St. John Vianney Prayer Cenacle - Memphis

Day 2. Pray for Chris Fagin! 🙏

Name: Chris Fagin
Year: 3rd Theology
Projected ordination year: 2026
Location: Notre Dame Seminary (New Orleans, LA)
Home parish: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Before seminary: Graduated from Christian Brothers University
Favorite saint: St. Jude
Favorite prayer: Rosary
Hobbies: Sports, guitar, reading
Favorite Memphis restaurant: The Bar-B-Q Shop

O Lord Jesus Christ, great High Priest, we ask You to call many worthy souls to Your holy priesthood. Enlighten the superiors in the formation of candidates, the spiritual directors in guiding them, and the professors in instructing them. Lead the seminarians daily in unerring footsteps, so that they may become priests who are models of purity, possessors of wisdom, and heroes of sacrifice; steeped in humility and aflame with Divine Love; apostles of Your glory and sanctifiers of souls. Amen.
Mary, Queen of the Clergy, pray for us;
obtain for us many holy priests.

The Adopt A Seminarian program of prayer has begun. Please use the sign up link to spiritually adopt a new seminarian, or one who is discerning the priesthood, and pray for him during his studies for the priesthood.

Our Diocese is prayerful and thankful for a Seminarian’s desire to intimately serve Christ and His Church. However, a Seminarian’s journey to the Priesthood can be filled with struggles, uncertainty, and hesitation. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Mother’s powerful intercession, and the affirmation and prayers of a dedicated family or individual, the discerner will receive the grace needed to continue their Priesthood journey.

With the blessing of our Diocese’s Office of Vocations, the St. John Vianney Cenacle of Prayer for Priests-Memphis, started an "Adopt-a-Seminarian" program in August 2022. Since then, many Seminarians have had sponsors praying for them, making Holy Hours, having Masses said for them, and much more.

Our Diocese now has 15 young men who are studying at a Seminary and three more discerning the Priesthood. If interested in spiritually “adopting” one of these young men and praying for one of them throughout their time studying or discerning, included in the link are the names of the these Seminarians and Candidates. Please click the link for details and/or to sign-up at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4EAAAB23A2F49-50700537-adopt. All Glory to God!

As we look forward to starting the academic year, it is time to introduce the Memphis Seminarians! Please pray today for Felix Pesce.

Name: Felix Pesce
Year: 3rd Theology
Projected ordination year: 2026
Location: St. Meinrad Seminary (St. Meinrad, IN)
Home parish: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Before seminary: Grocery Store Proprietor and Personal Trainer
Favorite saint: Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati
Favorite prayer: Rosary
Hobbies: Reading and weightlifting
Favorite Memphis restaurant: Tsunami, Babalu, Lotus

O Lord Jesus Christ, great High Priest, we ask You to call many worthy souls to Your holy priesthood. Enlighten the superiors in the formation of candidates, the spiritual directors in guiding them, and the professors in instructing them. Lead the seminarians daily in unerring footsteps, so that they may become priests who are models of purity, possessors of wisdom, and heroes of sacrifice; steeped in humility and aflame with Divine Love; apostles of Your glory and sanctifiers of souls. Amen.

Mary, Queen of the Clergy, pray for us;
obtain for us many holy priests.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father Edward Cronin, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and former associate pastor of Our Lady of Unity Parish on Augusta Boulevard in Chicago, passed away Sunday, June 2, 2024, at the age of 69.

Father Cronin was profiled in a 2019 Chicago Catholic article that reflected his care for animals, especially his dogs Bella and Kazu.

“Father Edward Cronin, pastor of St. Helen Parish, 2315 W. Augusta Blvd., said having pets naturally encourages people to honor all of God’s creation, especially the animal kingdom.

“Dogs, cats, birds … they offer this glimpse of how God created the world, for all of us to live in harmony,” Cronin said. “Man is fulfilled when is more in sync with the rest of God’s creation, and that includes the animal kingdom.”

Cronin’s two dogs — Bella, a shih tzu mix, and Kazu, a Japanese chin, sometimes accompany him on visits and to church, he said. Bella was adopted from a shelter in a mostly Latino neighborhood and came to him responding only to commands in Spanish. Now she is tri-lingual, understanding commands in Spanish, English and Polish, after spending time with Polish-speaking parish staff members.

“They’ll sit right up in front of church when I’m praying the rosary,” he said. “They love to be with people.”

https://www.archchicago.org/obituary/-/article/2024/06/07/archdiocesan-priest-rev-edward-j-cronin-dies

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr. Peter Puntal. He passed away on 6/11/24. He faithfully served the Diocese of Orlando, especially the Filipino Community and retired in 2023.

