Formation 1977 Founded 1977 | Founder Jean Marie Kozik | |
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The Fraternité Notre-Dame is a Traditional Catholic order of priests and nuns which is not in union with the Pope.
Contents
Origins
The origins of Fraternité Notre-Dame lay in the reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Frechou, France. They were received in 1977 by Jean Marie Kozik, a Frenchman of Polish origin. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1978 by the dissident and excommunicated Vietnamese Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.
Rite
The general religious practices of followers of Fraternité Notre-Dame are in line with other Traditionalist Catholics. ."Traditionalist Catholics" prefer the pre Vatican II Church, especially the Tridentine Mass in Latin as opposed to the Novus Ordo Mass in vernacular languages.
The Fraternite today
Fraternité Notre-Dame operates religious and humanitarian missions on four continents. The order operates soup kitchens and weekly food pantries in Paris, New York City, Ulan Bator, Chicago and San Francisco. Additionally a hospital for the poor has been opened in Mongolia and they have also operated humanitarian convoys to benefit those victimized by war in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Rwanda.
Chicago
In 2000, The movement opened its Mother House for North America in Chicago's Austin neighborhood in the former Gammon United Methodist Church, a structure built by noted Cleveland architect Sidney Badgley and featured in a number of books on Chicago architecture, notably "The AIA Guide to Chicago" by Alice Sinkevitch (Harvest Books 2004). Fraternité Notre-Dame uses the complex as a Novitiate/Seminary for religious friars and future priests, as well as a Novitiate for religious nuns out of the complex.
Since then Fraternité Notre-Dame nuns have become a fixture at numerous Chicago area farmer's markets selling traditional French pastries to raise funds for the group.