Wishing to live to the
full their vocation of married Christians, a few couples, guided by Father Henri Caffarel, gave birth in 1938 in Paris, to
the Teams of Our Lady.
It was only, however,
with the drawing up of the Team's Charter on December 8th 1947 that the Movement itself was founded.
In the Charter the then
responsible couples, under the guidance of Father Caffarel, affirm their will
-
To go "to the limits
of their baptismal commitment"
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To offer themselves
to Christ "unconditionally"
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To "serve him without
question"
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To make "his Gospel
the charter of their family"
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To see their love, sanctified
in the sacrament of marriage become "a praise to God, a witness to men in proving to them that Christ has obviously redeemed
love, an atonement of all the sins against marriage."
- "They want to be everywhere, missionaries
of Christ"
-
Devoted to the church,
they always want to be ready to answer the call of their bishop and their priests
-
They want to be competent
at their professions
-
They want to turn every
one of their activities into a collaboration in God's works and a service to men.
-
Because they know their
weakness and the limitation of their strengths, if not of their good will
-
Because they experience
every day how hard it is to live as a Christian in a pagan world
-
And because they have
an unshakable faith in brotherly help
-
They decided to
form a team.
The Teams of Our Lady
who put themselves under the patronage of Our Lady because "there is no better guide to God than the Mother of God"
want to be a spiritual movement, bringing together couples who mean to walk the path of holiness in and through marriage,
through the workings in the life of a couple of a "married spirituality," with help of a team.
In the last few years,
the urgent need of renewal of families and Christian couples, prophetically recognized by Father Caffarel and the movement's
initiating couples and so emphatically confirmed by Vatican II, has only been increasing. So, the necessity of the support
of a team, of the encouragement received through sharing with couples of the same ideas and the constant spiritual renewing
in the bosom of a movement, become more and more imperative.
In the course of its
existence, the Teams of Our Lady has tried to answer these needs through its expansion into many countries of all the continents
and through the fruits of holiness and the apostolic forces of the movement to the renewal of marriage in the world.
Seeing the Teams of
Our Lady as a gift of God for the Church and for the world, may bishops seconded for recognition as an association of faithful
of private right made to the Pontifical Council for the Laity on the 19th of September by the Leaders of the Movement.
Having carefully studied
the draft of statutes submitted for approval and having received the agreement of His Holiness John Paul II during the audience
granted on 26th March to His Eminence Cardinal Eduardo Pironio, the Pontifical Council for Laity recognizes the Teams of Our
Lady as an association of faithful of private right, according to the norms 298-311 of the cannon and approve its statutes
ad experimentum for the period of 5 years.
May this official recognition
still reinforce such link of fidelity to the Church and its Magisterium, as has characterized the Movement from its very beginning.
May Mary, Mother of God and Mother of every Christian home, continue leading the Teams of Our Lady along the path of holiness
that Christ only can offer. Let us, with Her, give thanks to the Lord:
"My soul proclaims the Greatness of the Lord
And my spirit exults
in God, my Saviour,
Because He
has looked upon his lowly handmaid."
Granted in the Vatican
on the 19th of April on the feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus-Christ.
