In response to the Vatican's summit on child protection and the clerical sexual abuse crisis, the Knights of Columbus are to set aside time over a nine-day period to say a "Novena for Repentance, Renewal and Rebuilding."
A guide to the full novena, which began 20 February and will end 28 February can be found on the Knights website.
"We must stand in solidarity with our priests and bishops, and join them and lay Catholics in forging a path of renewal and fraternity that puts Christ at the centre. Only then can actions be taken to end this scourge," Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and Baltimore Archbishop William Lori Anderson said in a letter to Knights announcing the novena.
"This effort must start with prayer," they continued. "Prayer must guide and inform the bishops' meeting in Rome and the urgent renewal needed in dioceses and parishes around the world."
Each day of the prescribed novena includes a reading from Scripture and a unique prayer for the intentions of victim-survivors, bishops, priests and seminarians, and for strengthening the church. Every recitation concludes with an Our Father, a Hail Mary, a Glory Be and a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, defender of the church.
In their announcement on the novena, Anderson and Archbishop Lori also noted the Knights-sponsored nationwide pilgrimage of the incorrupt heart of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, currently underway.
"We have been deeply moved to see the impact of this relic on the faithful, and particularly on priests and seminarians as they implore the intercession of the patron saint of parish priests whose holiness and integrity they strive to emulate," they said, adding that in light of the summit, they are "especially mindful of this great saint’s example."
The holy relic of the saint -- popularly known as the Cure d'Ars -- is on a six-month tour. It is currently in the Los Angeles Archdiocese and will be there until 26 February.
The Knights launched the "Heart of a Priest" tour in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
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