Vatican recruits 'spiritual mothers' to pray for priests

Published: 2007-12-12

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With a letter to the world's bishops and a 40-page illustrated brochure, the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy is encouraging eucharistic adoration for the holiness of priests and is recruiting "spiritual mothers" to pray for priests and for vocations to the priesthood. The project, launched Dec. 8, aims to highlight the link between the Eucharist and the priesthood as well as Mary's special role as the mother of every priest, said a letter from the congregation's top officials. Cardinal Claudio Hummes, congregation prefect, and Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, congregation secretary, said that as part of a wider effort to address the challenges facing priests today, they wanted to promote perpetual eucharistic adoration "for the reparation of faults and sanctification of priests." But they also hoped to promote "a commitment on the part of consecrated feminine souls," who, following the example of Mary, "might wish to spiritually adopt priests in order to help them with their self-offering, prayer and penance." The letter asked bishops to promote in their dioceses "a movement of prayer," centered on perpetual eucharistic adoration and involving priests, religious and laypeople.

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