WILMINGTON — Bishop Koenig, responding to a call from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, held a Holy Hour for Peace at St. Peter Cathedral in Wilmington the morning of Feb. 13. It was the second of seven such hours that will be held in the diocese over the next few weeks, one in each deanery. A Holy Hour was held a few hours before the one in Wilmington at St. John Neumann Church in Berlin, Md.
The bishop knelt before the altar for nearly the entire hour with the Blessed Sacrament in front of him. He led about a dozen people in the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. Various people led a decade each of the rosary, including Father Roger DiBuo, the pastor of St. Elizabeth Church in Wilmington.
The invitation for each diocese to hold Holy Hours came from Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the USCCB.
“Your faith matters. Your prayers matter. Your acts of love matter,” Archbishop Coakley said in his invitation. “The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel.”
The Holy Hour at St. Peter Cathedral came before the daily noon Mass, at which Bishop Koenig presided. In his homily, the bishop asked that people be open to what God is telling us through Scripture, prayers and silence.
“May we hear God’s word. May we know that our ears have been opened as a result of the baptism,” he said. “May we continue to go to Christ with that openness so that we might receive that word, and we might be instruments of that word and of that peace to others.”
This national invitation to pray for peace follows the USCCB’s Special Pastoral Message on Immigration issued in November 2025, in which the bishops of the United States affirmed their concern for immigrants suffering in a “climate of fear and anxiety,” urged respect for the fundamental dignity of all persons, and called for meaningful reform of immigration laws and humane treatment of those seeking a better life in this country.
The other Holy Hours in the Diocese of Wilmington are as follows:
- Brandywine Hundred Deanery: Thursday, February 19, 4:00 p.m.
Saint Helena, Wilmington - Central New Castle Deanery: Monday, March 2, 5:00 p.m.
Saint Mary of the Assumption, Hockessin - Eastern Shore Deanery: Tuesday, March 3, 7:00 p.m.
Saints Peter and Paul, Easton, MD - Iron Hill Deanery: Monday, February 16, 6:00 p.m.
Saint Margaret of Scotland, Glasgow - Silver Lake Deanery: Friday, February 20, 3:00 p.m.
Holy Cross, Dover
