Knock mass marks world priest day

Catholics around Ireland will be taking time out this afternoon to offer up prayers for the country’s 6,000 priests.

Today marks the seventh annual World Day of Prayer for Priests, and a special celebratory mass is being held at Knock to mark the occasion.

World Day of Prayer for Priests is an initiative put in place by the late pope John Paul II in 2002 to offer support to the world’s 400,000 priests. As part of the celebrations, lay people are encouraged to pause at 3pm local time to pray for their local priest.

This year’s celebration has been co-ordinated by Quantum Universal, a group of lay people based in the United States and Ireland.

“We’re offering the day as a gift to our priests all over the world. The whole idea behind the day is to reach out to the world and encourage them to join together in celebration and prayer for all of our priests,” said Marion Mulhall, a spokeswoman for the group.

“Priests are so grateful for the day and it brings them so much joy. It’s something that they have never asked for, but they are so pleased to be remembered in this way,” she added.

Quantum Universal works in collaboration with the Congregation for the Clergy in the Vatican to co-ordinate the day, which always coincides with the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

According to Ms Mulhall the celebration has become increasingly popular since its inception, and it is expected that the day will be celebrated by Catholics around the world. However, she stressed that World Day of Prayer for Priests is very much a local occasion too.

“We’re hoping that every single country in the world will be joining in the celebrations with us to join in prayer for our priests. But the day is very much about lay people coming together with their local priest and bishop,” said Ms Mulhall.

A webcast of the special World Day of Prayer for Priests mass at Knock Shrine can be viewed at worldpriestday.com.