A Seven Sisters mini retreat was held at Holy Spirit Church in Fargo on Nov. 23. More than 30 women met for a time of refreshment and spiritual enrichment. Janette Howe of St. Paul, Minn., the apostolate’s foundress, spoke about the history of the apostolate. She shared about how the Holy Spirit had moved her heart to pray a weekly holy hour for her parish priest.
Soon afterward, she heard God’s call to invite other women to join her. From its inception in 2011, the apostolate now has 4,500 groups praying for priests throughout the world, and it is growing by three to five groups daily! The goal of the Seven Sisters Apostolate is to pray one holy hour each day of the week—“a holy wasting”—for the conversion and holiness of each priest. Each of the seven women in an apostolate commits to one hour per week.
Father Robert Keller, in his session “A Priest’s Perspective,” shared some of the challenges priests deal with on a regular basis, such as assisting individuals and families in crisis situations. These may include marriage and family problems, illness, hospital visits, and death. He added that it’s hard for priests to be at their best when suffering from exhaustion and illness. With meetings, office and paperwork, returning email and phone calls, and preparing for Mass and other priestly duties, priests’ workloads can be quite daunting. Father’s address helped the group to understand how they can better uphold priests in prayer.
Suellen Dusek, coordinator for Seven Sisters in Fargo, spoke to the group about the challenges of spreading the good news of the apostolate throughout the diocese to increase the number of groups praying for our priests. Currently, 28 priests in the Diocese of Fargo have a group of seven women praying a holy hour for them each day of the week. Yet, there are over 60 priests still in need of Seven Sister groups. Suellen encouraged the women to pray for those priests in need of a Seven Sisters group, to share those needs with women in neighboring parishes, and to spark interest in establishing more Seven Sisters groups as the Spirit moves them.
The Seven Sisters Apostolate is committed to praying for priests. A Seven Sister: one holy hour, one priest, each week, one heart of prayer. For more information, find the Seven Sisters Apostolate online at www.sevensistersapostolate.org.