On March 16, 2009, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI announced that he is proclaiming a Year for Priests with the theme, “Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests.” He will open the year on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, June 19, 2009, by celebrating Vespers in the presence of a relic of St. John Mary Vianney. The Pope will officially proclaim St. John Vianney “patron saint of all the priests of the world” on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney in August of 2009.
The Confraternity of the Sacred Heart marks the beginning of the Year for Priests with a novena of Masses culminating in a Solemn Pontifical Mass for the Feast of the Sacred Heart in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. Bishop Fernando Areas Rifan, Apostolic Administrator of the Apostolic Administration of St. John Vianney, will pontificate. The day after the Mass, there will be a day-long Conference “Renewing Devotion to the Sacred Heart." Among other distinguished speakers, Fr. George Rutler will present a talk on St. John Vianney and the Sacred Heart. In the evening after the Conference, Bishop Rifan will be the keynote speaker at a Dinner in his honor.