“Well done, my good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:21

Eternal rest grant unto Father Puntal, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

OBITUARY: Father Pedro (Peter) Puntal, 68 Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father Pedro (Peter) Puntal.

Let us pray, and pray the Rosary. Praying is powerful. All Glory to God!

Happy Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother Mary. Let us confidently call upon Our Blessed Mother and lift our priests up to the tender and loving care of their Mother and ours. She loves each of them as her son and we ask her to protect them, shower them with grace and sanctify them.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for Priests (Saint John Paul II)

O Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ and Mother of priests, accept this title which we bestow on you to celebrate your motherhood and to contemplate with you the priesthood of your Son and of your sons, O holy Mother of God.

O Mother of Christ, to the Messiah-priest you gave a body of flesh through the anointing of the Holy Spirit for the salvation of the poor and the contrite of heart; guard priests in your heart and in the Church, O Mother of the Savior.

O Mother of Faith, you accompanied to the Temple the Son of Man, the fulfillment of the promises given to the fathers; give to the Father for his glory the priests of your Son, O Ark of the Covenant.

O Mother of the Church, in the midst of the disciples in the upper room you prayed to the Spirit for the new people and their shepherds; obtain for the Order of Presbyters a full measure of gifts, O Queen of the Apostles.

O Mother of Jesus Christ, you were with him at the beginning of his life and mission, you sought the Master among the crowd, you stood beside him when he was lifted up from the earth consumed as the one eternal sacrifice, and you had John, your son, near at hand; accept from the beginning those who have been called, protect their growth, in their life ministry accompany your sons, O Mother of Priests. Amen.

O Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us; obtain for us a number of holy priests.

On this Solemnity of The Assumption, let us ask the Blessed Mother to pray for vocations.

Oh Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church, to you do we commend our young people, in particular those called to follow your Son as brothers, sisters, and priests.

You know, O Mary, the struggles, doubts, and obstacles they must face. Assist them to answer Yes to the divine call, as you did at the invitation of the angel.

Draw them near to your heart so that they can understand the joy that awaits them when they answer your Son's call to be witnesses of His love in the world.
Amen

Today is the day, when I am again compelled to share my favorite painting of Mary as she is assumed into Heaven.

Art: from the Cathedral of San Pedro de Los Milagros in Colombia Artist: Juan de Jesus Munera Ochoa.

August 14 - Memorial of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest/Martyr

“Whereas, in the past, howling and curses reverberated from the starvation bunkers like a scene of the damned in hell, this time the condemned prisoners did not curse or tear at each other, but sung and prayed. Soon the condemned in the other cells joined in singing hymns to Our Lady. What had formerly been a place of torment and bedlam became a place of divine worship.

The major cause for the difference? This time a priest, a holy priest, was with them to share their immolation, to counsel, encourage, and hear confessions. Father Maximilian lived his priesthood and would die the good Shepherd, ministering to the spiritual needs of his fellow victims. He could not allow these men to die without the ministering of a priest. Even the jailers were amazed at the prayerful atmosphere and remarked “never have we seen anything like this.”

Kolbe: Saint of the Immaculata, 8-9

📝Vocation Resource Highlight📝

Most seminarians are entering another year of formation, so we encourage you to incorporate prayer as one of your core components, such as launching a Spiritual Adoption Program. This initiative allows your team and parishioners to support and pray for seminarians and others in religious formation.

Creating personalized trading cards to introduce seminarians and share their stories with your parish is a fun way to promote prayer for everyone discerning.

No matter how simple or elaborate the cards are, the seminarians will be grateful for the gesture. Download our template HERE.

Pairing the Spiritual Adoption Program with seminarian trading cards can help your parish nurture its own culture of vocations!

Learn more about the Spiritual Adoption Program here: https://i.mtr.cool/idypqatjey
Download Seminarian Trading Cards here: https://i.mtr.cool/ntuxxcxwfp

Prayers for seminarians as they start their fall semester! Write the names of seminarians in the comments so that we can pray for them, too.

