By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
The 83 bishops who publicly opposed the Notre Dame commencement invitation to President Barack Obama have begun to receive Spiritual Bouquet Certificates consisting of thousands of prayers offered by the faithful in thanksgiving for their “inspiring witness to the importance of Catholic identity.”
A request for the prayers was made by the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), an organization dedicated to restoring the Catholic identity to the nation’s universities, on Ascension Thursday, May 21. The bouquets were sent to the bishops on Friday, May 29, in advance of Pentecost Sunday.
The bouquets include over 116,000 Mass intentions, 74,900 Divine Mercy chaplets, 146,000 Rosaries, 28,000 Days of Fasting and more than 37,000 hours of Eucharistic Adoration. Priests also offered 3,272 Masses for the bishops.
Certificates for the bouquets read “On behalf of the members and staff of The Cardinal Newman Society and the more than 367,000 faithful who signed the petition at NotreDameScandal.com, this spiritual bouquet is made on the twenty-ninth day of May Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi two thousand and nine in grateful appreciation to the Church’s shepherds who prayerfully provided witness for a strong Catholic identity on Catholic campuses.”
Patrick J. Reilly, CNS president, said: “Our bishops deserve our support and prayers for their defense of Catholic identity, and as the battle for the soul of Catholic campuses continues, the bishops will need them more than ever.”
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