The object of the Legion of Mary is the glory of God through the holiness of its members developed by prayer and active co-operation in Mary’s and the Church’s work. The unit of the Legion of Mary is called a praesidium, which holds a weekly meeting, where prayer is intermingled with reports and discussion. Persons who wish to join the Legion must apply for membership in a Praesidium. The Legion sees as its priority the spiritual and social welfare of everyone. The members participate in the life of the parish through visitation of families, the sick, both in their homes and in hospitals and through collaboration in every apostolic and missionary undertaking sponsored by the parish. Every legionary is required to carry out a weekly apostolic work in the spirit of faith and in union with Mary. The Legion of Mary is a lay apostolic association of Catholics who, with the sanction of the Church and under the powerful leadership of Mary Immaculate, Mediatrix of All Graces, serve the Church and their neighbor on a voluntary basis.
The basic unit of the Legion is called a praesidium, which is normally based in a parish. A parish may have more than one praesidium. To be an active legionary it is necessary to apply for membership in a praesidium, which holds a weekly meeting and allocates a weekly apostolic task to the members, who generally work in pairs. After a successful period of probation, members are called to make the Legionary Promise (this is only applicable for members over 18 years) which is directed to the Holy Spirit. Realizing the necessity for a strong support of prayer, the Legion has Auxiliary members, who associate themselves with the Legion by undertaking a service of prayer in its name. The administration of the Legion is carried out through its various councils at local, regional and national level. The central council, the Concilium Legionis Mariae, meets monthly in Dublin.
The Katukurunda Legion was begun in the year 1961 and since then it has gone through phases of increase and decline. Since 2005 the women’s presidium in the parish has been going from strength to strength. By year 2021 there are two women’s presidiums functioning parallel to each other. New initiatives were taken to develop a junior legion consisting of Daham Pasal girls and boys in the middle school age groups thinking of the future. Many in the legion are now very elderly and young parents need to be recruited into this apostolate for its future survival. In the year 2020 Rev. Fr. Pontius the archdiocesan director of the Legion of Mary in that year accepting the invitation of the Parish Priest visited St. Joseph Vaz’s Church community and met those interested in establishing a Legion at St. Joseph Vaz’s Church community. Close to about 20 women gathered after Sunday Mass and expressed their desire to take up the initiative, and Rev. Fr. Pontius gave them useful literature to start the Legion. Due to the pandemic this could not be realized, but it is certainly a possibility when the opportunity would arrive once the spread of the pandemic somewhat starts to decline.
Coordinator:
St. Mary’s Church: Nandika Weerakoon (0112659048), Augusta Weerakoon (0112659694)
St. Joseph Vaz’s Church: Rasika Fernando (0771234293)
