As the 100th anniversary of the birth of the “Rosary priest,” nears on Jan. 9, 2009, many public activities and events are already scheduled around the world to observe it, but individuals can also celebrate the occasion and pray for the beatification of Servant of God Patrick Peyton, CSC, in a novena in the privacy of their homes.
Holy Cross Family Ministries, Easton, Mass., furthering Father Peyton’s work and vision under the sponsorship of the Congregation of Holy Cross, is conducting a year-long celebration of the anniversary with the theme “Honor his memory. Continue his mission.”
It is urging families to kick off the celebration by praying the family Rosary in their homes during a special novena January 1 to 9, 2009. Families and individuals can sign up on Holy Cross Family Ministries’ website – www.hcfm.org – to pray this novena and also to list their intentions and to pray for other intentions that have been posted by individuals on the site.
Holy Cross Family Ministries has offices in 17 countries and all of them will be observing the Rosary Novena Jan. 1-9, as well as conducting many public activities during 2009 including Holy Hours, Rosary rallies, Masses and gala celebrations with music, food and dance. In Ireland, a statue of Father Peyton will be erected. In the Philippines, a Telethon will be conducted where people will phone in their commitments to pray the family rosary. Other activities are planned in Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay. Most of the international offices will conduct the annual “Try Prayer! It Works!” contest on Fr. Peyton’s famous message “The Family That Prays Together Stays Together.” Students K-12 submit artwork, poetry and essays to reflect the theme.
Also, chapters of the Father Peyton Guild throughout the world, promoting his cause for beatification, will sponsor various Rosary activities.
Several Catholic television outlets will be scheduling biographical programs on Father Peyton and selected programs that the Catholic media pioneer produced.
Father Peyton was born on January 9, 1909, in Caracastle, County Mayo, Ireland to a family that prayed the family Rosary in their home nightly. He died June 3, 1992, and his cause for sainthood was opened on June 1, 2001, bestowing on him the title “Servant of God.” His cause is being continued by the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
In his 51 years of ministry devoted to the Blessed Mother, her Rosary and to families, Father Peyton conducted 40 Rosary rallies worldwide that drew 28 million people, including 2 million in 1964 in Brazil and in 1985 in the Philippines. He also produced more than 600 radio and television programs that featured hundreds of Hollywood stars. His famous slogans encapsulate his mission, “The family that prays together stays together and “A world at prayer is a world at peace.”
“Father Peyton’s most sacred insight, the goal toward which his whole fascinating life was directed, was to encourage families to come together daily to pray the Rosary. He saw so many benefits to this simple practice,” said Holy Cross Father John Phalen, CSC, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries. “Let 2009 be a year of strengthening the family through the family Rosary!” he added.
Father Phalen is inviting families to pray the novena of Rosaries for “world peace and any particular petitions dear to the hearts of your family members,” and “to add this simple prayer for Father Peyton’s beatification at the end of your Rosary:
Dear Jesus, Father Peyton devoted his priestly life to strengthening the families of the world by calling them to pray together every day, especially the Rosary. His message is as important for us now as it was during his life on earth. We beg you, therefore, to hasten the day of his beatification so that your faithful people everywhere will remember his message that the family that prays together stays together, will imitate him in his devotion to your Mother and ours, and will be inspired by his holy life to draw ever closer to you with childlike confidence and love. Amen.”
Holy Cross Family Ministries is comprised of Family Rosary, which Father Peyton founded in 1942 in Albany, N.Y., with locations in 17 countries; Family Theater Productions, which Father Peyton founded in 1947 in Hollywood, Calif., and the Father Peyton Family Institute, Easton, Mass., and Lima, Peru.
For more information about the 100th anniversary celebration of Father Peyton’s birth, go to http://www.hcfm.org/ or call toll-free 1-800-299-PRAY (7729).
