Detroit — After several years of practical preparation through parish- and organization-strengthening efforts such as Together in Faith and Changing Lives Together, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron said the time has come for a spiritual preparation as the archdiocese readies itself to lead in the mission of evangelizing the culture.

In a letter to parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit on Feb. 28, Archbishop Vigneron announced the opening of a year of prayer for a new Pentecost.

“I invite all the faithful to a year of prayer for a new Pentecost beginning on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2014, and concluding on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015,” the archbishop wrote in his letter, which was shared with the faithful during weekend Masses March 1-2.

Citing the past five years of Together in Faith and Changing Lives Together, the archbishop said they have been a time of “practical preparation we need in order to engage more effectively the first of our mission priorities, namely, evangelization.”

In a Feb. 20 interview with Ann Thomas, executive producer of the Paul W. Smith Show on News/Talk 760 WJR, Archbishop Vigneron clarified “new Pentecost.”

“The first time I ever heard (new Pentecost) used was by Blessed John XXIII when he asked us all to pray for the beginning of the Second Vatican Council,” said the archbishop. “His hope for the council was that it would be a way to refresh us, to lead us to a whole new level of vitality.”

The Catholic Church became a “visible, public, powerful reality on Pentecost day; we want to recapture that energy today” through this year of prayer, the archbishop said.

Year of Prayer for a New Pentecost Read the archbishop's letter to the faithful.

He encouraged parishes to incorporate the year of prayer into parish life, and — mentioning that Our Lady was present at the first Pentecost — encouraged the faithful to consider a simple addition to their prayer lives, such as offering a daily decade of the rosary.

“Prayer changes us, and it brings us closer to Christ and helps us be more configured to him,” said the archbishop. “We should see greater love in our lives, greater service to one another — husbands and wives for each other; parents and their children.”

Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Byrnes, who is organizing New Evangelization efforts within the archdiocesan committee for the year of prayer, said the hope is to see people “encounter Jesus anew.”

He said he hopes the year of prayer will bring about a “transformation of the archdiocese to embrace being a missionary archdiocese — a missionary Church,” echoing Pope Francis’ call in his apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel).

“As we pray for a new Pentecost, we’re genuinely inviting the Holy Spirit to lead us as an archdiocese,” he said.

Bishop Byrnes expressed the hope that people will “become filled with the joy of that certainty of knowing that God is in their lives and loves them. And that joy and confidence of God’s love becomes the central motivating factor of their life.”

Fr. Robert Spezia, undergraduate spiritual director and director of liturgy at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, is helping to gather a prayer and intercession committee for the year of prayer.

Fr. Spezia said the team will help reactivate parish intercessory prayer teams originally formed during the Changing Lives Together campaign, or help activate prayer teams not yet formed. Some of the Changing Lives Together teams, for example, spearheaded efforts to contact inactive parishioners, inviting them back to church and collecting their prayer requests.

“The prayer teams will probably take on different forms, with a whole array of prayer forms and intercessions,” Fr. Spezia said.

He added that he hopes this year of prayer will “fulfill the charge of Vatican II to help people fulfill the mission.”

Watch the interview

Archbishop Vigneron’s interview about the year of prayer with WJR’s Ann Thomas will broadcast on the Catholic Television Network of Detroit (CTND) at the following times:

• Sunday, March 9 at 5 p.m.

• Monday, March 10 at 2:30 p.m.

• Tuesday, March 11 at 1:30 p.m.

• Thursday, March 13 at 10:30 a.m.