Catholic bishop launches 10,000 ‘Holy Hours’ July prayer campaign

Catholics are being encouraged to pray at least 10,000 holy prayers in July in hopes of a “Revival of the Eucharist” across America.

“We hope many will join us in this campaign to bear public witness to the importance of the Eucharist,” Robert Barron, bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and founder of Word on Fire Ministries, said in a press release.

Participants are encouraged to log their prayer time on the Word on Fire website, where they can see a map of those who have prayed and a prayer counter to keep track of their score.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Rev. Barron described holy time as “uninterrupted time in prayer before the Lord in the Eucharist,” saying, “That means an hour of prayer before the Eucharist, just like Jesus asked his three disciples in Gethsemane to stay and pray with him for an hour.”

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According to the organization’s website, “Word on Fire Catholic Ministries is a nonprofit global media evangelism organization that supports the work of Bishop Robert Barron and encourages millions of people to return to or accept the Catholic faith.”

The church describes itself as “Evangelical” and “Catholic.”

Barron encourages everyone to set aside time for prayer, suggesting, “If you can’t find an hour, try a half hour. If you can’t find a half hour, try 10 minutes a day to pray. Set aside time every day to focus on the Lord.”

“So if you can’t do a holy hour, do a holy thirty. If you can’t do a holy thirty, just set aside ten minutes a day to focus on the Lord.”

— Bishop Robert Barron

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“Right now, that could be reading your Bible. It could be saying the rosary 10 times. It could be asking God to help someone who is suffering. Take time every day to focus on God,” the bishop added.

Bishop Barron said he believes people’s lives change when they spend time in the presence of God. “What I’ve learned in my years of pastoral work is that when people do that, their lives change. They just change. They do,” he emphasized.

Bishop Robert Barron is the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and founder of Word on Fire Ministries. (Word on Fire Ministries)

According to the bishops, what typically holds Americans back from faith is “secularism or materialism.”

Baron argued that for young people, a lack of belief in God can sometimes stem from an excessive faith in science.

“There is an increasing belief among young people that the only real thing is the world we can see with our senses, the world we can measure with scientific instruments, the world we experience directly. That is all there is,” the bishop said.

Baron adds: “And, you know, since the beginning of time people have intuited that, no, no, there’s more to reality than that. There is the world that we can see and measure, that’s right. But there is a transcendent world in which that world exists, and upon which the reality of God and the things of God rest.”

The National Conference of Divine Liturgy and Word on Fire Ministries announced a campaign to offer at least 10,000 Holy Prayer Prayer in July. (Word on Fire Ministries)

As for the 2024 elections, Barron isn’t taking a political stance, but he believes his faith in God should take precedence.

“What concerns me politically is that for many people, for example under 45, their belief in God is much weaker than it used to be, and their belief in a stable humanity and an objective sense of morality is not as strong as it used to be,” he said.

The bishop added: “And I fundamentally believe that a spiritual and moral vision is essential to a healthy political life. So I encourage people to get back into the spiritual and moral realm, and then that will inform political decision-making.”

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According to the Word on Fire website, more than 4,000 hours of holy prayer have been logged this month.