Support Bishops

With Prayer

MADISON, Wis. (CNS) -- A prayer campaign that began in 2005 to offer support to Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison has been expanded to allow Catholics nationwide to sign up to pray for their bishops online.

Rosary for the Bishop was inspired by a passage from Chapter 17 of Exodus, which refers to Aaron and Hur holding up Moses' hands during battle. "We need to support our bishops' hands so that they do not weary in the battle for the faith," said Syte Reitz, a Madison-area Catholic who initiated the campaign. "Many Catholics pray the rosary every day," he added. "Why not pray one for our bishops? They are our shepherds, and their job is not easy. They need and deserve our prayers."

Reitz's son, Tom, then a computer science student, developed the Web site at www.rosaryforthebishop.org where people can sign up online to pray for multiple bishops, if they wish. There also is an option for users to receive a reminder message by e-mail or Twitter when they are scheduled to pray.

"If you want to pray for Bishop Morlino on Mondays and Archbishop (Timothy M.) Dolan of New York on the first Friday of every month, you can do that," said Tom Reitz. "And the neat part is that you can see statistics about how many other people are praying too."

Web Site: http://rosaryforthebishop.org/