As part of national apostolate, groups of seven commit to weekly adoration; vision is that 'every priest is covered' in prayer
HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP — For about six months now, teams of women across the Archdiocese of Detroit have been praying before the Blessed Sacrament for their priests.
The Seven Sisters Apostolate started in St. Paul, Minnesota, when Jeannette Howe, who was praying a Holy Hour for her pastor every week, and felt compelled after nine months to start a group of women to do the same.
The apostolate has since spread to all 50 states, including Michigan, where 35 priests in the Archdiocese of Detroit are now supported in prayer by groups of seven women each who are asking God for their spiritual protection.
Volunteers in the apostolate remain anonymous to the priests for whom they are praying, in order to keep the focus solely on prayer. Only the founder of the group, the "anchoress," is known to the priest, in order to ask the priest's permission to form such a group. The women in the group then commit to one year of spending an hour each week in Eucharistic adoration, praying for their pastor.
Sherry and Jenna, who asked not to include their last names in this story because of the concept of anonymity, are members of a Seven Sisters group at their home parish, Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Waterford. The women said they were approached by the Archdiocese of Detroit about what could be done to spread the apostolate in southeast Michigan.
“It was Fr. Robert Spezia (episcopal vicar for clergy and consecrated life) and Deacon Aaron Poyer (delegate for consecrated life and priestly mission), who said they really wanted this to happen in our archdiocese, where every priest is covered,” Sherry told Detroit Catholic. “Deacon Poyer came out to Our Lady of the Lakes, because we already have a Seven Sisters group, and we had a meeting.”
A letter was then drafted and sent in July to priests of the archdiocese, explaining the nature and purpose of the Seven Sisters Apostolate. The letter also serves as a template for any woman interested in starting such a group in her parish.
“There are seven women, and they each take a separate day and promise to do a Holy Hour,” Sherry said. “Their commitment is for one year, but most of them want to continue beyond a year. They choose whenever the church is open to them, but it’s preferred that it be in front of the tabernacle, with the Eucharist either exposed or reposed.”
The “anchoress” maintains contact with the priest to ask whether he has any particular prayer intentions the women can pray for, but beyond that, contact is minimal.
“The whole point is to support our priests with prayer,” Jenna said. “We are kind of hidden in this effort. We make our promise to go before the Blessed Sacrament — each of us has a different day — and we go before the Lord, and we spend the whole hour solely praying for the priest. Everything is given in support of the priest and the whole parish.”
Women are allowed to be in more than one Seven Sisters group, but it’s advised that a woman is only the anchoress for one group.
Both Sherry and Jenna have been involved in Seven Sisters at Our Lady of the Lakes since 2018 and believe their effort has been a spiritual boost for the priests who have come through the Waterford parish.
“It’s not like a club where we meet and share with each other, we just kind of go to our own Holy Hours,” Sherry said. “We all know that we’re part of the Seven Sisters program. We meet at the beginning of the year and plan out our schedule. We don’t communicate with the priest, but the priest knows he has a group of women praying for him.”
Jeannette Howe's vision for the apostolate was that it be geared toward women, following a long history in the Church of groups of dedicated women praying for the good of the Church and for priests; however, Seven Sisters also has resources on its website for men who want to be involved.
“We used to have a lot more cloistered, religious nuns, who prayed and prayed for all the priests,” Jenna said. “We don’t have as many vocations as we used to have. But it almost feels like we are embracing that same role all those cloistered religious nuns would do for their priests. We are living our vocations out and about in the world, but for that hour before the Blessed Sacrament, when we are praying for our priests, we feel connected to those sisters.”
Seven Sisters is an apostolate of quiet moments, of women praying in the background, offering spiritual support for their priest. But while the priests certainly benefit from prayer, the women involved also attest to the graces they have received.
“I think you cannot help but have graces poured upon you when you are in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. It is such a beautiful thing when you want to serve the Church and you want to love Jesus and want to serve his priests,” Sherry said. “Our Lord calls us away from our busy lives to rest in the moment of his presence. It’s a tremendous blessing.”
