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St. Mary's Prayer Chain: Bearing One Another's Burdens in Christ
Sacred Heart Herald, September 2003
In a parish the size of St. Mary's, it is often easy to feel disconnected from others. Parishioners struggle to find ways to share more intimately with one another in an environment where it is challenging just to remember others' names. A new apostolate at St. Mary's, the Prayer Chain, is helping to build a more intimate spiritual community in the parish through the practice of intercessory prayer.
"In simple terms, a prayer chain is the spiritual alarm system of a parish by which a group of volunteers communicate with each other through intercessory prayer on behalf of the needs of those in the community," said Lorene Lake, one of the chain coordinators. Lake pointed to Jesus' words in Mathew 7:7: "Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened." The prayer chain takes these words to heart and intercedes on behalf of others in need by lifting up to the Lord specific requests, concerns, emergency situations or joyful thanksgivings.
The praying that is done on this prayer chain is called intercessory prayer, which, according to The Catechism of the Catholic Church, is "a form of prayer of petition on behalf of others. The prayer of intercession leads us to pray as Christ, our unique Intercessor, prayed" (CCC, 2634). There is a sense of sharing with fellow parishioners on a personal level of faith. It is a way of bringing our "spiritual family" together one phone call at a time.
Communicating the needs requested requires commitment and responsibility on the part of the prayer chain member who receives the request by telephone, prays, and passes the intention along. At St. Mary's, all initial requests are received via phone or e-mail by David Tiede Hottinger, Assistant to the Pastor for Evangelization and Pastoral Services. David passes the request along to Lorene Lake, the captain of the evening chain and Jan Bernard, the captain of the day chain.
The requests are then passed through each chain, with a follow up call to the captain from the last person to assure the request has passed through its members. The requests are completely confidential; last names are only used at the requestor's permission. The St. Mary's chain also tries to pass along updates about people for whom members have been praying.
Prayer chain members say that their participation has strengthened their commitment to their faith and their "spiritual family" — the parish. "I truly believe in the power of prayer and being part of this group is very rewarding," said Mary McFadden. "I am pleased to see that so many of our parishioners are using our ministry and it is my hope that more of them will call on us in their time of need," MCFadden said.
The prayer chain at St. Mary's is a diverse group, totaling at least twenty-six parishioners. There are men and women, young and old, life-long parishioners and new Catholics. According to Lorene Lake, "the common thread that links all of us is our desire to commit to prayer for others and the belief that intercessory prayer is powerful."