Many of us are broken and in need of God's healing. Let us offer a deeply sincere prayer of reparation for priests in need of His healing touch. It should grieve our heart to think of even one of those so dear and chosen by Our Lord to be lost. We also pray in reparation for the horrible, sacrilegious and blasphemous acts against God that so deeply wound Our Lord on the Cross, and our world. Beloved and merciful God have mercy on us. The attached Chaplet of Adoration and Reparation prayer is beautiful to pray as an offering of reparation.
https://mcusercontent.com/7908307a38fb4cc7b85d7817b/files/7dbf22d3-adf3-535d-9256-0640effc411e/Chaplet_of_Adoration_Reparation.pdf

Prayer of Reparation

O My God, poor, weak and miserable as I am, I have come to spend some time alone with You, in reparation for the priests who have forgotten that they are Your chosen souls. Especially dear God, do I offer this time for the priest who at this moment needs it most. In praying for consecrated souls, help me to remember my own utter weaknesses, misery and nothingness. Were it not for Your grace, I would be far worse than those for whom I pray. O My God, help those priests who are faithful to remain faithful; to those who are failing, stretch forth Your Divine Hand that they may grasp it as their support. In the great ocean of your mercy lift those poor unfortunate ones who have fallen, that being engulfed therein, they may receive the grace to return to Your Great Loving Heart, Amen.

O Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us; obtain for us a number of holy priests.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father Lawrence Johnson.

Murder charges filed Friday allege a St. Paul man strangled a 76-year-old priest in Minnesota on the side of Interstate 94 Thursday while en route to a mental health evaluation with the suspect telling police voices told him to commit the act.

Ramsey County prosecutors charged Nathan Thomas Wondra, 32, of St. Paul with second-degree murder in the killing of the Rev. Lawrence Johnson. Authorities arrested Wondra moments after he said voices told him to strangle Johnson in order to “save humanity.”

St. Paul man charged in connection with retired priest’s death - TheCatholicSpirit.com A St. Paul man has been charged in connection with the Aug. 1 death of 76-year-old Father Lawrence “Larry” Johnson.

The following clergy have their names in the St. John Vianney Cenacle of Prayer for Priests’ book of intercessions. Please let us know if you would like us to pray for a certain priest, or for the repose of a priest’s soul.

Father Isaac Acha (D)
Father John Atkinson
Father Robert Ballman
Father Ben Bradshaw
Father Joseph Brier (D)
Father James Clark
Father Carlos Donato
Father Sean Dooley
Father Alexander Drummond who has lung cancer
Father Ned Elliott (D)
Father Herbert Ene
Father Sam French
Father Patrick Gallagher
Father Anthony Garnett
Father Yoelvis Gonzalez
Father Michael Gossett
Father David Graham
Father Evan Harkins
Father Joseph Hastings
Msgr Odell Heymer (D)
Father Joey Kaump
Father Kenneth Keene
Father Stephen Kenny
Msgr Joseph Lamonde
Father Michael Maranowski
Father Jim Martell
Father Russell Maurer
Father Thomas McQuillen
Father Rick Mickey
Msgr Paul Morris (D)
Father Dexter Noblefranca
Father Amir Shazad Pakitan
Father Mathew Panackachira
Father Daniel Perez
Father Robert Ponticello
Father Jeo Poulose
Father James L. Pugh (D)
Father Anselm Rodriguez
Archbishop Emeritus J. Peter Sartain
Father Dennis Schenkel
Father Jolly Sebastian
Father Bernard Shulik
Bishop David Talley
Father Charles Thessing
Father Thomas Thomas
Father Bryan Timby
Father Charles Wilton
Father Kacper Wojcieszko

You know that St. John Vianney is the patron of parish priests, right? Today is his memorial day! St. John Vianney, pray for our priests today and always.

Today, August 4, on this Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Church remembers Saint John Vianney (Priest). St. John Vianney is the Patron Saint of Priests and known as the “Curé of Ars.”

St. John Vianney, born during the days of the French Revolution, was ordained a Priest in 1815. Three years later he was made Parish Priest of Ars, a remote French hamlet, where his reputation as a confessor and director of souls made him known throughout the Christian world.

St. John Vianney’s life was one of extreme mortification. Accustomed to the severe austerities, beleaguered by swarms of penitents, and besieged by the devil, this great mystic manifested a imperturbable patience. He was a wonderworker loved by the crowds, but he retained a simplicity, and he remains to this day the living image of the Priest after the heart of Christ.

St. John Vianney heard confessions of people from all over the world for the 16 hours each day. His life was filled with works of charity and love. It is recorded that even the staunchest of sinners were converted at his mere word. He died August 4, 1859, and was canonized May 31, 1925. St. John Vianney, please pray for us!

“If you invoke the Blessed Virgin when you are tempted, she will come at once to your help, and Satan will leave you.”

- Saint John Vianney