'Prayer Warriors'

Responding the Holy Father's call for an increase in prayer for vocations, the Vocation Office of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is pleased to announce the formation of 'Prayer Warriors,' a lay apostolate formed to encourage Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for the renewal of the priesthood and an increase of vocations.

"A member of a local parish approached me several months ago with this idea of gathering the laity to pray for their priests," remarked Fr. Kyle Schnippel, Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. "She noticed that priests were 'under attack' and that morale among the presbyterate was, seemingly, low. She wanted to do something about it, which I was happy to oblige."

Members of 'Prayer Warriors' agree to the following three aspects: 1) one hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament for stated intentions, 2) voluntary acts of penance and/or sacrifice for the renewal of the priesthood and for vocations, and 3) acts of charity in support of bishops and priests.

Communication of the monthly prayer requests will be done through a monthly newsletter which will be distributed both electronically through www.cincinnativocations.org and at a Mass on the fourth Friday of every month held at the Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center. Information will also be sent to parishes within the Archdiocese, through pastors and parish vocation committees, with the expectation that they will make the materials available to their parishioners.

To help spread the message of the need for prayer for priests and vocations, a Prayer Warriors Kick Off event will be held in September at the Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center. Details are still being worked out, watch this space for further developments.

Those interested in recieving monthly email updates when the newsletter is posted are asked to send an email to vocations(at)catholiccincinnati(dot)org with 'Prayer Warriors' in the subject line.

Further information, as well as the initial June newsletter, will be published next week at www.cincinnativocations.org/prayerwarriors.shtml (Again, watch this space for when the link goes active.)

Supporting priests is supporting vocations; Supporting vocations must also entail supporting priests.