PRAY: The Life of a Priest with a Passion for Family Prayer

Colleen Mallette shares her impressions of the movie PRAY: The Story of Patrick Peyton.

As a CatholicMom volunteer writer, I have been made aware of Fr. Patrick Peyton because his Holy Cross Family Ministries supports our mission. I am also partial to the Holy Cross Congregation because my oldest son recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where there are over 30 wonderful Holy Cross priests throughout the campus who were a big influence on him. Having visited Ireland, I was interested to see if the movie PRAY: The Story of Patrick Peyton included video of Fr. Peyton’s home country, which they did, especially the final image from one of their famous ocean-side cliffs. But frankly, that was about all I knew about Fr. Peyton before watching this beautiful movie about his life.

Therefore, I was very excited to watch PRAY and learn more about this founder of Holy Cross Family Ministries. I was amazed that he had such a vibrant ministry that I knew nothing about. I was so impressed with his life story and his passion for prayer and families. For such a shy person he was very forward in convincing famous people to be a part of his radio and public Prayer Crusades. His passionate speeches were so lively and stimulating, they made me want to be a participant. The film had an amazing number of photos and videos of him; I really felt the film thoroughly portrayed Fr. Peyton as man, priest, and leader.

At this time in our nation’s history and with the decline in involvement in our worldwide Catholic Church, I think this revival of Fr. Peyton’s mission of solidifying the family and praying the Rosary together is so important and timely. We need to have young people staying in tune with their Catholic roots and the strength of families committed to their faith -- not just in church but in their homes too. I wish my children were younger so that I could start a new habit of praying the Rosary as a family.

I learned something from this movie that explains why I wasn’t raised praying the Rosary, even though I am a cradle Catholic raised by strict parents. It was explained in the film that at the height of Fr. Peyton’s movement, the Second Vatican Council recommended the Catholic churches around the world put more emphasis on Jesus in the Holy Eucharist instead of Mary and the Rosary.

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