Statutes and Constitution

The Confraternity of our Lady, Queen of Angels

GIORDANO, Luca, Justice, 1684-1686, Fresco, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence

This Constitution sets forth the Statutes that define the name, purpose, and pious objectives of the devotional private  association of The Confraternity of Our Lady, Queen of Angels, its seat, government, and conditions required for membership, and the manner of its acting, attentive, however, to the necessity or advantage of time and place.  (See Can. 304 §1.)

  1. Name of the Confraternity
    The name of the devotional private association formed by these Statutes is “The Confraternity of Our Lady, Queen of Angels,” which sometimes for convenience shall also be called the “Queen of Angels Confraternity.”  (See Can. 304 §2.)
  2. Canon law structure
    The Queen of Angels Confraternity, while structured under civil law as a California Nonprofit Religious Corporation commonly referred to as the “Queen of Angels Foundation,” in its most essential nature and by its core purpose is a confraternity, also sometimes called traditionally a “sodality,” i.e., a pious private association under Can. 298 §1 in which the Christian faithful, “whether clerics, lay persons, or clerics and lay persons together, strive in a common endeavor to foster a more perfect life, to promote public worship or Christian doctrine, or to exercise other works of the apostolate such as initiatives of evangelization, works of piety or charity, and those which animate the temporal order with a Christian spirit.”  See generally Code of Canon Law, “Associations of the Christian Faithful” (Cann. 298 – 329).
    The Queen of Angels Confraternity is a purely devotional society; it is not a fundraising entity or charity, but rather is a fully self-sustaining and supporting pious union devoted to Our Lady, Queen of Angels, Patroness and Protectress of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the City of our Lady of the Angels.  (Id.)
  3. Authority of our Archbishop and other ordinaries
    The Queen of Angels Confraternity at all times and in every manner and matter pertaining to its religious and devotional activities shall be and remain faithful and obedient to, and subject to the vigilance of, the Archbishop/Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and such other competent ecclesiastical authorities as may be directed by our Archbishop/Cardinal.  (See Can. 305 §1.)   The members of the Queen of Angels Confraternity shall in all circumstances, in every manner and matter pertaining to its religious and devotional activities, remain faithful and obedient to, and remain in full communion with, Our Holy Father and the Holy See, and the Magisterium of the Church.  (See Can. 305 §2.)
    This obedience and fidelity in all matters of faith shall be affirmed by each member of the Queen of Angels Confraternity as a condition required for membership.  (See Can. 304 §1.)
  4. Purpose of the Queen of Angels Confraternity
    The purpose of the Queen of Angels Confraternity is to foster and increase devotion to Our Lady, Queen of Angels, Patroness and Protectress of the Los Angeles Archdiocese and the City of Los Angeles.  By their prayers, pious exercises and good works, members of the Confraternity shall humbly seek Our Lady’s intercession, as Sovereign Queen of St. Michael, St. Raphael, St. Gabriel, the Guardian Angels, and the host of angels under St. Michael’s command, to: (i) bring together in unity and diversity all the varied backgrounds and nationalities of the Archdiocese, uniting local Catholics of today with the practice of the Church in every age, (ii) bringing together the diverse constituents of the Family of God in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, wealthy and struggling, established and dispossessed, every race and occupation, from devout, to wavering, to lapsed Catholics, all in joyful union around their Blessed Mother, the Patroness and Protectress of their City and Archdiocese, whose intercessions surely are very powerful for even the most attenuated believers; (iii) by bringing together the Family of God, increasing family and community support for new vocations and bolstering the commitment of current and prospective vocations; (iv) increase the willingness of the Members and participants to dedicate themselves to the New Evangelization of the greater Los Angeles area, which contains many waivering and lapsed Catholics; (v) inspire future lay Roman Catholic leaders to lead more perfect lives in accordance with the Magisterium of the Church; and (vi) protect and defend our Cardinal, our Archbishop, and all our priests, clergy and religious from the enemies of the Church, by reuniting the Family of God around our common Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and by this means to help the entire Family of God fulfill the will of Her Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, whose Kingdom knows no end.  Amen.
  5. Pious exercises and devotional activities
    Members of the Queen of Angels Confraternity must be Roman Catholics in good standing and in full communion with the Church.
    Members shall endeavor to regularly attend Mass; to regularly participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; to regularly pray the Rosary and the Angelus; to lead exemplary lives of virtue and to avoid any act or omission that might cause scandal or cast a cloud of disrepute upon the Church, the Archdiocese, the Queen of Angels Confraternity, or the Roman Catholic faith.
