As the presidential election draws near, many Americans are feeling anxious.
One recent survey found that 6 in 10 Americans feel a need to limit the amount of political news they consume. Another suggests that as much as a quarter of Americans have ended a friendship because of opposing political views. Some psychologists compare politics to chronic stress.
Amid the politics-driven fears and division, some Catholics in Somersworth, New Hampshire are turning to prayer.
At St. Martin Church, one location of the joint St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Mary Parishes, parishioners have begun “30 Days of Prayer for Our Country” leading up to Election Day on November 5.
In the past, pastor Fr. Andrew Nelson told The Pillar, the parish has held a prayer vigil the night before an election. This year, he and his staff wanted to do something more.
“We just felt that, this year, people were struggling more than ever before,” said Nelson.
The 30 days began on October 6. Every evening at 6:15, parishioners join in prayer “not for one candidate or another, but for our country,” as the event’s prayer booklet reads.
Each day of the week features a different devotion. On Sundays, they pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet; on Thursdays, a litany featuring many American saints. On Wednesdays, the event coincides with the regular 6:15 p.m. daily Mass.
Nick Winter, the parish’s high school youth minister, composed the opening and closing prayer used each evening.
“We really tried to address the fact that this world has seen the rise and fall of great and terrible leaders, right? But one thing has been true and has remained all along, and that is God,” Winter told The Pillar.
“So we were really trying to focus on the ‘God’ element of this, and that he has a part to play. He has the part to play in all of this. And that even when things are tough, he can bring good out of that.”
United in prayer…
While anyone is welcome to attend the evenings of prayer in person — and several dozen nearby parishioners have been, said Fr. Nelson — the parish staff is encouraging its geographically dispersed congregation to join via livestream. Several hundred parishioners have been tuning in, and the staff has already had to print and distribute more prayer booklets.
Erin Mertz is one parishioner tuning in online. A mother of three, Mertz told The Pillar that she streams the prayer services to her TV so she and her family can join in — often over dinner.
For Mertz, the communal aspect of the 30 Days of Prayer has been especially powerful in relieving her anxiety.
“You can pray on your own about something, [but] it doesn’t feel as like it has as much weight as praying together with the whole community,” she said.
“And so knowing that I’m sitting here in my living room, praying the same prayers that they're praying in the church, that other people are praying in their living rooms — it helps to bring that anxiety level down and to feel just hopeful about that surrender.”
Fr. Nelson likewise noted that praying as a community seems to be mitigating parishioners’ stress.
“I think the first fruit that we’re seeing is peace,” Nelson observed, explaining that interior peace — if rooted in God — is “irrespective of circumstance.”
“I’d like to say we started this and all of our politicians suddenly embrace our faith and our issues and the things that we think are important, and they’re suddenly being nice, all those things, but no,” he added.
“I think the first change is in us.”
…On behalf of the country
But the prayers are not only for the good of the community; they are for the good of the country at large. Mertz, who has experienced political tension among family members, hopes to see more charity among all Americans.
“It’s a hard world to live in right now, where a dissenting view is division,” she said.
“I feel like we have [mutual respect] in spades at our parish. But once you get outside the parish, things become a little bit less charitable.”
Nelson also emphasized that prayer ought not replace direct service of our own communities and people in need.
“At the same time we’re doing this, we’re collecting stuff for the pregnancy crisis shelter, we’re doing a special collection for the hurricane victims,” he said.
“If all we do is pray for our country, if we don’t roll up our sleeves to help the people in it, then I think it falls short.”
But, he added, “It’s important to pray, too. It’s not simply one or the other.”
Over the coming month, Fr. Nelson encourages American Catholics to ask God to guide them in prayerfully discerning how to vote — and to remember that God is bigger than this or any election.
“Everyone’s stressed. Let’s do what we do as Christians and as Catholics, which is to turn to God and to trust him and ask his help,” he said.
“That’s an act of faith — not an act of partisanship, but an act of faith.”
When asked what she might say to Catholics across the country who are feeling hopeless about the election, Mertz responded with an invitation.
“I mean, I would tell them to join us on the livestream,” she said, and laughed.
“Every night, 6:15 Eastern Standard Time.”
