue-Fournier & ; Marcelle Caya
Philbert Bagilimana, the pilgrim responsible for our developments in Africa, presents here below the letter from the Rector, by his Vice-rector, from the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé in Cameroon, agreeing to our request of a hall for the activities of the Louis Even Institute and the classes on Economic Democracy.
University of Central Africa
Catholic Institute of Yaoundé, Cameroon
Dr. Ab Clément N. Aboudi
Vice Doyen Faculté de Sciences Juridiques et Politiques
UCAC/ICY
M. l'Abbe Clement,
I acknowledge receipt of your letter mentioned here below concerning the request for authorization for the use of a hall for which I thank you.
Following up, I am happy to grant you permission to hold these study sessions in connection to the Louis Even International Institute.
Receive all our encouragements for these sessions and the support of the Rectorate.
Receive my solicitude for you and your initiatives.
P. Pr. Kinhoun Epiphane, SJ
Vice-rector, in charge of academic affairs
Here are extracts from the speech given by Father Clement Aboudi : …" Firstly, I would like to thank and express by gratitude to the President of the Louis Even Institute, and to all the Directors in general, for the confidence expressed throughout this year ending in the consolidations of the Cameroon-Canada reports for the battle against poverty and on Economic Democracy. We cannot close this phase of thankfulness without sharing the major role and determination employed by Mr. Philbert Bagilimana, who by his advice and his knowledge, never ceased to encourage us and to push us pass our limits to perfect such a great project in the African zone.``This draft of programs aims at permitting us to spread Economic Democracy as a means of evangelization in our national and regional environment. We expect to promote this theme in the logic of the UCAC partition graduality law, to other institutions and to the members of the civil society.
1. Catholic University of Central Africa - We expect to hold two sessions : Classical studies students (Bachelor and Masters) and professionals who are teachers of lay persons and of continuing education… We have the talks with other institutions to finalize.
2. Archdiocese of Douala – We are going to Douala to obtain the authorizations for the Religious and Sciences Institute, the Cathedral School of Theology of laymen, and other institutions.
3. Other entities – The coordinators of the session desire to make known the ideal of Democratic Economy and the battle against corruption to those of political responsibility to civil society, and engage in an ecumenical mission to other religious denominations who do not know about our ideal of Economic Democracy for the battle against poverty, the question of the debt, the influence mitigated by the banks, and the social teachings of the Church.
4. By region – In the hope of expanding in the countries of Central Africa, we will form local students from these countries, beginning at the UCAC, who will be considered ambassadors of our teachings and representatives in their respective countries.
" The opportunity will finally be given to us, and this during the colloquy envisaged to immortalize the contributions and research made on the subject as part of a scientific publication.
" To end our remarks, we wish to reiterate our thanks to the Louis Even Institute home base and to all the people who contributed to the completion of the project."
Father Clement
Always in Cameroon, the newspaper La voix du Centre continues to publish each week an article by Louis Even. This newspaper is distributed in many Central African countries.
La voix du Centre dated October 14, here we must add the date, published an interview with Miss Caya and the article "For the Primacy of the Human Person" by Louis Even.
Marcelle Caya, Directress of the Louis Even Institute
— You are the Directress of the Louis Even Institute since last February. Tell us what were your impressions upon being chosen for this position ?
I place myself in the grace of the Mercy of God for this great responsibility confided to me which is a function that I see as a service to render to all the members of the Pilgrims of Saint Michael. And also a challenge considering the present situation in society.
— Your term is for how many years ?
My term should be for 3 years, according to the intentions of the other members of the Institute.
— What is your roadmap for your term ?
My roadmap is certainly to pursue the ideal of our founders : Louis Even, Gilberte Cote-Mercier and Gerard Mercier. The mission of the Pilgrims of Saint Michael is to educate on the causes of poverty and the means to combat it through the diffusion of Economic Democracy, and to spread by every means the Michael magazine that was the initiative of Louis Even. Vers Demain (Michael) is the backbone of all the work of the Pilgrims of Saint Michael since its founding in 1939. And to follow the example of our founders, and to always be faithful to the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Also to continue the mission of visits to families through the Rosary Crusade for evangelization, and to preserve the heritage of the apostolate in a freely given gift of self.
— It has been almost 8 months since you have been at the head of the Institute. What are the difficulties that you meet daily ?
The difficulties that I meet daily are to be able to listen to the needs of each member, either internal or external. And knowing to take the time to consider well the suggestions that are proposed to us to launch new projects that respond adequately to our mission.
— What is the message that you can address to the personnel who accompany you in your daily tasks ?
First to give a lot of thanks for the support felt since then.
To encourage each other mutually to accomplish all the activities, no matter how humble the tasks, in pursuit of our mission.
Maintaining a spirit of great confidence in God in order to respond to our call to sanctification.
Interview by Christelle Nkolo