Our website is growing quickly! Right now we are spending all our time building the database you can find on our "Diocese Information" page. But we wanted to update you on what has happened this past week, and what is coming up this week.
Last Friday we had our weekly Prayer Rally at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. We had a great turnout of around 70 people, along with several news cameras and a police car observing us from across the street. One gentleman actually stopped his car in front of the Cathedral and got out to come talk to us!
A few hours after our Prayer Rally ended, we got the good news that Cardinal Cupich, in response to Thursday's amendment of the Governor's Executive Order to include Religious Gatherings as essential services, will begin making plans for how to reopen.
We will continue holding these rallies weekly at noon until further notice, so please consider joining us! I would love to see this rally get so large that we wrap around the entire block. This week we will even include a May Crowning.
But Chicago is not the only place where Prayer Rallies are taking place. There is also an ongoing Rally going on in front of the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet, on Fridays at 7PM...I was there last Friday and there were around 100 people!
I am also hearing of Prayer Rallies in Naperville, IL, St. Paul, MN, Davenport, IA, and Detroit, MI. There are others around the country who have contacted us to express interest. So in order to facilitate your ability to connect with each other, we have put together a forum here on our website.
Here you can post any information regarding the current closures and reopenings, and there is a special category where you can post your event (or post your interest in starting one) under your state so that others can easily find you.
As of this writing, on Tuesday evening, May 5, I have researched 51 dioceses, and of those, 24 have either restored the Mass already, or have plans to reopen within the next week or two. This is great news!
Keep writing to your Bishops, and where applicable, write to your civic authorities as well, asking them to make provisions for religious worship to be reinstated with fair policies that are no more restrictive than supermarkets. This is the time!