Spiritual Motherhood of Priests

“Behind all priests there is a spiritual mother who asked God for their vocation. She bears them through spiritual suffering and nourishes them by offering to God all her daily sacrifices so that they become holy priests.”

– Eucharistic Adoration for the Sanctification of Priests and Spiritual Maternity

.

Spiritual Motherhood of Priests

In 2007, the Congregation of the Clergy, with approval of  Pope Benedict XVI, invited women to adopt priests as their “spiritual sons” and to pray for them constantly, particularly before the Blessed Sacrament.

As part of the Spiritual Motherhood of Priests, women try to imitate our Blessed Mother Mary, the first Mother of Priests, in her humility and sacrifice.

In a life-long commitment, every woman who joins the Spiritual Motherhood of Priests is given the name of one priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon to adopt as her “spiritual son,” promising to anonymously pray daily for him, as well as to pray for him during a weekly hour of Eucharistic Adoration, and to make sacrifices to help her priest-son give himself to God more perfectly as shepherd of his flock.

All women – single, married, widowed, consecrated religious – are welcome to discern this apostolate of prayer and sacrifice for the sanctification and support of our priests.

About the image

(Painting by Abbott Handerson Thayer, 1849-1921, public domain / Wikipedia commons; SOURCE) For those involved in the Spiritual Motherhood of Priests apostolate, the image above symbolizes the Blessed Virgin Mary, walking hand-in-hand with the child Jesus and the young John the Baptist, echoing the spiritual motherhood and prayerful accompaniment of women who make a commitment of “spiritual motherhood” to pray for a priest in our diocese. 

Women interested in the Spiritual Motherhood of Priests (SMOP) apostolate are invited to contact Jacqueline Saretsky for more information at smop@rcdos.ca or (306) 659-5839.