ABOUT US

Why are we here?

Apostolate of Maternal Praying for Priests (AMP Priests) is an apostolate born from the stories of good, holy priests and bishops. Many clergy experience being battered and bruised by a world teeming with powers and principalities hard at work to destroy their vocations and the very flock these men desire to shepherd to the True Shepherd. These stories speak of men who are isolated, accused and found wanting by their people. Many parish families have lost faith in the very vocation they need to live a thriving life under the fatherhood of Christ’s servants who are called to guide and create a family as they administer the glorious sacraments. These priests and bishops face a crisis of fatherhood and brotherhood and experience the rejection of their parish families when they most need to be loved and supported.

Our Response: Spiritual Motherhood

Our response as women must be to answer the call of spiritual motherhood. There are other wonderful apostolates for women who yearn to pray deeply and intentionally for our priests, like the Seven Sisters Apostolate through which seven women commit to one priest and they each cover him one day a week with a Holy Hour and prayer for his ministry. But I felt the need to respond immediately, covering many priests, particularly those of the dioceses in which we reside.

What's Involved? 7:2:1:Connect

While prayer and fasting is at the heart of our work, we desire to establish intercessory relationships with our priests (why do we pray for specific men? well, why do mothers pray for the specific needs of each of their natural children? Same reason: we each have unique needs in prayer).

Here is the basic plan for spiritually adopting priests.

- Ask the Lord to reveal up to 7 priests (one for each day of the week) He would like you to adopt and cover with your maternal prayers. Devote your prayers and sufferings to the priest you have appointed to that day of that week.
  - Try to identify at least one priest with whom you have some kind of personal contact. This allows you to keep your eyes/ears on him and check in to see how he is doing - as a human being as well as in his ministry.
  - Identify at least one priest from your diocese. It is crucial that we pray daily for our diocese and all the priests within it.

- Devote Two Holy Hours a month for all your adopted priests.
  - Your Holy Hour can be anywhere, but in front of the Blessed Sacrament would be ideal.
  - Inviting other spiritual mothers to this Holy Hour and collectively praying a rosary for the specific needs of our priests at this time is a powerful blessing. Consider using meditations for each decade from:
    - Kathleen Beckman, L.H.S., president and Co-founder of the foundation of Prayer for Priests and author of the book, Praying for Priests, or
    - The clondalkinparish.com website, or
    - Monsignor Peter Dunne and Vicki Herout through prayingforourpriests.org

- Devote One Fast Day a week
  - Fasting has many options besides simply abstaining from meals in the standard Catholic practice. It can be abstaining from social media, desserts, beverages other than water, etc.
  - Ember Days is a long standing tradition of the Church which suggests 3 days (a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) of particular fasting in each of the four seasons. These days, providing a time for a little spiritual retreat, include an emphasis on praying for priests, seminarians and priestly vocations. This is a wonderful practice to incorporate into your spiritual motherhood.
  - Find out more information about Ember Days here.

- Reach out to your adopted sons on occasion, especially those you know in a personal way. Invite them to dinner, bring them cookies, send a note and cards on the holidays (or especially before the major Holy Days of the church when their schedules are full and can be overwhelming), or find an appropriate way you can naturally reach out and let them know you see them as humans and that you value who they are, not just what they provide for you through the church.