Office of Catholic Charities
walking with francis
We are less than 30 days from Pope Francis’ historic visit to the United States, with stops in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, DC. We are especially excited about his stop at one of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington’s programs, right after he speaks to the US Congress!
You may be familiar with, and even taken, the Walk with Francis pledge already by visiting (www.WalkwithFrancis.org). But I wanted to do something special as a Catholic Charities family, since if the Pope is visiting one of us, he is visiting all of us.
One of the first things Pope Francis said on the day he was selected by the College of Cardinals was a very humble, “Pray for me.” Let’s all pray for the Pope as a way to participate in the Walk with Francis Pledge. I am asking that you share the prayer below with all of your staff, and ask them to pray for Pope Francis starting on Thursday, August 27 and continuing every Thursday until his visit (Thursday, September 24). Here is the key part: Ask your staff to reply to your email if they did so, so that they may be counted in the Walk with Francis total.
Forward all names or just the number of participants that commit to Erik Salmi at Erik.Salmi@CatholicCharitiesDC.org, so that they may be counted. Staff who would like to do more than just pray are very welcome to sign up for the pledge at www.WalkwithFrancis.org.
Why are we asking for names? When Pope Francis visits Catholic Charities on Sept. 24, he will be given a beautiful book listing the name of every person, family, parish, and organization who walks with Francis, as well as social media posts using #WalkwithFrancis. Let’s add thousands of names representing Catholic Charities to that pledge, to show our Pope how honored we are to work with him.
May God bless you,
Msgr. John Enzler
President, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington
P.S – I’ve already seen many of your organizations getting involved and bringing the Walk with Francis spirit to your local communities. Thank you for doing so! I still hope our ambitious goal of 100,000 can be reached with your help and getting many of our staff involved!
Gracious God,
We rejoice in the upcoming visit of our Holy Father, Pope Francis I. What a wonderful gift You have bestowed upon us in this courageous leader! We thank You for your continued guidance of our Most Holy Church, and we pray You continue to extend your blessings to our Church leaders and all your faithful.
We ask that You be with Francis now, and always, as he shepherds, stewards, and renews the flock. We ask, in a special way, for our hearts to be open to Your grace in preparation for and during the Holy Father’s visit to our nation’s capitol. We are grateful for the inspiration that Pope Francis gives to us every day. He challenges us to serve the poor and vulnerable in each of our ministries. Bless the work we do and inspire Pope Francis to encourage all in the country to give a preferential option for the poor in all they do each day.
We pledge to continue to pray for the Pope and his ministry. May Jesus guide us in all we do.
Amen.
Rev. Msgr. John J. Enzler
President and CEO
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington
Office: (202) 772- 4329
Fax: (202) 386-7038
John.Enzler@CatholicCharitiesDC.org
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/ccadw
On Twitter: @CCADW, @FRJOHNENZLER
On LinkedIn: Catholic Charities
On YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CathCharDC
The Open Door Blog: www.CatholicCharitiesDCBlog.org