The first bilingual congress “Mary, the Queen of Peace” began on November 19, 2023 in Miami with the prayer of the Holy Rosary, which was followed by a procession with the statue of the Queen of Peace, brought from Medjugorje for this occasion. The procession was led by Fr. Danko Perutina and the directors of the four Medjugorje Information Centers: Vedran Vidović, Hubert Liebherr, Oriol Vives and Luis Siman. They humbly and proudly carried the statue of Our Lady on their shoulders. During the procession, a small choir sang the anthem of the Queen of Peace in Croatian, English and Spanish. The international choir for this occasion consists of Ana María, Jelena, Maria Eugenia, Emiliano, Miguel, all from the USA, Nicaragua and Peru.
Luis Siman, director of the Information Center Mir Medjugorje for the English speaking area, as the host, opened the congress by welcoming all those present to Miami and expressing his joy for their presence at this first bilingual congress “Mary Queen of Peace.”
The parish priest of Međugorje, Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić, greeted all present in the video message:
“You are in our prayers and we hope that this meeting will bring you even closer to each other, but especially to the Lord. Mary is our Mother and she calls us all to pray with our hearts and to put God at the center of our lives, because only in this way can a person be happy and fulfilled, only if he lives with God. I hope that this meeting will help you to pray and seek God with even greater joy. You all love Medjugorje and would love to come here, but we know that this wish cannot always come true. But don’t let that make you sad, say the rosary in your families and communities, celebrate the Eucharist, worship Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and that way you will have and live Medjugorje in your cities and you will be close to the Virgin and God. May God bless you and grant you peace,” said Fr. Zvonimir.
Fr. Danko Perutina spoke about the history of the Croatian people and the persecutions they went through during the Turkish and communist times. He emphasized the importance of the role that the Franciscans played throughout the centuries in preserving the faith of Catholics in these areas. Then he spoke about the fruits of Medjugorje and said that Medjugorje feeds the whole world with its fruits. To date, more than one million Holy Masses have been celebrated in Medjugorje, and from 1985 to the present, more than 46 million Holy Communions have been distributed. He spoke about priestly and religious vocations that originated in Medjugorje. He recalled the position of the Church on Medjugorje.
He talked about how the American pilgrims were the most numerous at the beginning of the apparitions, but that number has decreased significantly, so he talked about the possible reasons why that number has decreased so much in the last two decades.
“I hope that all of you who are present here, as well as all those who wanted to come but couldn’t, will help to awaken that enthusiasm for Medjugorje, that is, for God. Because the spirituality of Medjugorje is Christological,” said Fr. Danko, who ended his presentation with a prayer of the heart.
After Fr. Danko, the director of the Međugorje Information Center for the German-speaking area, Hubert Liebherr, made his presentation, who pointed out: “We are happy that now there is finally a Center in English-speaking countries.” There are 5 countries where the German language is spoken, there are about 100 million of us in total, there are many more of you. That is why this new Center is of great importance. The information center Mir Međugorje is a center with which we must cooperate. We must say that the Mir Information Center of Medjugorje is like a tree, and we are the branches. We must work together for Our Lady, and no one must use Our Lady for their personal needs. Then he spoke about his first arrival in Medjugorje on the anniversary of 1987, when he wondered what his role was. He emphasized that we must be aware that God’s plan for the world is realized through us.
“It is an honor to be in this beautiful country that Virgin loves so much. This reminds me very much of the meeting we had in 2009, called by Fr. Danko, when our center was founded. The USA is a huge country, with a faith that we in Europe envy. He said that Medjugorje is a gift and a task. He spoke about the importance of unity between centers and states and emphasized: If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go with others. It is very important to find meeting points and help each other”, said Oriol Vives, director of the Međugorje Information Center for the Spanish-speaking area.
Luis Siman, director of the Mir Međugorje Center for English-speaking countries, presented the beginning of the Center’s work, thanked everyone who had something to do with the organization of this congress and the establishment of the Mir Međugorje Information Center for English-speaking countries.
“Albert Einstein said: There are two ways to live life, as if nothing is a miracle or as if everything is a miracle. I chose that everything in my life is a miracle. I have received many blessings. That’s why I thank, first of all, my heavenly Father, and then my family, especially Father Luis Siman. He spoke of his visit to Medjugorje and since then has dedicated himself to spreading messages throughout Latin America. I thank God for my father who continues to follow me from heaven. When we were in Costa Rica at the beginning of this year, Fr. Danko asked us to start the Mir Medjugorje Information Center for the English-speaking area. I immediately accepted it with great humility. I am here for everything that the Lord and His Mother want and need from me. But isn’t that what we’re all here for? Our Blessed Mother is looking at us from heaven and will say: thank you for responding to my call.
There are two purposes of the center:
1. Respond positively to Pope Francis’ call for evangelization.
2. To work together to spread the spirituality of Medjugorje.
This center is the one that can reach the largest number of people because English is the most widely spoken language in the world. In all actions and activities, it must be very clear that this center belongs to our Blessed Mother. In her first message, the Virgin called us to peace. This is what our Mother wants for us and this should be our dream. Reading Our Lady’s messages that talk about holiness, I realized that we must realize the dream that the Virgin has for us, which is to be saints,” said Luis Siman.
After Luis Siman, the director of the Mir Međugorje Information Center addressed the gathering, Vedran presented the work of the Information Center from its beginnings, in 1990, until today, then he spoke about the work plan for the next period.
“Our centers are very important, because they are the outstretched hands of Our Lady in the world. Their mission is to spread Our Lady’s messages in the world. One big project that was very important during the pandemic is the Medjugorje congresses. The idea for these congresses came from our dear Hubert Lieber from the German center, who was the first to start an online congress about the fruits of Medjugorje, and it was organized in Germany with live participation in the prayer program in Medjugorje. This congress was translated into 15 world languages. After that, the foundation for the Spanish-speaking area organized a Congress on the fruits of Medjugorje in this speaking area. After that, we had two more congresses that we organized together with people who love Medjugorje in the Chinese-speaking and Arabic-speaking areas. These were days of hope for people in difficult situations. I must mention that for many people during the pandemic, our prayer program was an oasis and salvation in difficult times. The daily thanks of many people came from all over the world because at that time it was impossible to participate in the sacramental life and there were those who could not participate in the church in a different way,” said Vedran Vidović, who also presented the work plan for the next period for Medjugorje centers.
We must reflect on our place and our charism of Catholic identity.
We, Our Lady’s children, must be the most excellent in our work, whatever we do, in order to convert this world. When people see us happy, they will recognize Christ in us – the source of life,” said Vidović, emphasizing technology and presence in the media as a very clear way of evangelization today.
At the end of the day, Fr. Dan Reehil had his own powerful testimony of conversion.
The most beautiful part of the whole day was the time of joint prayer, which began with the rosary that led us to Holy Mass, and after Holy Mass was followed by adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.
