JANESVILLE — The days of March 30 to April 1 marked a time of generosity and faith as more than 600 people came to pray at St. John Vianney Parish in Janesville.
The reason was the inaugural St. John Pray-A-Thon, a marathon of prayer designed to draw attention to the importance of prayer by both inviting people to pray in the church and gathering people’s intentions to be prayed for.
“What we thought was impossible, God proved possible,” said Pastor Fr. Paul Arinze.
“It was incredible to see that people were generous enough with their time in the busyness of life to come in and pray for the intentions of people they don’t even know.”
The numbers
Following appeals and notices that appeared in local and diocesan media, as well as parish communications, more than 2,000 prayer requests were received.
They came from a variety of municipalities in the area, including Beaver Dam, Beloit, Edgerton, Milton, Madison, Middleton, Verona, and Whitewater.
Word also spread throughout the country as intentions came in from Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Ohio.
As mentioned, more than 600 people came to the church to pray for these intentions during the three days.
This number included each student and teacher from the school as well as the parish’s religious education students and catechists.
Knights of Columbus and men from the That Man Is You group covered many of the overnight hours.
Other people who came to pray included Rosary groups, small groups from Go Make Disciples initiatives, and members of the parish and school councils.
Many people signed up for shifts beforehand to make sure that someone was present in the church at all times with the goal being to have as many people in the church as possible praying.
LED candles were turned on and placed in the church to represent each of the prayer intentions that came in.
The parish also noted that along with people showing up to pray for the intentions in the church, daily Mass attendance increased by around 50 percent and there was a non-stop stream of people in the Confessional lines each day.
God’s love present
“The Pray-A-Thon rekindled the fire of God’s love in us and praying for all the intentions we received showed our connectedness as children of God,” said Father Arinze.
“It was so beautiful to see that we could have the church open 24 hours a day and people would be there to pray. Not just one person, but a lot of people,” he added.
“We were humbled by all the prayer intentions we received . . . Some of these people may not even go to church but they know the importance of prayer and what prayer can do in our lives.”
Parishioner Sara Marcotte said, “We loved having a special designated time to pray throughout the day. With little kids, it can be hard to find Adoration times that line up with nap schedules. Having a candle for each prayer intention connected the meaning for our kids as well and brought the whole experience full circle for them.”
“The feedback has been incredible,” noted Coordinator of Adult Faith Formation Kris Kranenburg.
“The comments I hear the most are how peaceful and beautiful the prayer time was. We have also been overwhelmed by people asking if we can do it again.”