"Be close to your priests with affection and with your prayers, that they may always be shepherds according to God's heart." cf: Pope Francis, homily given at Rome, Holy Thursday, 2014

When you choose to spiritually adopt a priest, you become as a spiritual mother or father to that priest ~ making the one-year commitment to support him as a true spiritual "son" through daily prayer offered lovingly and faithfully on his behalf.

Mary became a true spiritual mother to St. John and through him ~ to all priests. Through spiritual adoption you participate in spiritual motherhood/fatherhood for priests. The commitment you make is a spiritual commitment; one that supports the priest, and in so doing, supports the very mission of the Church. In assisting one member-priest, the entire body of the Priesthood is thus strengthened.

Your obligation as a sponsor is strictly spiritual; there is no financial commitment to your adopted priest. I ask you to make the pledge of daily prayer on behalf of your assigned priest for the year, and I encourage you to offer sacrifice for him as well. You are free, however, to choose whatever prayer(s) you wish to offer on his behalf, and although there is no prescribed prayer, I will provide you with a suggested daily prayer. The aim is simply that of consistent daily spiritual support for your assigned priest regardless of the length or amount of prayers offered.

I will send to all registered sponsors a "Spiritual Adoption Packet" ~via email, with the following materials:

• Adopt-a-Priest Welcome Letter (detailing the rules of the program)

• Spiritual Adoption Certificate (for the year)

• Suggested Daily Prayer

• Subscription to the "Prayer of the Week" ~ an email publication which offers a variety of prayers and reflections tied to the Sunday Readings

Your commitment as a sponsor is a free-will commitment of daily prayer for your adopted priest. You should take seriously this commitment and strive to form the habit of consistent daily prayer as you would for your own son-since indeed your adopted priest is now a spiritual son to you! There may, however, be an occasion or a day when you forget to pray for your adopted priest. All that you need to do in that case is simply to pick up the daily prayer once again!

In the Adopt-a-Priest program Spiritual Adoption is a one-year commitment. All Spiritual Adoptions cease at the close of the year with the option of renewing annually. If you wish to extend your commitment of Spiritual Adoption, you simply need to send me an email stating your intention to renew for another year.

In addition to praying for your adopted priest, you are most welcome and are indeed encouraged to pray for other priests as well. You should remember also to pray regularly for your Pastor! In this program I will assign to sponsors only the names of enrolled member-priests.

With each yearly registration, I will assign to you one priest for Spiritual Adoption from any of the participating dioceses, provinces, and countries.

In keeping with our privacy protocol, no contact information is ever shared between parties. You will receive only basic details of the priest assigned to you and the priest will receive only partial details about his adopting sponsor.

As a sponsor, you are asked to offer the free and sacrificial gift of Spiritual Adoption for a priest completely unknown to you. Just as the priest is consecrated to serve all to whom He is sent-seeing in each the face of Christ, so too, you as the sponsor are encouraged to see Christ as the face of the Priesthood. It is His face that we as sponsors support in each and every member-priest for whom we offer spiritual support. You should be assured that the prayers and sacrifices you offer on behalf of your adopted priest will benefit him directly and will in turn draw blessing upon you.

Anyone may register with the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Priests to adopt a priest through at the registration page of this website. Email is the preferred method for delivering the "Adopt-a-Priest Packet" and also for keeping in touch with you through the "Prayer of the Week" newsletter. Sponsorship, however, will not be denied to those who do not have email. In such case, you will need to send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address located on the Contact page. Please be sure to enclose a donation to cover postage and handling.