Reconsecrating the nation to Mary

    On Friday, May 1, the Bishops’ Conferences of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops will join together to reconsecrate the United States to the care of the Blessed Mother.
    Bishop McManus will celebrate the 9 a.m. Mass from St. Paul Cathedral on that day, joining his consecration of the Diocese of Worcester to that of his brother bishops, including Archbishop José Gomez, president of the USCCB. The Mass may be viewed in Spectrum cable channel 193 and will be livestreamed on the diocesan website www.worcesterdiocese.org.
    A liturgy guide to facilitate the participation of the faithful of the diocese in this consecration will be available soon on the COVID resources page of the diocesan website.
    In an April 23 press release, the USCCB describes the national consecration.
    “Through a collective dedication or entrustment of a nation to Mary, an act of consecration is meant to be a reminder to the faithful of the Blessed Mother’s witness to the Gospel and to ask for her effective intercession before her Son on behalf of those in need. Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, the first bishop of the United States, promoted devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, and placed the United States under her protection in a pastoral letter of 1792. The twenty-one bishops attending the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore in 1846 determined to name the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, as the Patroness of the United States, and Pope Pius XI approved this decision the following year. More recently, the dedication of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. in 1959 was the opportunity for the bishops to once again consecrate the nation to the Blessed Mother. Several popes have likewise consecrated the world to Mary on various occasions.”