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. Edward McIlmail, LC was born in Philadelphia and was ordained in 2001. Before entering the novitiate in 1992, Fr. Edward worked in journalism and was active in the pro-life movement. Throughout his vocation, he has served in many roles, including assistant publisher of the National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine, editor of the English edition of Zenit, and writer for ePriest. He is also the voice behind RC Spirituality’s Ask a Priest and a regular contributor to the monthly newsletter. Fr. Edward has worked in spiritual retreats in the Northeast, New England, the Midwest, and the South, assisted with mission work in Mexico, and recently served serves as the an assistant to the Territorial Secretary. He is currently serving as the parochial vicar for at Saint Thomas More Parish in near Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Br. Juan Pablo Pedraza Ramírez, LC is from Ofusagasugá, Colombia. In his search for the truth, Br. Juan was led to the Church, prayer, and the sacraments. When he attended a vocational retreat, he discerned immediately that he was not being called to the diocesan priesthood, but upon his first encounter with Fr. César Pérez, LC, he knew in his heart that he was meant to be a Legionary priest. Br. Juan entered the candidacy program and then the novitiate, and today, he is a first-year humanist at LC Cheshire. For him, seeing the life of a single Legionary priest revealed to him the entire charism of the Legionaries of Christ—Br. Juan hopes he can clearly reflect Christ and the Legionary charism in much the same way.
Eleanor Segraves is from Atlanta, Georgia and was consecrated in 2007. After her formation years, she served in Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, supporting the Regnum Christi members and their works of apostolate. She has been working in Chicago since 2011 and has been full-time with the Archdiocese of Chicago since 2018. In her current role as Parish Renewal Leader, she works closely with two parishes in Vicariate 1, supporting and coaching the pastors and lay leadership teams to implement spiritual renewal and evangelization efforts at the parish. Heeding the call of Pope Francis in Joy of the Gospel, “In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers.” In her spare time, she also supports the Lydia Institute, an apostolate for professional women begun by Mary Maher, who also resides in the Chicago community.
Fr. Brian Hoelzen, LC grew up in Seattle, Washington, and was ordained in 2015. He feels fortunate to have served and studied in exciting destinations both abroad and in the United States, including Spain, Italy, Mexico, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Indiana, Georgia, Michigan, and Louisiana. Fr. Brian is a member of the Legionaries of Christ Territorial Directorate community in Atlanta, from which he collaborates in various territorial projects and serves as chaplain to the Regnum Christi developing localities. As a complement to his work, Fr. Brian is currently researching the interplay between charism, organizational health and personal flourishing.
Fr. Abraham Eo, LC was born in Seoul, South Korea and was ordained in 2024. He joined the Legionaries of Christ in 2007 in the apostolic school(minor seminary) of Center Harbor, New Hampshire. He completed subsequent studies in the United States, Ireland, Mexico and Italy, and did military service in Korea from December 2015 to August 2017, working as a chaplain’s assistant. After serving as a member of the ECYD directive team for boys in Cincinnati, he is now the head chaplain at Holy Spirit Prep School in Atlanta, Georgia.
Maria Reinagel is a Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi (1993) serving as Director of the Office for Consecrated Life in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, where she also ministers through spiritual accompaniment in the Ohio Valley. A poet whose writing was born out of her own journey through suffering and healing, Maria recently published her first book, Father, I Am Full of Your Glory: My Path to Healing Through Poetry. (can be found in the Regnum Christi store) She is continuing to discern how God is calling her to serve through this new ministry of writing — offering her words as a testimony to the healing love of Christ and a balm for those seeking meaning in suffering.
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.
