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March 22, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Voice of the Family, a group of Catholic laity consisting of major pro-life and pro-family organisations, has launched a quarterly magazine, Calx Mariae (Heel of Mary)published in the UK.

The fourth issue, which recently appeared in print, focuses on the theme “Parents as primary educators of their children”.

SIGN UP to receive Calx Mariae (Heel of Mary) here. 

The new magazine has received an endorsement by Kazakhstani Bishop Athanasius Schneider O.R.C.

“It is my pleasure to welcome Voice of the Family’s magazine, Calx Mariae. Its title, with its allusion to the protoevangelium (Gen 3:15), should remind us that the Holy Virgin’s victory over our ancient enemy is already assured,” he said.

“I hope that its presentation of the beauty of Catholic teaching will contribute to the rebuilding of Christian civilisation. I pray that its content will help all those who read it to draw ever closer to our Blessed Mother at this time of trial for the Church – like St John, those who remain close to her will not abandon the Lord. I would encourage readers to assist this wonderful apostolate with their prayers and generous support,” he added.  

Voice of the Family, a coalition of 25 pro-life and pro-family organisations across all five continents, founded by LifeSiteNews and SPUC, was formed to uphold Catholic teaching on the family. For nearly five years Voice of the Family has followed the troubling developments in the Vatican and how these translate into the life of the Church on the national and parish level. Through conferences and analyses, briefing bishops and strengthening leaders on the ground at this time of great confusion and apostasy, Voice of the Family has sought to uphold Catholic truth regarding marriage, sexual morality and parental rights. LifeSiteNews has played a key role in, and has consistently covered, Voice of the Family’s annual Rome Life Forum.

The magazine Calx Mariae features presentations, briefings and analyses by members, friends and associates of Voice of the Family coalition and enables their message to travel beyond a conference hall or a meeting room. The topics we have covered in our previous three issues are:

  • True and false understanding of conscience 
  • The teaching of Humanae Vitae
  • Vocation and mission of young people

We also hope that in our internet-dominated culture, a confidently Catholic printed magazine will offer sustenance for our daily battle for the truth in the midst of quickly expiring news and allow faithful Catholics to contextualise the avalanche of information with ongoing formation. Above all, we hope that the magazine will assist readers in spreading our Catholic faith and growing stronger in true love of the Church.

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Calx Mariae means ‘heel of Mary’. In the book of Genesis we read that, after the fall of Adam, God said to the serpent “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel” (Gen 3:15).

The serpent, our ancient enemy Satan, is terrified by the Blessed Virgin, who triumphs over all evil. To be crushed by a human creature, a woman, would already be humiliating enough for one who was created as the greatest of the angels. But it is even worse than that. The serpent is to be crushed by her heel – not by her head or her hand, but her heel, the most insignificant part of her body.

In the body of Christ, the Church, we could perhaps think of lay people as the heel. Every member of the Church has their proper place and function, each must fulfil their proper role if the body is to be healthy: the pope as head, the cardinals and bishops subject to him; priests subject to their bishops; religious to their superiors; and finally lay people to their shepherds. In our time this divinely established order is tragically disturbed in countless ways. The failure of many in authority to transmit faithfully Catholic doctrine means that it is often left to the laity to defend and proclaim the faith, and the basic truths about human life and the family, in the public square. That being the case, we should not let this be a source of distress or pride, but faithfully serve to the best of our ability – as the heel of the body of Christ.

In conducting our combat for life and the family we must stay close to Our Heavenly Mother. This is what filial love and duty command, and also what common sense demands – she is the one who will crush Satan’s head. 

The Spring issue focuses on parents as primary educators of their children 

The most glorious end of marriage is to rear new citizens of heaven. In Arcanum divinae, Pope Leo XIII wrote: “By the command of Christ, it not only looks to the propagation of the human race, but to the bringing forth of children for the Church, ‘fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God’ (Eph. 2:19).” This challenging work is the lot of parents as the first educators of their children. This fundamental, yet threatened, principle is the focus of the Spring issue of Calx Mariae.

Why is this principle fundamental? The Roman Catechism teaches us that “as the law commands children to honour, obey and respect their parents, so are there reciprocal duties which parents owe to their children.” Parents are obliged “to bring up their children in the knowledge and practice of religion, and to give them the best rules for the regulation of their lives; so that, instructed and trained in religion, they may serve God holily and constantly.” Thus the protection of parental rights is essential for defending and rebuilding our Christian civilisation. 

How is it threatened? The battle against the primacy of parents is being waged by powerful governments, the United Nations and other international institutions which attempt to impose so-called “comprehensive sexuality education” programmes which promote contraception, abortion, gender ideology, homosexuality and virtually all other attacks on life and the family. Classroom sex education brings the most intimate aspects of life into the public sphere and is often designed to estrange children from their parents. Worst of all, it destroys innocence. It leaves Christian parents powerless to counter the indoctrination of their children.

The current issue offers guidelines for parents on how to fight for their right to be the first educators of their children. It also gives a detailed account of the betrayal of parents and children by the Catholic Education Service of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales as well as Vatican officials, and much more. 

For subscriptions and ordering copies of individual issues, visit this link.

In this holy season of Lent, may our battles, above all, lead us to contemplate the parental love of God the Father, the filial love of Our Lord who was “obedient unto death, even to death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8) and the most tender motherly love of the Blessed Virgin. Let us dwell unceasingly on His Atoning Sacrifice offered for our sins, to purify our hearts and to deliver His Church on earth from all iniquity. Such is the power of the love of our heavenly Father and our Blessed Mother that by the Precious Blood of their Son it has won for all their children the prospect of everlasting happiness in Heaven.

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