‘Trusting the Lord’: Catholics gather for 32nd International Week of Prayer and Fasting

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 11, 2024 / 09:25 am

Catholics around the world are gathering for the commencement of the 32nd annual International Week of Prayer and Fasting (IWOPF) under the theme “Conquering the Darkness: Triumph of Mercy, Hope, and Healing.”

This year’s event will kick off on Saturday, Oct. 12, with an in-person conference at St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax, Virginia, followed by a three-day virtual speaker series. Relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) and Blessed Carlo Acutis will also be available for veneration on Saturday. 

IWOPF is a grassroots movement joined by various pro-life groups and the Legion of Mary that invites Catholics and Christians around the world to pray and fast for peace, the conversion of all peoples, the sanctity of marriage, building a culture of life, and for all priests and vocations. 

It has received two apostolic blessings from St. John Paul II and one from Pope Francis, along with support from St. Teresa of Calcutta as well as from EWTN foundress Mother Angelica.

This is the first year that International Week of Prayer and Fasting events are not taking place at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Flynn told CNA that the basilica was only available in early November and many of the participants did not want to be in D.C. so close to the presidential election on Nov. 5. 

“I didn’t want to change it,” IWOPF co-founder Maureen Flynn said. “But sometimes things happen — things happen for a reason.” 

“So we’re just trusting the Lord, and we’re just encouraging everybody [for] nine days, from Oct. 12–20, [to] really to pray for our country in a big way, pray for the elections, pray for our leaders, our families, and for peace in the world,” she said. “Because as you know, we just read the news, and we really need prayer.” 

Flynn co-founded the movement with her husband, Ted, and friend John Downs in 1989 after Flynn had been struck by an article in the Washington Post that featured two grandmothers who she said had been “bragging about being pro-abortion.”

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, how can these grandmothers be pro-abortion, be for the killing of the innocent?’” Flynn told CNA. The incident inspired her to organize a day of prayer. However, Downs encouraged her to organize a week of prayer instead, insisting that one day “is not enough.” 

Although the movement started with the sole intention of praying for the unborn, Flynn recalled that “as the time went on, there were all these other issues that kept coming up: We began to pray for our families, our children, our leaders. It expanded. Now we have five goals over 32 years.” 

The movement particularly emphasizes the power of the rosary, Flynn told CNA, “to stop wars, for healing in families, and for healing of addictions.” 

“Our Lady has told us we need to use weapons of prayer and fasting because we’re dealing with diabolical forces, and things are ratcheting up in that way as far as evil,” Flynn continued.

“And so we need to use the treasures of the Church, what Our Lord and Our Lady has told us, of the good weapons today.”

While the in-person event will be held in Fairfax, anyone can sign up to view the talks online for free. The talks will be available for up to a year if viewers purchase an all-access pass. Speakers for the event include film producer Jim Wahlberg and Bishop Emeritus Robert J. Baker of Birmingham, Alabama.

Flynn encouraged families to think of ways they can participate in a week of prayer and fasting independently.

“The key is to participate somehow,” she said, recalling that when her kids were younger, their family would have smaller meals, such as soup, during the week, offering it up for the unborn or for families that are struggling.

“They remember that,” she said of her children. “It was a way that we could participate.”