SW News: Catholics from around the world will come together to pray for pandemic-ravaged India by joining the week-long non-stop Eucharistic Adoration named ‘Pray for India’, which gets underway on May 16, Sunday. The prayer marathon is being organised by SW PRAYER by roping in different Catholic ministries around the world. Adoration sessions will be led by prelates such as Cardinal Oswald Gracias of the Archdiocese of Bombay in India and priests from 12 nations.

Faithful from around the world can be part of this non-stop prayer initiative, which will be shown on SW PRAYER channel from 12 am ET (5 am BST/ 2 pm AEST/9.30 am IST) on May 16 to 12 am ET on May 23. SW PRAYER Channel was started by Shalom World last year with the intention of bringing Holy Mass, novenas and intercessory prayers to believers all over the globe who are unable to go to church because of pandemic curbs or other grave reasons. This channel helps believers take part in the lofty endeavour to ensure incessant prayers for the Church and world.

Healing and deliverance from the pandemic scourge are the intentions of the Adoration sessions during which there will be special prayers for COVID patients, frontline workers, doctors, politicians and government authorities.

Adoration sessions and prayers will be conducted in both English as well as Hindi. The sessions will be led by a host of ministries, convents and churches from around the world. They include Jesus Youth International, Anointing Fire Catholic Youth Ministry; Happy Families, Bengaluru, India; Bread of Life, Bengaluru, India; Ursuline Sisters, Ireland, Santhwana Community, Delhi, India; Vincentian ministries; Community of the Risen Lord, Sri Lanka; Renewal Ministries, USA; Men Alive, Australia; Emmanuel Community, Australia; Catholic Christian Outreach, Canada; Canossian Daughters of Charity, Australia; Missionaries of God’s Love, Australia; Portlaoise Parish, Ireland; Parousia Media, Australia; Association of Marian Helpers, USA; Gethsemane Ministries, Canada; Discalced Carmelite Friars and Jeevan Jyothi Ashram, India. There is also participation from the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches in USA and Australia.

Globally-acclaimed Gospel music bands MJM7, USA; Rexband, India; Vox Christi, India and Acts of the Apostles, India will also be part of this initiative.

Several prelates will lead the Adoration sessions and they include Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India; Cardinal Baselios Cleemis of the Syro Malankara Church from India; Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra-Goulburn in Australia; Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart, Tasmania; Bishop Neal Buckon of the US Military Ordinariate; Bishop Milan Lach SJ of the Ruthenian Rite in the US; Bishop Felipe de Jesus Estevez of St Augustine, Miami, USA; Bishop Joseph Nguyen, Diocese of Kamloops, Canada; and Bishop Raphael Thattil of Shamshabad in India.

Apart from Shalom Media Spiritual Director Fr Roy Palatty CMI, Fr Jilto George CMI, Fr Dominic Valanmanal and Fr Augustine Vallooran VC, a host of preachers - both priests, religious as well as laypersons - from India and abroad will be present during the week-long sacred endeavour. Churches in various countries will take part in the non-stop Eucharistic Adoration showing spiritual solidarity with the suffering masses of India where thousands are dying of the coronavirus and the number of infections is on an upward spiral. The acute scarcity of oxygen cylinders, ventilators and hospital beds has aggravated the situation, severely straining the health system.

SW PRAYER is available on all digital media players such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and H Box as well as all Smart TVs, major OTT platforms and Android-IOS devices.

There will be livestreaming of ‘Pray for India’ on www.swprayer.org , youtube.com/swprayerlive and facebook.com/swprayer . To watch it on TV and mobile apps, log on to www.shalomworld.org/watchon .