November 29, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Catholics in California are working to consecrate the state to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Plans are ongoing for gatherings at Catholic parishes statewide at noon local time on Saturday, December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The event begins with Mass, followed by a walk to a designated location where the rosary and prayers of consecration will be prayed.
Catholics not near a participating parish are asked to gather, preferably near the California coastline parallel to the San Andreas Fault, and pray the rosary and consecration prayers on their own.
“We are a group of Catholics whose love for our Lord and Mary has inspired us to consecrate California to Our Lady,” the group behind the consecration effort, BVM Blue Mantle, says on the event website.
The Consecrate California site offers event specifics, including participating parishes and prayers for use in conjunction with the event.
They claim several priests and a number of bishops as supporters, along with noted Catholic individuals and groups.
They seek the Blessed Mother’s intercession against numerous moral evils in the state.
“Why consecrate California?” the group asks on its website.
“To defeat the culture of death, abortion, euthanasia, and natural disasters,” the information says. “For the sick, elderly, unwanted, and for an end to the violence, sex abuse, drugs, alcoholism and sex trafficking.”
“Our Lady of Fatima explained how the graces of consecration to her Immaculate Heart would be enough to prevent war and to avoid the loss of thousands of people’s lives,” it continues. “Imagine what these graces would do for California!”
The idea for the consecration came from Glendale resident and film writer Angelo Libutti, the Catholic Herald reports.
The thought came to him last year while he was in Adoration, following a stressful workday where he’d been criticized for his pro-life views.
Libutti had personally consecrated himself to Mary and experienced “radical changes in my life,” the Catholic Herald report said. This led him to believe that a statewide consecration would be just the thing for the rampant immorality and secularism in California. It was shortly thereafter that he organized the first statewide consecration last December.
Libutti thinks both this year’s and last year’s consecrations represent the laity’s desire for the state to be consecrated to Mary and their unity in the cause.
For the consecration to be official, California’s two metropolitan archbishops, Jose Gomez of Los Angeles and Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, must support the effort and one of them would have to personally perform the consecration of the state.
Libutti has spoken to both archbishops, and says they like the idea of the consecration. He is hopeful that their schedules will allow them to take part this year.
For more information on the Consecrate California effort, click HERE.