Do you want to grow in holiness?
Do you desire to help save souls?
Do you want to follow Christ more faithfully, but feel like you don’t have the grace, the knowledge, the support, or the community you need?
Become a Marian Helper
What Jesus Told Us to Do
The Scriptures tell us to take the Gospel to every corner of the Earth. That’s what the Association of Marian Helpers has been doing since our official founding in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1944. Now some1.5-million members strong, the Association is a spiritual benefit society dedicated to serving Jesus Christ and to spreading His message of mercy to a world in desperate need of it.
Through our books, articles, videos, and more, you’ll learn about the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ. We’ll provide you with the spiritual nourishment you need to live a life of virtue and holiness in a world torn by sin, division, and despair.
By decree of the Holy See, you’ll have a share in the graces that come through the good works of the Marian Fathers throughout the world, and we’ll offer prayers and Masses for you and your intentions every day.
Together, Marian Helpers strive to be true apostles of Jesus whose merciful love — poured out upon us in prayer, in the Eucharist, and received by us through repentance and faith — can transform our whole lives, reorder our priorities, remake our relationships, and fashion us into instruments of His mercy in a troubled world.
Our history
Since its founding in 1670 by St. Stanislaus Papczynski (1631-1701), the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception has been dedicated to spreading devotion to Mary Immaculate, praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and serving the Church wherever the need is greatest.
Then, beginning in 1941, we became official promoters of the message of Divine Mercy, as received through the Polish mystic St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938). Indeed, we are the publishers of St. Faustina’s diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, in many languages.
At our North American headquarters in Stockbridge, our printing presses annually produce some 50 million pieces of literature and images, all sent out to a world yearning for meaning, mercy, and healing. We administer the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, which receives tens of thousands of visitors a year who seek spiritual renewal through the Sacraments.
In 2001, the 60thanniversary of the Marians’ central role in the spread of the Divine Mercy message and devotion, St. John Paul II sent a special apostolic blessing and a renewed call to the Marian Fathers and Marian Helpers. He wrote, “Be apostles of Divine Mercy under the maternal and loving guidance of Mary.”
Our Spiritual Family
Inspired by St. John Paul II, help us in our task to make it known that, in the words of Jesus to St. Faustina, “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My Mercy” (Diary, 300).
As a Marian Helper, you partner with the Marian Fathers in this grace-filled mission, and not just through your prayers and generous offerings. You, as a layperson, have unique opportunities to share the faith and perform works of mercy out of your love for God and neighbor.
Blessed George Matulaitis (1871-1927) — the Renovator of our Congregation — understood this very well. He wrote in 1910, “We must strive to gather and organize about us people of good will. We must train and prepare them for work. Then, together with them and through them, we must bring Christ into all things and all places.”
With those words, he started in seed form what would become the Association of Marian Helpers.
Marian Helpers are men, women, moms, dads, grandparents, families, and even children who yearn to belong to something that is doing great good in the Church and the world.
After all, we were created in God’s image and likeness. He intended that we live in unity as a family — His family.
By becoming a Marian Helper, you become a member of a spiritual family. In this family, we surrender ourselves more fully to the supernatural life given to us in Baptism and the other Sacraments of the Church, so that we can take up in earnest our baptismal vocation to holiness.
Bringing Christ’s mercy into the world is not always easy. But as a Marian Helper, you are given the graces you need to step out in faith. Specifically, by a decree of the Holy See, you share in the graces that are extended to all our Marian Helpers. These include:
• a daily Holy Mass celebrated for Marian Helpers;
• a share in the prayers, good works, and merits of the Marian priests and brothers around the world;
• a special Mass offered on feast days of our Savior and His Blessed Mother;
• a monthly Mass offered for members on each First Friday and First Saturday;
• a Mass offered for deceased members on All Souls’ Day;
• the perpetual Novena to the Divine Mercy at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy; and
• the daily prayers offered by workers at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy and the Marian Helpers Center.
Marian priests, brothers, and Marian Helpers strive to grow in holiness together. Together, we also strive to help people worldwide to embrace mercy as a way of life through:
• sharing our printed material with others;
• promoting consecration to Divine Mercy and to Our Lady*;
• starting or joining a Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy prayer cenacle;
• inviting a Marian priest or brother to lead a parish mission; and
• joining our Friends of Mercy, Thirteenth of the Month Club, and Holy Souls Sodality initiatives.
Other services of the Association include:
• a toll-free Divine Mercy Intercessory prayer line;
• Remembrance and Novena Enrollment cards;
• the ability to enroll yourself or others, living and deceased, in the Association of Marian Helpers; and
• print and online resources to foster devotion to the Divine Mercy and Our Blessed Mother.
More than a million people have downloaded our free Divine Mercy and Mary apps. More than 100,000 people receive our free daily Divine Mercy reflections from St. Faustina’s Diary, via email. More than 220,000 people receive our quarterly magazine, Marian Helper, which teaches the faith, shares powerful testimonies, and provides the latest news of the Association and the universal Church.
The World Needs Marian Helpers
By becoming a Marian Helper, you enter the fast lane to God, a path that promises a more meaningful and fulfilling life here on Earth.
How so?
Because when you embrace Jesus, the Divine Mercy, and when you model your life on the virtues of the Blessed Mother, you become a better person, better sibling, better spouse, better neighbor, better citizen, and better problem solver. And, indeed, the world is rife with problems. The problems of this world are various and urgent, much too urgent for us to sit idly by and wait on others to come up with solutions. As a Marian Helper, you become part of the solution.
Marian Helpers stand with the Lord, who never abandons us.We stand with Christ, the Divine Mercy — the only Source of authentic joy and hope. We stand where the Holy Spirit is most active — with all who seek to put their faith to good work in the world, all who yearn to make mercy present.
We stand with Mary, the Mother of God, the Mother of Mercy, the Mother of the Church — she who proclaims the greatness of the Lord, she who stayed at the foot of the Cross when so many others fled.
Marian Helpers go to where the needs are greatest, in our families, our parishes, our communities, and throughout the world.
Never has this work been more critical than now.
We don’t flee.
We stand with Him to whom we belong.
We stand with Christ.
If you have questions and you live in the United States or Canada, you can call us toll free at 1-800-4MARIAN (1-800-462-7426). Or e-mail fr.joseph@marian.org.