ABOUT US
The Marian Center of San Antonio was born after a 1988 pilgrimage to Medjugorje, former Yugoslavia (now Bosnia-Hercegovina). There, the co-directors experienced a radical “conversion experience” at the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary–the “Queen of Peace,” as she identified herself to the young visionaries of Medjugorje when the apparitions began in June 1981.
As a result of this pilgrimage, Therese Palacios (a “cradle” Catholic) and Michele Maxwell (a non-Catholic) felt compelled to carry the message of Our Lady (the “Gospa,” as the young visionaries called her) to their local community of San Antonio, Texas. First Michele went through the RCIA process, joining the Roman Catholic Church at Easter 1989, and completed her Master’s degree in Theology at St. Mary’s University in 1991. The two began their efforts with a neighborhood “front porch rosary” and a small rosary-making group that met in their homes.
Then, in September 1991, they were given the opportunity to help with the scheduling and transporting of the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from Mexico, which was on loan to the U.S. from the Mexican bishops, and being carried throughout the United States on pilgrimage to parishes, shrines, chapels, prayer groups, etc. With this first project of organizing, publicizing, and physically transporting Our Lady’s image, the Marian Center of San Antonio was born. The first River of Light Newsletter was printed in November 1991 and the new Catholic evangelization ministry was launched. (“River of Light” is one translation of the ancient Nahuatl word, “Guadalupe.”)
Soon after this beginning, the Marian Center began to host an annual national Marian Conference at the Municipal Auditorium. These summer conventions drew thousands of people from throughout the United States and beyond, and went on yearly for ten years, from 1992 through 2001. The Marian Center has also hosted several pilgrimages to Medjugorje and Rome, and maintains a 24-hour telephone prayer line with the monthly Message of Our Lady of Medjugorje: 210-225-MARY.
In addition, the monthly Rosary-Making ministry has continued for over 20 years, moving from private homes to the MCSA headquarters at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, on the last Sunday of each month. Over 100,000 missionary cord rosaries have been made by MCSA volunteers, and donated to various ministries, both locally and worldwide. Likewise, the monthly Peace Mass has been held continuously since the inception of the Marian Center of San Antonio. For many years the Peace Mass moved from parish to parish every month, but now it is celebrated at 12 noon at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, on the last Saturday of each month—always to coincide with the most current monthly Message of Our Lady to the world, given at Medjugorje on the 25th of each month. A monthly Peace Rosary is prayed before the Peace Mass, at 11:30 am. For many years, the MCSA also hosted monthly Peace Walks in various parish neighborhoods that were experiencing gang violence or other disturbances.
In 2009, Michele Maxwell’s book, Mary, Matrix of Change: Personal and Global Transformation through the Rosary was published, which shares her original conversion experience in 1988 and the fruition of the following twenty years of deepening thought, study, prayer, and reflection upon this life-changing experience and the teachings of Mary, Queen of Peace in her “School of Prayer” at Medjugorje. The book is available at Amazon.com.
In 2012, the Marian Center of San Antonio entered a new phase of development as the River of Light newsletter went “electronic” with the launching of the web site www.mariancenterofsa.com
Our Lady of Hope, official logo of the San Antonio Marian Conference
