Handful of prayer groups exist across archdiocese, and ‘some miracles have happened’

NEW BOSTON — For many Catholic parents, the question is difficult to think about, and even more difficult to answer.

Why do my children no longer go to Mass? And what can I do to bring them back?

It’s the same question a famous saint’s mother once asked, pained that her son, Augustine, was turning his back on the faith he once loved. While answers to these questions might be hard to come by, across the Archdiocese of Detroit, St. Monica Sodality prayer groups are devoted to supporting one another and keeping up the fight in prayer.

“We started the St. Monica Sodality prayer group because we wanted to pray for children that have fallen away and for other family members that have fallen away from the Church,” said Denise Garcia, who along with her sister, Annette Marrs, co-founded the St. Monica Sodality prayer group at St. Stephen Parish in New Boston. “St. Monica prayed for her son for years to come back to the Church, so Fr. John (Hedges, pastor of St. Stephen’s) wrote a prayer book for St. Monica, which has different saints.”

St. Monica — whose feast day is Aug. 27 — prayed for 17 years for the conversion of her son, St. Augustine, who eventually did revert to the Catholic faith. The group meets every fourth Saturday of the month, praying the novena to St. Monica and offering petitions on slips of paper to be dropped into a prayer box before the statue of St. Monica that rests in the corner of the small New Boston church.



“After the 4 p.m. Mass on the fourth Saturday of every month, we gather in the corner of the church and pray the litany and novena, and people put their petitions to St. Monica in the box,” Garcia said. “We mail them to Chicago, where a priest takes them to Rome and puts them right by the relics of St. Monica in the Basilica of Sant’Agostino in Rome.”

St. Monica Sodality groups exist in a handful of parishes across the archdiocese, including at St. Edward on the Lake in Lakeport, Assumption Grotto in Detroit and SS. Cyril and Methodius in Sterling Heights.

Eleanor Wittstock, director of the SS. Cyril and Methodius group, said its members, too, send petitions to the tomb of St. Monica in Rome. Wittstock said the group offers comfort to many who mourn the lack of faith in their children’s lives.

“People have family members who have left the Church, maybe to join other churches or not to believe anymore,” Wittstock said. “There are children, grandchildren who don’t go to Mass, and mothers are heartbroken, like St. Monica. When we have a Mass for the intention of St. Monica, we say the St. Monica Sodality prayer together, passing out prayer cards. We have maybe 30 to 35 people who stay regularly, and there are hundreds of petitions in the box. Then we have a talk, giving each other encouragement. In our talks we have testimonials and give each other suggestions.”

Wittstock said it doesn’t take much of a time commitment to join a St. Monica Sodality group or to start one — just dedicate time every month to praying the novena and to praying the St. Monica Sodality prayer daily.

“The devil wants to stop us from praying, so we’re there to encourage one another,” Wittstock said. “Praying in groups is in the Bible; that’s why holy Mass is so powerful, with so many prayers reaching heaven.”

In addition to the power of group prayer, knowing there are other faithful Catholics who worry about the souls of their children is a comfort, Wittstock said.

“It’s good to know there is someone in your situation, and it’s good to know you’re not alone,” she said.

While the St. Stephen group hasn’t adopted the support group style to their devotions just yet, Garcia said it’s something they might try soon.

“We’ve been doing this for two years now. But we do talk to one another, we do say, ‘Please pray for this or that person.’ But basically it’s for the people who show up and pray,” Garcia said. “We’ve seen some miracles that have happened, all through the power of prayer.”