Bishop Ricken celebrated Mass and gave a talk for the prayer apostolate members
By William Van de Planque | On Mission
CHAMPION, WI — Diocese of Green Bay prayer groups of the Seven Sisters Apostolate, an international Catholic prayer apostolate of lay women, gathered for the first time for a Mass with Bishop David Ricken and a morning of reflection at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion on Thursday, April 23, 2026.
“We’ve been doing this for quite a while now, but we’ve never gotten together,” said Kathy DeNoble, the diocesan coordinator for the Seven Sisters Apostolate in the Diocese of Green Bay. “I just felt it was on my heart that we should get together and start to know one another and support one another.”
Over 100 women came to the Shrine for the gathering on Thursday.
Founded in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the apostolate forms groups of at least seven women who each dedicate an hour of prayer once a week to a local priest. The group leaders are called anchoresses.
In the Diocese of Green Bay, there are over 30 anchoresses, who each lead a group in prayer for a specific priest of the diocese, and over 207 lay women involved in the groups.
“We’re all very dedicated to doing these holy hours on a regular basis,” DeNoble said.
Last Thursday, Bishop Ricken learned from those gathered that he has two groups praying for him daily.
Fr. Mark Vander Steeg, for whom a group has been praying since he served as pastor at St. Bernard Parish in Green Bay, came to the event to pray with the women gathered and concelebrate the Mass with Bishop Ricken.
“(Bishop Ricken) and I both know the power of intercessory prayer,” said Fr. Vander Steeg, now serving as the vicar for priests and pastoral leaders at the Diocese of Green Bay.
“The greatest consolation is when I make my holy hour, looking at the Lord in the tabernacle, trying to commune with his heart… I know that you are too, that we are both talking to the same heart, listening to the same heart, and trusting everything to the Sacred Heart,” he said to the women gathered at the event.
During his homily, Bishop Ricken thanked all the women who pray for him and other priests across the diocese.
“I know that our priests, and I myself, are benefiting from all the prayers you do,” he said. “Seven days a week, you have your priest’s back covered with your intercessory prayer, and that is extremely important.”
For more information about the Seven Sisters Apostolate, visit: sevensistersapostolate.org.