Mary's Meals Medjugorje welcomes the Vatican's note about Medjugorje
Mary's Meals Fruit of Medjugorje
On Thursday, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published a document approved by Pope Francis. This Vatican document emphasizes the "abundant and widespread fruits associated with the devotion to Mary, Queen of Peace, and pilgrimages to Medjugorje," describing these fruits as "beautiful and positive."
Many have been profoundly moved and changed through personal encounters in Medjugorje, and one such a spiritual awakening led to the founding of international movement Mary’s Meals, named after our Blessed Mother, which now provides daily meals for more than 2.4 million children every school day in some of the world's poorest countries.
Our founder and CEO Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow was just fifteen years old when he first visited Međugorje in 1983 with his brother and sister. It was a life-changing experience, and led, years later, to Magnus founding Mary’s Meals. In his book ‘The Shed That Fed Two Million Children’ (HarperCollins, 2021) Magnus says of his visit to Medjugorje: “During those few days in Medjugorje, I experienced a feeling of deep joy unlike anything I had felt before. I felt exhilarated.”
As a global movement, Mary's Meals includes volunteers, donors, and beneficiaries from all faiths, and those of none. Today, this movement provides school meals in 17 of the world's poorest countries, across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Those are Benin, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, South Sudan, Syria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Yemen.
According to our most recent Impact Report, serving Mary’s Meals in a place of education increases enrolment, reduces absenteeism and gives children the energy to learn and concentrate. Peter Chanda is Headmaster of Kapara Primary School in Eastern Province, Zambia, which has been receiving Mary’s Meals since October 2024. He said recently: “When feeding started we had 500 children in our school, now we have 1,400 and teach in three shifts. When a child is hungry, he cannot learn, he cannot concentrate. When a child is fed, when he has a full tummy, then he can learn”.
Međugorje continues to be a place of great importance for the Mary’s Meals movement. As a centre receiving over one million pilgrims each year from all over the world, it is often the first point of contact for awareness for Mary’s Meals work.
Mary's Meals has had an information center in Međugorje since 2004 to raise awareness about the importance of solidarity with the poorest in the world. Affectionately called the ‘blue container,’ it serves as a meeting place for pilgrims who want to learn more about this fruit of Međugorje and our simple solution to world hunger.
Mary’s Meals as a fruit of Međugorje is also rooted in prayer. There are many ways to respond to the spiritual engagement of Međugorje, and Mary’s Meals is one flourishing example of the momentum gained when prayer and action work together. For more information follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
