Janette Howe — mother of Father Spencer Howe, pastor of Holy Cross in Minneapolis — joked in an interview that when he needs to take the garbage out, she calls him “Spencer” but around friends, she calls him “Father Spencer.”
Howe, at one point, was thinking of ways to pray for her own pastor, Father Joseph Johnson, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul since 2024. While walking around a lake, she decided to pray a Holy Hour for him once a week.
“(I) kept going back. This was what I was doing, and Father didn’t know I was doing it, and it didn’t matter (whether) he did or didn’t know. But I was myself being edified by the hour, and I thought, hopefully he is too,” Howe told “Practicing Catholic” co-host Leah Heselton for an episode that debuts at 7 p.m. March 27 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
During one Holy Hour, Howe said something came into her heart, not her ears. It was the words, “Seven sisters.”
“(It) meant nothing to me. My mom is one of seven biological sisters (but) I wasn’t thinking about her,” Howe said. “I sat with it for just a moment, and I thought, ah, this is, again, very edifying for me. What if six other women were praying those other days of the week? Father would have seamless prayers. … I can’t do it all. But we could do it together.”
Howe wanted help discerning this thought, so she brought it to Father Johnson, who is always discerning the Spirit and always has a plan, she said. When he leans back in his chair, Howe said lightheartedly, she knows a plan is coming, but she “never can run fast enough.”
“He leaned forward and said, ‘Let’s pray for seven pastors in this archdiocese with groups of seven women,’” Howe said.
The plan was for Howe to reach out to seven women to pray for priests in the archdiocese. Those seven women would each then, in turn, invite six other women to pray for priests. This would go on for a year, Howe said.
“There’s no pamphlets, there’s no materials,” Howe said. “I’m telling (these women) this is the simplicity of this hour. In fact, I told Father (Johnson), ‘I’m a little bit reticent to even tell them because it’s so simple.’ … And he said, ‘that’s why I think it is from the Holy Spirit.”
The inspiration that came to Howe 15 years ago is now called the Seven Sisters Apostolate. It has grown from Howe in the archdiocese to groups around the world.
“We have around 6,000 groups in 37 countries, six continents,” Howe said. “All of the states in the United States have been covered for several years, at least. There’s at least three or four in each group, in each state. Many states have many, many more than that. Most of the provinces in Canada (have groups); we have nine groups for Pope Leo (XIV) right now.”
Howe said women have told her that they were called to this. The experience has been edifying for them, Howe said. She hopes it’s edifying for priests, too.
To hear more from Howe about the Seven Sisters Apostolate, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. March 28 and 2 p.m. March 29.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes Erin Bechtel, an employee with St. Paul-based Nova Vita Clinic, sharing her story of faithfully discerning her vocation.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
