Marian Library Symposium in Dayton, Ohio

For six years, a major resource for my research and writing has been The Mary Page hosted by the University of Dayton's Marian Library, International Marian Research Institute. I had never imagined myself attending the symposium. Living with Mary Today, presented in Dayton earlier this month, but there I was among the scholars and members of the Mariological Society of America. Initially, I was a little intimidated because I am not clerical or studying for my doctorate in sacred theology. By week's end, I was proud to represent the "person in the pew."

The presentations and lectures were captivating. From the keynote presentation by Father Johann Roten, Mary Today: A General Assessment, to the descriptions of Mary in the cultures of Latin America, Asia, and Africa, I absorbed so much fascinating material that I lost all concepts of time and existence. At 9 p.m. overload set-in, and loved ones back home missed my daily cell phone calls. Automatic dial was too hard to figure out. I was exhausted. When I first arrived at the dorm, I regretted that I had forgotten my bedside lamp for nightime review and reading. Not to worry, it didn't take a light to fall into bed.

The range of topics ran the gamut from The Lumen Gentium, Mary in church documents, to apparitions of Mother Mary in cheese sandwiches. We studied Mother Mary's magnificence, from gracing the cover of The New Yorker magazine to the recently discovered frescos in underground Rome. We did not push Mary into divinity. By studying Mary from the various view points of the pedestal to the ground level, one realizes that Mary is not the mirror image of humanity, she is our reflection. It is something to think about. And, as far as the cheese sandwich goes...just another reminder that Mary is available to every one of us.