"... His example has not gone unnoticed. In fact, he has even inspired the good Archbishop Leonard of Brussels to found the Fraternity of the Holy Apostles after Fr. Zanotti-Sorkine's example. The Fraternity has begun with three priests and seven seminarians, and has recently found a home in the once-closed old St Catherines'. Like Father Zanotti-Sorkine, they walk highly-secularized Brussels in cassocks, and they bring the Gospel and sacraments to those who wouldn't otherwise seek them.
Fr. Zanotti-Sorkine has given us a model for how to re-evangelize the West. He offers something old and something new to bring his people to the wedding feast of our Lord. With his traditional dress, devotion to the confessional, and reverent mass he has reached deep into the time-honored treasures of the Church, and has been called another Cure of Ars. His commitment to walking the neighborhoods is reminiscent of the early Franciscans and Dominicans, and represents the perennial missionary spirit of the Church. He has also been adept at using modern technology to reach people through various forms of media: books, interviews, online sermons and even music..."
As I mentioned in my last post on Father Michel-Marie his parish in Marseille has been given to some young priests from the Emmanuel Community. On this blog of an Emmanuel seminarian back in 2013 mentions this new community in Brussels.
"...The seminary here in Namur is the official seminary of all the French speaking seminarians of Belgium. So, we have here seminarians from Namur, Brussels, Liège, etc. all gathered in the same place… There are also seminarians here from Redemptoris Mater, the neo-catechumenal community based here in Belgium, as well as seminarians from a new community – The Fraternity of the Holy Apostles, who are inspired by the ministry of a very famous priest in Marseilles in the South of France named Père Michel-Marie Zanotti. I’ve heard echoes around here of him being almost like a young curé of Ars. His parish is apparently completely on fire and his reputation is spreading quickly here in Europe. I only know very little about him, as Marseilles is at the other end of the continent and I’ve never had the opportunity of going there. I know he goes everywhere in a cassock… he’s a very good preacher… he’s taken extraordinary care of the liturgy in his parish… Anyway, he’s inspired a whole bunch of young men to establish among themselves this new community that is now studying for the priesthood here with us in Namur..."
The Fraternity of the Holy Apostles (Fraternité des Saints-Apôtres) have taken over a run down parish in Brussels called St Catherine and renovated it and its shrine of the Black Virgin or Madonna.
Three of the new priests of the Fraternité des Saints-Apôtres
Originally Father Michel-Marie was to move to the Rue de Bac in Paris but in the end he moved to the Shrine of Our Lady of Laus. This shrine was a favourite of St Peter Julian Eymard. Is God moving him to a safe place as the Catholic prophecies speak of Paris being destroyed by fire and Marseille engulfed in a time of upheaval in France?
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Father Michel-Marie at Laus in the French Alps