Who We Are

Children of Medjugorje, Inc. (COM) is a Roman Catholic, not-for-profit, lay missionary organization dedicated to delivering five simple messages from Our Lady in Medjugorje:

• Fasting
• Prayer of the Rosary
• Scripture Reading
• Holy Mass
• Confession

We are committed to building up the Church and enabling the faithful to unite in prayer.  With an outreach of over 10,000 in the United States and more than 60,000 around the world, COM connects the faithful internationally in an effort to educate and give hope to those who are lacking peace.  Communicating the love of God to others and promoting the culture of life has become the benchmark of our work and the work of those affiliated with COM.  We endeavor to shine a bright light of hope through the spiritual darkness and emptiness of the world.

Inspired by Our Lady in Medjugorje, COM encourages Christian formation in the conscience of people everywhere. The Christian faithful not only find motivating ideas, but they are also creating scenarios in their own communities that, for example, renew parishes, build foundations for youth groups and provoke a response in the context of social issues.  Some may be called to evangelization, others, a ministry to the sick and suffering.  All of us share the call to prayer. COM places itself on the front lines of the spiritual battleground, employing various communication technologies at the service of Mary, the Queen of Peace, so that she can extend her school of prayer, peace and love in Medjugorje to the whole world.   We are her instruments, so that all people will come to see that they, too, are her children.

COM, Inc. in the United States publishes books and Medjugorje newsletters, as well as provides videos and CDs in an effort to spread the messages given in Medjugorje.  COM, Inc.  also financially supports short missions throughout the world where these messages are not well-known.

COM Apostolate and Sr. Emmanuel Maillard

Sister Emmanuel tells that after receiving her first calling to the Beatitudes Community in 1976, she received another calling – to serve Our Lady in Medjugorje.  Sent by her community, she initiated the first branch of the community in Medjugorje in 1989.  During the Balkan war in the 90s, Sister Emmanuel became known for her regular faxes about the situation in Herzegovina, always related to the mission of Our Lady.  She has had an enormous impact on France, stimulating an extensive response to Medjugorje among French pilgrims, but her apostolate has broadened as her books have been translated into 22 languages and she has traveled widely to make Medjugorje known, particularly in the United States.  Today, “Les Enfants de Medjugorje” and “Children of Medjugorje, Inc.” allow her to be connected everyday to thousands of people around the world, who are motivated by and spreading, the messages of Our Lady in their own humble way.  Sister says that her greatest joy is to be part of a family formed by Our Lady, and being Her extended heart and hands for her children, especially those who do not yet know the love of God.

Books Sister Emmanuel has written:

The Hidden Child of Medjugorje, 2007
Children, Help My Heart to Triumph, 1996 (2^nd Edition 2012)
Freed and Healed Through Fasting, 2004
Medjugorje, The War Day by Day, 1993
The Amazing Secret of the Souls in Purgatory, 1994
Triumph of the Heart, (previously titled Medjugorje, The 90′s), 1998

 

How We Began

On December 30, 1988 Pope John Paul II gave an exhortation on the vocation and mission of the lay Faithful.  He quoted Pius the XII who stated: “…the lay faithful, find themselves on the front lines of the Church’s life; for them the Church is the animating principle for human society. Therefore, they in particular, ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of the faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope, the head of all…”  (Christifideles Laici)

Children of Medjugorje, Inc. was organized as an answer this call.  Sr. Emmanuel founded it in France in 1990 with the name, “Les Enfants de Medjugorje”.  In 1995, “Children of Medjugorje – Children of Fatima United for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart” was created as a branch of “Les Enfants de Medjugorje”. The apostolate later became known as “Children of Medjugorje, Inc.”, a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 organization.

“Our Lady speaks but she also works concretely in the hearts, families, prayer groups and parishes.  We report what we have witnessed in order to inspire others.  Our Lady said, ‘I myself invited you here so that you may bring messages to the world.  I need you.’  Our mission is an answer to her call.  This call is for everyone.  We are all invited to carry her messages out and spread them.”
–Sr. Emmanuel on Mission

COM Apostolates Around The World: 

Australia, “Ave Maria”
COM, Argentina
COM, BiH, Medjugorje
COM, Canada
COM, Egypt
COM, Hong Kong
COM, Malaysia
COM, New Zealand
COM, Romania
COM, South Africa
EDM, Belgium
EDM, France
EDM, United Kingdom
EDM, Spain
EDM, Switzerland

COM Vision and Values

• Become a loving instrument for the Church in the New Evangelism; not because the Gospel has changed, but that the world has changed and there is a new call to and thirst for holiness in these times of darkness.

• Reaffirm faith in God, Mary, Our Mother, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who aids our understanding of the dignity and worth of the human person in the eyes of God and one another.

• Educate the spiritually poor who are growing in numbers throughout the world due to consumerism, materialism and atheism resulting in loneliness and desperation.

• Support spiritual progress and unity in families within the world.

• Achieve international cooperation in spreading the messages of Medjugorje.  To be an instrument leading to holiness in the Church through fostering and promoting the fundamental vocation to holiness, the perfection of charity.

• Profess the holy Roman Catholic faith, embracing and proclaiming Jesus Christ, always in accordance with Magisterium of the Church.

• Commit to a presence in human society, which in light of the Church’s social doctrine, places it at the service of the total dignity of the human person.

• Unite our spiritual, physical, mental and practical strengths with the messages of Our Lady given in Medjugorje in order that peace, offered by Our Lady is spread throughout the world and her messages are lived on every continent.

• Ensure that the principles of the Catholic Faith, contained in Our Lady’s five stones, are given to the world through a concrete instruction that follows the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.