By Currents News
Currents News first introduced you to this group as part of our series “Pulse of the Parish,” but now a group of women who put prayer in every stitch of the shawls they make at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, New York, have added to their rows.
The ministry tells Currents News they gained new members after the news report aired in May of 2024.
The group has been hand-making the beautiful items for over 25 years and giving them away at no cost to those in need of comfort and solace, or to those celebrating life’s joys like the birth of a new baby.
Members who make the shawls pray for recipients before starting each stitch, and they say it’s nice to think of where the shawls will end up.
“People are very happy to get a visit and to get the prayer shawl because some of them are elderly and they’re sick, and they’re just happy to have the prayers,” Rita Watson, a member of the group, tells Currents News.
“They send nice, beautiful letters thanking us for the prayer shawl,” explains ministry member Carol Washington. “And that thrills me, I guess. But it’s fulfilling work and it makes somebody happy, makes me happy.”
“The ones that are in nursing homes and places like that, to get a gift like that, it’s just wonderful,” adds member Clare Glennon. “All the work that goes into it, and the people are happy to do it, and they’re just so happy that they have one.”
The pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, Father Patrick Longalong, blesses the shawls before they’re gifted.
To keep the ministry going, around Christmas time they sell handmade items to help buy their yarn for the year.