The faithful have always prayed for their priests, but hundreds of women in the Arlington diocese — and thousands worldwide — are lifting their prayers to new heights.
They are part of the grassroots Seven Sisters Apostolate, whose mission is to strengthen the church by ensuring that a holy hour is prayed each day for the intentions of a specific priest. Seven women make up each group; each member commits to pray for one hour a week on a designated day, ideally in church in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
“It’s so simple,” said Janette Howe of St. Paul, Minn., founder of the 10-year-old apostolate, which has spread by word of mouth to 28 countries on six continents. About 3,200 groups — more than 22,000 women — now collectively offer priests — pastors, parochial vicars, vocation directors and chaplains — an hour of prayer seven days a week. Bishops and archbishops have three groups praying for them — so prayers envelop them every day, morning, noon and night.
Seven Sisters has taken off in the Arlington diocese since the first groups started here in 2019 after Father Joseph D. Bergida, now parochial vicar of St. Raymond of Peñafort Church in Springfield, heard about the apostolate on a trip to Minnesota. Father Bergida had known Howe’s son in Rome, where they both studied for the priesthood, and he became the apostolate’s first chaplain here.
Today more than 840 women from 45 parishes are in 120 Seven Sisters groups in the diocese, and more groups continue to form. Among those prayed for is Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, who offered a special Mass and reception for the apostolate Feb. 9 at St. Veronica Church in Chantilly.
“The Lord has entrusted you with a beautiful vocation,” Bishop Burbidge said at the Mass. “I rejoice in what a gift you are to me and my brother priests. We know you are praying for us to be conformed even more to Jesus Christ, and we are consoled, strengthened and inspired. It’s because I know you are praying for me that I sleep at night,” he added.
The group’s current chaplain, Father Joseph M. Rampino, parochial vicar of St. Ambrose Church in Annandale, agreed. “Thank you for all your prayers and sacrifices. Truly it is not lost on any of us the great gift you are to us.”
Andrea Elliott of St. John the Baptist Church in Front Royal helped get the apostolate off the ground in 2019; she said as soon as learned about Seven Sisters, she felt called to be involved. She already had been praying for her son, a priest in Texas, and wanted to offer similar support to her pastor and others. After getting permission from the diocese, she invited several women she knew to start a few groups. Soon they told their friends in neighboring parishes, and the new apostolate began to spread.
In 2021, Elliott began praying that God would send someone to work with her as a co-coordinator, and Beth Oswald of Christ the Redeemer Church in Sterling showed up. She said she felt called to help grow the ministry after looking at a map of the diocese and seeing “a lot of priests missing prayers.”
“The first step is always prayer. It really is,” Oswald said. “The Holy Spirit is doing the work, not us — we are just the vehicles.”
While each participant sticks with the same prayer day every week, “you get to choose the hour and how you pray,” Elliott said. Some women pray the rosary, others reflect on a passage of Scripture or recite specific prayers. But the whole hour must be dedicated solely to the needs of that particular priest, not used to pray for other people or unrelated intentions.
Each group has a leader, or anchoress, who assists the others and helps find occasional substitutes to fill in so every day remains covered when emergencies come up. The anchoress also acts as a liaison with the priest. Some priests want to know the women in the group so they can pray for them in return, while others “prefer to keep it a mystery and let the Holy Spirit guide,” Oswald added.
Seven Sisters is just for women, but men who wanted to be involved started Fasting Brothers, groups of six men who fast one day a week (except Sundays) and dedicate their sacrifice to a priest. They can fast from a favorite food, technology or even music, as one teen chose to do. Other spinoff groups include Elijah’s Helpers, who pray for unnamed priests who are struggling, and Lamp Bearers, who pray for the success of the ministry overall.
Howe said she didn’t set out to start a global apostolate; she just felt moved to offer a weekly holy hour for the needs of her own pastor. After several months, she was inspired to ask six other women to join her, so they could support his ministry with an hour of prayer daily instead of just once a week.
“At the heart of it is Jesus’ words: ‘Can you not watch for an hour?’ ” said Howe, a nurse with a master’s degree in sacred theology. “He also says ‘Come and see.’ ‘Can you not watch? Come and see.’ How simple is that?”
Miller can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @LMillerACH.
Find out more
To learn more go to sevensistersapostolate.org; to contact the local coordinators, email Elliott at [email protected] or Oswald at [email protected].
