A Week of Prayer for All of Our Priests and Consecrated Members – March 15th
Regnum Christi invites our entire spiritual family and all our friends to join us in praying especially for our brothers and sisters living the consecrated vocations of Legionary priests, Consecrated Women, and Lay Consecrated Men in our territory.
Each week throughout the year, we will pray together for a different group of Legionaries and Consecrated, spanning all the communities across the territory, as our “Priests and Consecrated of the Week.”
Our Consecrated members are men and women who have said yes to Christ’s call to follow him, leaving everything behind to dedicate their entire lives to him and to join him in the mission of building his Kingdom. We come together to support them with our prayer, asking our Lord to strengthen them, hold them close to his Sacred Heart, and give them his deep joy as they live their mission each day.
This Week We Pray for
Fr. Stephen Ellis is from Thompson, Ohio and was ordained in 2006. Since then, he has served as the Regnum Christi chaplain in North Carolina, Washington, DC, and Louisiana, as well as a formator in Canada and the United States. He currently resides in Detroit, Michigan, where he is the superior of the LC community and the chaplain of the Consecrated Women’s community.
Nicole Buchholz is from a small town of Victor, Montana and has been consecrated since 2001. Throughout her years of mission, Nicole has served in a wide range of apostolates, including education, youth and young adult ministry, retreats, spiritual accompaniment, and evangelization, working in the United States, Ireland, and the Philippines. In 2019, Nicole was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), and since then, her mission has taken on a new dimension of prayer, intercession, and offering herself up to God’s will. She is currently a member of the Consecrated Women’s Territorial Directorate community in Atlanta, Georgia, praying and sacrificing for the RC North American Territory.
Br. Roberto Valencia is originally from Dearborn, Michigan, and became a Legionary of Christ in 2018. He is currently living in Manila, Philippines, serving as a member of the RC Young Adult Support Team and as the ECYD boys’ section director.
Fr. Louis Desclèves‘ family is from Versailles, France. He spent his first years in Mayenne, France where he received his call to priesthood. He moved to the apostolic school of the legionaries of Christ in Spain and was ordained in 2009. He has been dean of studies in our seminaries in France, Mexico and Italy. After his PhD in patristic theology in the Augustinianum in Rome, he spent two years in Tijuana, Mexico working as a chaplain in our schools and apostolates. He is currently a researcher in patristics and professor of Spanish and communications at the Legionaries of Christ novitiate in Cheshire, Connecticut.
Carrie O’Connor is from Grand Rapids, Michigan and became consecrated in 2003. Since then, she has lived her calling in a variety of places and apostolates, serving in the US in ECYD and young adult ministry in California, Arizona, and Texas. From 2015–2024, she lived in Santiago, Chile, working at Colegio Everest as well as in the ECYD section, and serving the Consecrated Women as community director. She is currently living in Cincinnati, where she serves in youth work and the ECYD section.
Br. Ramiro Ayala is from Saltillo, Mexico and is a second-year humanist at LC Cheshire. He felt his vocation at the age of 12, and attended the apostolic school in Monterrey before entering the novitiate. In August of 2024, he made his first vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as a Legionary of Christ.
Prayer for Priests and Consecrated Members in Regnum Christi
God our Father,
We thank you for our spiritual family of Regnum Christi, and for those within it that you have called to total consecration as Legionaries of Christ, Consecrated Women, and Lay Consecrated Men.
We ask you to renew their encounter with your Son Jesus Christ,
who goes out to meet them and reveals the love of his heart to them.
Deepen their personal love for Christ
and their trust in his love for them.
Gather them close to him,
form them,
and send them out accompanied by your Son,
in the mission of forming apostles and Christian leaders who make your Kingdom present in hearts, in families, and in society.
Send your Holy Spirit to sanctify and strengthen them,
And to help them respond generously and courageously to their mission each day.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Week of Prayer for All of Our Priests and Consecrated Members – March 15th Read More »
Fr. John Bartunek was ordained in 2003. He has taught moral theology at various ecclesiastical institutions at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and has authored many books, including the Gospel companion, The Better Part, and Inside the Passion, the only authorized behind-the-scenes look at the film, for which he provided on-set spiritual support. His online retreat guides are available in multiple formats at RCSpirituality.org. Fr. John currently resides in Atlanta, where he is serving as territorial vicar for the Legionaries of Christ.