https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/10/...ve-a-chain-of-prayers-nonstop-since-1878.html
Religion Journal; Nuns Keep Alive a Chain of Prayers, Nonstop Since 1878
By FRANCINE PARNESJAN. 10, 2004
At a white marble altar in the Romanesque chapel of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in La Crosse, Wis., Sister Ronalda Hophan prays on behalf of people who ask the nuns to call upon God to steer them through life's travails. She prays for safekeeping of grandsons stationed in Iraq, healing through chemotherapy and job promotions. She prays for people asking for world peace or inner peace, and for mundane miracles including considerate behavior from a spouse, getting a date within a month and decent test grades.
She has prayed, too, for a woman who recently asked to have a cabin to herself on a church cruise. ''She wanted to make it a retreat, a prayer experience, while sailing in God's beauty,'' Sister Ronalda said. (Yes, she got the room). The congregation prays every hour for many others, including its members, the pope, the local bishop, national and state government officials and the residents of La Crosse.
With so many requests from around the globe, the sisters' hours would seem to be filled with nonstop praying -- and indeed, at the chapel, prayer never ceases. For the past 125 years, since 11 a.m. on Aug. 1, 1878, the sisters have been praying around the clock, in rotating shifts. The up-to-the-second Perpetual Adoration Clock at
www.fspa.org is ticking at more than 45,800 days. With at least two people always praying before the exposed blessed sacrament, it is the nation's longest uninterrupted prayer, the sisters believe.
The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration are not formally affiliated with other religious congregations of women and parishes in the United States that practice perpetual adoration, said Cristeen Custer, their spokeswoman. With the tradition more common among parishes, an informal nationwide search by Sister Maria Friedman in La Crosse earlier this month turned up only a handful of other American convents that practice nonstop prayer.
Besides their devotion to prayer, the sisters serve in a variety of ministries. They operate spirituality centers in the Midwest and Spokane, Wash., and sponsor hospitals and a university. Some members minister within these institutions and in other areas such as teaching, social work, pastoral care, clinical psychology and even baking and massage therapy.
Perpetual adoration has its remote origins in the fourth century, when converts to the faith in some dioceses were asked to pray before the exposed blessed sacrament for eight days after their baptism, said Bishop Raymond L. Burke, archbishop-elect of Saint Louis and national director of the Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association in Chicago. And the prayer requests keep coming. ''Last year at this time, we were getting about 25 prayer requests a week; now we're getting about 25 a day, and they come from around the world,'' said Sister Ronalda, citing attention surrounding the 125th anniversary, when the convent spread word that such requests were welcome.
Why invite requests?
''Just sending the prayer request connects that person with God,'' said Sister Malinda Gerke, a sister for nearly 50 years. ''It is one act, one step of faith. If they didn't have that much faith, they wouldn't even ask or try. That is the seed planted in the soil. When we receive these requests, my first reaction is, thank God that people have that much faith that they believe in the power of prayer,'' she said.
Do their prayers work?
''Whatever the divine plan is, will be,'' Sister Malinda said. ''Some sisters recite a formal prayer for each request, but I have a very personal kind of style with God and say, 'Now, God this is yours. I have called your attention to this.'''
The work can be riveting. ''Every time I go to pray, there are 100 or so requests, and I feel the anguish of the world as I read through them,'' said Sister Maria Friedman, who noted that many people write after receiving bad news. ''I picture the person making the request reeling from this new calamity and wondering how to cope.'' She prays for the best solutions, for hope and for support from professionals, family and friends.
Liz Nutter, a retired teacher from La Crosse, has e-mailed prayer requests practically every week for the past three years, mostly for her extensive network of family and friends.
''Maybe the sisters have a special way of praying,'' said Ms. Nutter, who considers it a miracle that her brother-in-law, Mike Vondrashek, recently survived risky surgery. ''I made the request because I believed we needed more than man to solve this problem. Whenever there's a need, no matter if you're Catholic, Protestant or of another belief, people in La Crosse ask, 'Have you called the Franciscan nuns?'''
It would require an extraordinary disruption to halt the ministry. In 1923, the sisters continued praying despite a fire that stopped at the chapel doors, Ms. Custer said. And in 1968, some members took to praying eight hours each day, when other sisters were hit by a flu epidemic. ''This practice is central to the identity of the congregation, and members are very serious about doing the utmost to see it continue,'' she said.
Those have not been the only threats to continuing tradition at the convent; it needs novices. Of the more than 100 sisters who pray, in 30-minute shifts from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., and 60-minute shifts from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., their average age is over 70, Ms. Custer said.
Today about 90 other people who have been trained by the sisters join the sisters as prayer partners, a practice instituted in 1997.
Indeed, perseverance is in the roots. In 1878, after the bishop in La Crosse refused the requests of Mother Antonia, the congregational leader, to begin perpetual adoration, the sisters tried it nonetheless, demonstrated that it was not too burdensome, and have continued ever since, Ms. Custer said.
Holding vigil is rooted in tradition, according to the Rev. Dr. Edward Foley, professor of liturgy and music at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. ''Perpetual adoration reflects a convergence of the need for tangible encounters with God and an instinct to keep vigil, like standing guard outside Buckingham Palace, rain or shine,'' he said. ''Those are human instincts across civilizations and religions.''