A new petition drive is underway in which the faithful are asking the Church to consider the great “Secretary of Mercy”, St. Faustina Kowalska, as the next Doctor of the Church.

The petition drive has been launched by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, an order dedicated to spreading the message of St. Faustina Kowalska and to furthering devotion to Mary Immaculate. Based in Stockbridge, Massachusett, they have been working tirelessly to spread the message of God’s merciful love since three years after the death of St. Faustina in 1938.

The Marians believe Faustina’s life and message meet the requirements for the title of Doctor of the Church, which is awarded to persons of extraordinary holiness whose theological writings have been declared exemplary and beneficial for the faithful worldwide.

Thus far, only 36 saints have been awarded this privileged title, such as Augustine of Hippo, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux.

“Key theologians, bishops, and cardinals agree that St. Faustina belongs among their ranks,” writes Fr. Joseph, MIC, director of the Association of Marian Helpers.

“Specifically, through her life and writings, she has renewed and clarified the mystery of God’s merciful love and his call for trust. Saint John Paul II called her ‘a gift … for all of humanity’ and said the Divine Mercy revelations she recorded in her Diary serve as ‘the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time …’”

The Marians believe that declaring Faustina a Doctor of the Church “would amplify the message of Christ’s merciful love to a world wandering in the darkness of sin, unbelief, and suffering,” Fr. Joseph continues.

This won’t be the first time the Marians have appealed to the Holy See on behalf of the message of mercy Christ gave to the world through the work of this humble Polish woman. In 1999, the Marians successfully led a petition drive to make Divine Mercy Sunday a universal feast day for the Church.

“Millions of Marian Helpers sent in their signed petitions, which we then boxed up and sent off to Rome. Based on this outpouring from around the world, St. John Paul II, at the canonization of St. Faustina in 2000, declared Divine Mercy Sunday a universal feast of the Church,” Fr. Joseph says.

“Can we successfully petition the Holy See to name our beloved St. Faustina a Doctor of the Church? With your help, we can!”

And what better time for such a pronouncement that during the Holy Year of Mercy?

Fr. Joseph is urging the faithful to fill out the petition form which can be found here, to spread the word to others and, most importantly, to keep this effort in their prayers.

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