    Members must pray constantly to Our Lady, Queen of Angels, asking humbly for Her intercession and that of St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, the Guardian Angels, and all of the Angelic Host to protect and defend our Cardinal, our Archbishop, and all our bishops, priests, clergy and religious from the enemies of the Church, to inspire vocations to the priesthood serving the People of God in our Archdiocese, and to help all of us fulfill the will of Her Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, whose Kingdom knows no end.  Amen.
    Members shall endeavor to carry with them a Holy Card of the Confraternity, a rosary, or scapular, as may be approved and blessed by the appropriate ecclesiastical officials, and to reflect on them daily in their prayer life, in seeking to lead more perfect lives and to be an example for others who wish to draw nearer to God.
    Members of the Queen of Angels Confraternity shall endeavor to meet once monthly, preferably on a Saturday, at such time and location in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as may be convenient or appropriate for Members.  The meetings shall be governed by the Board of Directors, under the auspices of its Chairman, President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary, and such other members of the Executive Committee of the Board as may be present at the meetings of the Members.   The Executive Committee shall be comprised of the Chairman, President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary and such other Members as may be appointed by Chairman and President in consultation with the Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary.
    The Queen of Angels Confraternity shall seek to have one or more spiritual advisors from among the clergy and religious in the Archdiocese, who shall provide spiritual guidance to members in connection with their devotional activities with respect to the Procession in honor of Our Lady, Queen of Angels, and the Mass and Feast in her honor, and other pious and charitable works of the Confraternity.   The Queen of Angels Confraternity also shall have Directors and Members that act as official liaisons to their parishes and other agencies and groups, both private and governmental, in which Roman Catholic Faithful may wish to participate in the pious and devotional works of the Confraternity.
    Lay Members of the Board of Directors shall be urged to make a sufficient annual contribution of time and money to the Confraternity to permit it to remain self-sufficient and self-funding.   Members of the Board of Directors are expected to exercise leadership in the conduct of the devotional works of the Queen of Angels Confraternity.  No Board Member shall be excluded, however, solely on the basis of an inability to contribute financially to the Confraternity.   In addition to Board Members, the Confraternity shall also have Members who wish to participate in the devotional works of the pious union, from whom no financial contribution is required.
    Subject to the blessing, approval and imprimatur of the appropriate ecclesiastical authorities, which the Board of Directors shall humbly and prayerfully seek through all appropriate means, the primary devotional work of the Queen of Angels Confraternity shall be the planning, funding and implementation of an annual Procession, Mass and Feast in honor of Our Lady, Queen of Angels.  By doing so, the Confraternity and the participants in the Procession, Mass and Feast shall petition Our Lady, as Queen of all Angels, asking Her for Her intervention as the Patroness and Protectress of Los Angeles, and of St. Michael, St. Raphael, St. Gabriel, the Guardian Angels, and the entire host of Angels of whom She is Queen, to protect and defend for our Archbishop, bishops, priests, deacons, other clergy and religious, and all of the City’s leaders and inhabitants, from the many dangers, temptations and evils that beset us.   It is hoped that Procession, Mass and Feast shall be conducted on or near September 4th each year, on the Saturday of each year on or near that date, which is the birthday of the City of the Angels and Her Feast Day, as celebrated in our Archdiocese, as our Patroness and Protectress.
    It is intended, and the Members of the Confraternity shall endeavor to ensure, that their activities, including the Procession, Mass and Feast, (i) shall not impose any cost or inconvenience on the Archdiocese; (ii) shall not interfere with the other religious activities of the Members or Participants with respect to their parish and Archdiocesan commitments; (iii) shall not supplant or replace in any way the regular and faithful performance of their primary religious obligations, including attendance at Mass and the Holy Liturgy.
    Rather, and to the contrary, it is the object, hope and intention that the devotional activities of the Members of the Confraternity (i) shall be solid manifestations of sure faith as taught by our Bishops, Magisterium, and Holy Scripture, (ii) oriented always towards the Sacred Liturgy at a Holy Mass, (iii) reflecting and enacting the Pilgrimage of the Family of God as they journey through the streets of the world, (iv) asking for the protection of Our Lady and her Angels, through her Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to lead the Family of God to more perfect lives in communion with their Church, and to protect and defend our Archdiocese, our Archbishop, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and all Roman Catholic Faithful from the enemies of religion; (v) returning always and at the end to the bosom of the Church to give thanks and praise through the sacrifice of the Holy Mass.

QUEEN OF ANGELS FOUNDATION

633 West 5th Street, Suite 2600
Los Angeles, CA 90071

(T) 213-223-2151