On the 15th of January 2011, the Holy Father erected the Personal Ordiariate of Our Lady of Walsingham – a sort of “diocese” for groups of Anglican faithful and clergy who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. The patron of the new ordinariate is Blessed John Henry Newman, the famous clergyman of the Church of England who left the Anglican church and converted to Roman Catholicism, eventually attaining the rank of Cardinal.

Like Cardinal Newman, Fr. Keith Newton was a clergyman (a bishop) of the Church of England. He was recently ordained a Catholic priest, and has been appointed ordinary of the newly-created Personal Ordiariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

A number of people have contacted Rosary for the Bishop requesting that Father Newton be added to our database of bishops so that they could sign up to pray for him. Doing so required a small update to the software behind rosaryforthebishop.org, but you can now sign up to pray for Father Keith Newton!

Please pray for Father Newton, for our Anglican brethren, and for unity among all Christians.

Rosary for the Bishop has turned 5 years old! Five years ago, prayer pledges were first collected and presented to Madison’s Bishop Morlino for Christmas. And yesterday, January 1st, marked the one year anniversary of the program’s national (and international) expansion.

We want to take this opportunity to thank every person who has joined in praying over 50,000 rosaries for our bishops! It’s pretty clear that many bishops are still under fire for standing up for our Catholic Faith, and our prayers make a difference.

Please consider making some of the following “New Year’s Resolutions” your own, to help Rosary for the Bishop grow:

• Tell your friends about Rosary for the Bishop, and bug them to join.
• Promote Rosary for the Bishop on your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels.
• Consider using some of our Promotional Goodies to help spread the word.

Thanks for all you do, and may God bless you for your spiritual support of his shepherds!

We’ve already added these buttons to the homepage and individual bishops’ pages on Rosary for the Bishop. If you want to promote your bishop on Twitter, go to his page (Statistics > search) and click the Tweet button near the top!

Relevant Radio is a listener supported non-profit Catholic radio network with stations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Texas, and affiliates throughout the United States. For more information, see www.relevantradio.com.

Oil in the Gulf of Mexico                     credit: NOAA

On April 20th, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 people. Since then, oil has been gushing from the site of the sunk oil rig at a rate of at least 5000 barrels per day.

Please pray for all involved: those killed and injured, those affected by the spill, those in charge of cleaning it up, and the bishops and catholics in the affected dioceses.

Below are some of the bishops whose dioceses are affected by the oil spill. You can sign up to pray for them by clicking the Pray for this Bishop button.

Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond
Archdiocese of New Orleans
Louisiana, United States

Pray for this Bishop!

Bishop Roger Morin
Diocese of Biloxi
Mississippi, United States

Pray for this Bishop!

Archbishop Thomas John Rodi
Archdiocese of Mobile
Alabama, United States

Pray for this Bishop!

Msgr. Timothy Doherty, a priest from Rockford, Illinois, has been appointed the next bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette – Indiana. He succeeds Bishop William Leo Higi, who is retiring after 26 years of service in Lafayette. Bishop-Elect Timothy Doherty will be installed on July 15th.

Fr. Eduardo Nevares has been assigned as the first Auxiliary Bishop of of the Diocese of Phoenix. He hails from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, and most recently served as Vice-Rector of the College of Liberal Arts at the Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. Auxiliary Bishop-Elect Nevares will be installed on July 19th.

As Rosary for the Bishop has spread internationally, this approach is no longer optimal. For example, when a reminder is sent to a participant from Australia, it goes out at midnight EST, but this may be 2 pm Australian local time. So we’ve modified the system to do two new things:

1. Account for time zones. Based on which diocese you’re from, we’ve guessed which timezone you live in. You can also adjust your time zone manually in your Account Settings. Using your time zone, we can more accurately deliver reminders at a specific time of day.
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2. You will also notice a small change when you sign up to pray for a new bishop or edit one of your current entries: there is now an option to specify what time of day you want to receive your reminder. Suppose you always attend Mass at 5:15 pm on Thursdays, and you like to go a half-hour early to pray a rosary. You can choose “late afternoon” to get a reminder a short time before you leave for Mass.

   The time slots are intentionally a bit vague for two reasons. Firstly, some countries or areas observe Daylight Savings Time (DST), while others do not. This could change the exact time of the reminder by an hour or more. Secondly, we need to spread the sending of reminders over a few hours to minimize load on the web server. With these caveats, the available time slots work approximately like this:

   • Night starts at 12 am (midnight)
   • Early morning starts at 6 am
   • Mid-morning starts at 8 am
   • Late morning starts at 10 am
   • Early afternoon starts at 12 pm (noon)
   • Mid-afternoon starts at 2 pm
   • Late afternoon starts at 4 pm
   • Early evening starts at 6 pm
   • Late evening starts at 9 pm
   • Any time typically goes out sometime during the night

Hopefully these new features will be useful to you. There may be a few glitches with the system as we roll it out (though hopefully not). Do let us know if you start getting reminders at strange times, or run into any other trouble.

Thanks for participating with Rosary for the Bishop!

If you are a Bishop or a notable Catholic organization, we’d be happy to add your endorsement too! Contact us for more info.

Some interesting statistics:

In South Africa, there are 25 Dioceses and 38 living bishops, 22 currently active and 16 retired. There are about 3.3 million Catholics in South Africa, approximately 6 percent of the total population.

In Australia, there are 32 Dioceses and 63 living bishops, 40 currently active and 23 retired. There are about 5.1 million Catholics in Australia, approximately 26 percent of the total population.
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In New Zealand, there are 6 Dioceses and 13 living bishops, 7 currently active and 6 retired. There are about 500,000 Catholics in Australia, approximately 12 percent of the total population.
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In Ireland, there are 22 Dioceses and 44 living bishops, 30 currently active and 14 retired. There are about 750,000 Catholics in Northern Ireland, approximately 43 percent of the total population, and about 3.9 million Catholics in the Republic of Ireland, or 87 percent of the total population.

Last year, Pope Benedict XVI announced a special Year for Priests, spanning June 19 2009 to June 11 2010. Under the patronage of St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, the Year for Priests is meant to be a time of particular awareness and support for the priesthood.

In his address announcing the Year for Priests, the Holy Father made reference to the pastoral role of the priest. Our bishops are shepherds: they lead with firm conviction of the truth, yet simultaneously with loving kindness. But when the culture scoffs at (especially religious) authority, what are the bishops to do?

The answer lies in obedience. Just as Jesus Christ was obedient to both His heavenly Father and His Earthly parents, bishops are called to obedience to God and to the Pope, and we are called to obedience to the Church and bishops. Obedience is not a limitation of freedom, but rather an opportunity to share in the grace of Christ.

The mission of Rosary for the Bishop is to support bishops through prayer, and this mission coincides with the purpose of the Year for Priests. Please pray that the remainder of the Year for Priests would be a time of spiritual growth and abundant grace; for bishops, priests, and all the faithful, especially those participating with Rosary for the Bishop.