1,000 Catholics gather at Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to pray for peace in Ukraine

Draped in the yellow-and-blue flag of Ukraine, Maya Lancaster seemed absorbed in prayer during a special March 25 Mass at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

As Archbishop William E. Lori solemnly consecrated Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Lancaster stood with 1,000 others – all focused on an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding a rosary displayed in the cathedral’s sanctuary.

“We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more,” Archbishop Lori said as he beseeched the Blessed Virgin Mary to bring an end to war in Ukraine. “To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.”

Lancaster, whose Ukrainian mother was born in a displaced person’s camp in Germany at the end of the Second World War, told the Catholic Review she felt called to attend the special evening liturgy. Prayer is essential, she said.

“In our darkest moment, it gives us hope – even hope for the dawn,” said Lancaster, a cathedral parishioner who said she no longer has any loved ones in Ukraine because the majority of her mother’s family died during a purge of intellectuals and protesters in the Second World War.

Archbishop Lori’s consecration of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary mirrored the same consecration performed earlier in the day by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The pope asked all the bishops of the world to join him in performing the consecration on the Solemnity of the Annunciation.

When Mary appeared to three shepherd children at Fatima in Portugal in 1917, she asked for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Previous popes, including St. John Paul II in 1984, consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart, but did not say the name of the country in their prayer.

Although Sister Lucia dos Santos, the last surviving Fatima visionary, said before her death that St. John Paul had completed the consecration properly, some have questioned its validity since he did not mention Russia by name.

The consecration prayer used by Pope Francis, Archbishop Lori and other bishops March 25 explicitly mentioned Ukraine and Russia. 

“As Archbishop Lori put it, we are asking the Blessed Mother to shine her maternal love onto a devastated region,” Lancaster said.

Anthony Murawski, a parishioner of Holy Rosary in Fells Point, attended the liturgy and consecration to lend his support to the people of Ukraine.

“I think this really is a battle between good and evil right now,” he said. “Coming here for this Mass reaffirms our commitment that we are trusting in God and that good will prevail.”

Sarah Hoff, a parishioner of St. Thomas Aquinas in Hampden, said she has been feeling anxious about the state of the world in the last few years and believes the rosary is the best way to bring about peace. Archbishop Lori asked Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore to pray the rosary March 25 as a special prayer for peace.

“I’ve been saying the rosary every day in the last year – and sometimes more than once a day,” said Hoff, who brought her 14-year-old daughter, a freshman at Mercy High School in Baltimore, to the cathedral Mass. “When I pray the rosary, I feel at peace because it reminds me that there’s something bigger than the turmoil of this earth. It gives me relief and helps me keep my eye on what’s really important.”

Several parishioners of St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in East Baltimore were among the worshippers at the cathedral Mass.

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Ihor Remsky, a St. Michael parishioner, said he has four first cousins in Ukraine. One of his family members is a refugee in Poland with her 13-year-old son. Her 17-year-old son is staying in Ukraine to fight Russia, Remsky said. Another family member is staying in Ukraine to care for livestock in her village. She sleeps in the cellar for fear of being bombed, Remsky said.

Remsky noted that it’s difficult to get aid to his relatives because mail isn’t going through.

“So you pray,” he said. “You come here, go to church, go to Communion for them. Hopefully, they come out of this okay.”

Anna Barron, another St. Michael parishioner who also worships at St. Isaac Jogues in Carney and St. Ursula in Parkville, has family who are refugees in Poland.

“We are in unison in the world today praying to the one force, the one true God who can save and change the course of history,” she said.

In his homily, Archbishop Lori asked that Mary’s love shine not only on war-torn Ukraine and its suffering people, but also “even on the hearts of those who are leading this unjust aggression.”

“As this act of consecration resounds from every corner of the earth,” he said, “surely Mary, our mother, will hear our prayer.”

Kevin J. Parks contributed to this article.

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

Watch a recorded livestream of the March 25 Mass below.

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