Family Prayer Night at St. Agnes in Green Bay was the very first Family Prayer Night. This January 2026 we celebrate our 35 year anniversary. We celebrate the ways we have grown closer to Our Lord and special devotion to “Our Lady”; who has had her mantle over us and kept us faithful to her mission of encouraging and supporting family prayer. We are very grateful and praise God for the years given to us, for all the graces and blessings received for ourselves and our families, and for all answered prayers! We wish to thank Fr. Richard Getchel and the succeeding pastors of St. Agnes, Fr. Dane Radecki, Fr. Patrick Beno, and Fr. Quinn Mann for their support over the years. We are also extremely grateful for the many dedicated priests who have graciously celebrated Mass, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and ministered at our Divine Mercy Celebrations! God has been good to us!

History

Family Prayer Night began with a group of people who wanted to pray together and continue a special devotion to Our Lady after having made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. They also received inspiration while attending a Father Gobbi Cenacle of Prayer at Holy Hill in Hubertus, Wisconsin in September 1990 and a Rosary Rally at the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help in October of that year.

The Family Prayer group began meeting in the St. Agnes Lobus Lounge in October 1990. In January 1991, they moved to what is now called the St. Gabriel room, and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was added with permission of the pastor, Fr. Richard Getchel. The Rosary was prayed and a vigil candle stand was introduced so that a candle could be lit to represent each family present and its special intentions. There was standing room only after people responded to invitations and announcements given. The presence of the Holy Spirit was palpable. People were moved to tears, expressions of gratitude, and feelings of a special love binding them together as “family”.

On January 15, 1991, the eve of the Gulf War, Family Prayer Night moved into the main church and Mass was concelebrated by Fr. Richard Getchel and Fr. Tim Shillcox. More than 800 people attended after responding to invitations and announcements by Family Prayer Night on radio and television to come together as “families” to pray for a quick end to the war.

On May 13, 1998, Pope St. John Paul II imparted a special Apostolic Blessing to the members of the International Apostolate of Family Prayer Night Devotions and All Affiliated Families which by this time had spread worldwide.

Family Prayer Night Today

St. Agnes Family Prayer Night is held on the first and third Monday evenings of each month at St. Agnes Church in Green Bay. It is known as “Family” Prayer Night because it offers a “prayer rich environment” to help families incorporate more prayer into daily life and to grow in their relationship with the Lord. All are welcome. Come alone or accompanied by family members. No matter your state in life or your family situation. All are welcome. When you come, you are also united in prayer with other families present in a relaxed, prayerful, peaceful atmosphere.

Doors open at 6:15 pm. Rosary and Sacrament of Reconciliation begin at 6:30 pm. Mass at 7:00 pm followed by Adoration and prayer until 8:15 pm. Come and go as you please and as your schedule permits. The two hour schedule is intended to be flexible to the needs of those who attend.

Family Prayer Night is a beautiful resource that fits with Bishop Ricken’s initiative to increase and deepen the prayer life of individuals, families, and community in the diocese. It is a place of “healing graces” through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Eucharist, and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus is waiting for us to come and deepen our relationship with Him, and with our special devotion to her, Mother Mary leads the way.

Family Prayer Night has always had a special devotion to Our Blessed Mother. We honor her in May with a procession, a May crowning and promotion of the devotion of the Brown Scapular. Mr. Leo Moroder of Bolzano, Italy carved and gifted to us a “one of a kind” wooden statue of Our Lady under the title of Mother of All Peoples, Mother of the Eucharist. Her mission is to bring graces for the healing and restoration of families the world over and to bring us to conversion and reconciliation with her Son, Jesus. We also have a life-sized photographic image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Divine Mercy Celebration

After years of devotion to Mary “Mother of Mercy”, it is not surprising that Our Blessed Mother led Family Prayer Night to “Jesus of Mercy” by sponsoring the first Celebration of Divine Mercy in 1995, five years before it was an official Church feast. It became well known and well attended within NE Wisconsin. Our Bishop, David Ricken served as the celebrant in the Jubilee Year of Mercy 2016. The message of Divine Mercy was promoted by those who attended and by the dissemination of Divine Mercy materials to area parishes and schools. We hope that through those efforts, the Divine Mercy Message and Devotion becomes better known.