Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

After considerable prayer and conversation with both priests and the lay faithful, I wish to announce my intention to initiate a “Year of Prayer and Reparation” to begin on July 6, 2017, the Feast of St. Maria Goretti and closing on Pentecost 2018.

The past few years have brought into focus many of the social, moral, and spiritual ills present in our Church and throughout our island. In this year of the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Blessed Mother at Fatima, I recall the appeal of Our Lady to offer prayers of intercession and reparation to change the course of history. The persistent prayer of so many of the faithful through this century has proved instrumental in many dramatic ways.

We need the same kind of persistent prayer to invoke the intervention of God to transform our hearts toward repentance and to bring healing and peace to our island. That is the reason for such a season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

In the intervening weeks, I will offer a more detailed explanation of this campaign of prayer. Assisted by the newly reconstituted liturgical commission, I will also extend to our pastors a template of ways to engage this spiritual campaign within their parishes.

May the Lord pour out his superabundant grace upon us!

In Christ,

Archbishop Michael Byrnes
June 19, 2017