Fr. Phil Hurley, S.J. (center), national director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network-U.S. Office, engages in a fireside chat with international director Fr. Cristóbal Fones, S.J. (right), during a special prayer event Feb. 17 at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. The evening drew 262 attendees for storytelling, music and shared prayer intentions with Pope Leo XIV. (Submitted photo)
The power of unifying in prayer is immeasurable. The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is proving it, uniting the entire planet through joining in the monthly prayer intentions of the Pontiff.
The Milwaukee-based U.S. office showcased this in a powerful evening of storytelling, prayer and community that drew hundreds to the Wisconsin Club in downtown Milwaukee on Feb. 17, inviting the worldwide director, Fr. Cristóbal Fones, S.J., to lead prayer and share stories and music.
“When we come together and we are able to connect with each other and God at the same time, joy is really a fruit,” said Fr. Phil Hurley, S.J., the national director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network-U.S. Office.
“We were able to lead people into doing what he wants us to do, which is to pray in a way that makes a difference.”
The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network unites people through multiple simple steps of prayer. It begins by calling people to a daily offering, lifting prayers and actions throughout the day and creating an availability for God to use each one in his mission.
It links that offering to the pope’s monthly intentions that, for March 2026, call for disarmament and peace. The group also promotes a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The brainchild of the evening of prayer came through the work of the Milwaukee office and that of volunteer Sharon deGuzman, a member of the Wisconsin Club.
“I called up and said, ‘Hey, do you have Feb. 17? This is the date that works for Fr. Fones.’ I said, ‘We might get 30, maybe 60 people,’” she said.
“Then every week we’re like, ‘Wow. Now we’re at a hundred. Now we’re at 150. Now we’re at 175. Now 200. And we ended up with 262 people.”
Following times of testimony, Fr. Fones led what organizers called a fireside chat with original prayerful music he composed.
“He’s so endearing of a person. He just draws you in,” deGuzman shared.
“‘I really want to sing the song for you that I wrote.’ And it’s just this beautiful song that draws you in.”
Organizers then shared the pope’s online video for February, focusing on the plight of children with incurable diseases.
“Fr. Fones explained it. ‘I meet with the pope every three months. Here’s how the video is created. Here’s how we go through it. He really gave us the history and in depth of what it’s like to be in his shoes,’” deGuzman shared about the moments before the video.
“There was one point where most people were just on the border of tears of just being so joyful and so moved by the video.”
“It becomes very personal, becomes very moving,” Fr. Hurley added.
“One of the points I made when I led the prayer is that we may know someone who’s in this situation, but even if we don’t, we can imagine bringing children in need like this to the feet of Jesus, just like in the Gospel, and we can be assured that as we pray together, it really is making a difference right now in the life of somebody.”
It was obvious that the night made a difference in those who shared the evening of prayer united with a pope who was born about 100 miles from where they were sitting.
“There were so many people that stopped me and they’re like, ‘Gosh, you have no idea how much I needed this tonight, with where I am in my prayer life or my life or my kid’s life,” deGuzman said.
“You just have no idea how much I needed this.”
Fr. Hurley says that continuing that daily offering and monthly papal intention is not meant to replace a Rosary or other forms of prayer we already do, but adding the prayer to our daily practice molds our entire day of action into prayer.
“To pray that offering prayer in the morning, and to add the Holy Father’s intention to it, could literally take 30 seconds to a minute, depending on how tired you are when you wake up. But it is very simple, and yet very profound, because it’s making the whole day into prayer,” Fr. Hurley says.
“I’m turning whatever my action is that day into an offering to God. It’s a very brief prayer, but it affects the way that we see our whole life, really, especially if we get into the habit of doing it.”
Fr. Hurley adds that when people join in that worldwide prayer, as those 250 guests did in linking their intentions to the same prayer lifted up by 20 million worldwide on a daily basis, it mirrors how the entire Catholic Church worldwide lifts up the same Scripture and many other prayers during the Mass.
“It’s kind of an extension of that offering of ourselves and praying in the Sunday Mass that we do together, even if we’re just kneeling by our bed on our own. We’re doing it with a worldwide community,” he says.
