Team Prayer Requests - Chili Cook-Off 2025
March 14, 2025
Our team was present at the Chili Cook-Off for another consecutive year. This time, we were confronted by some of the worst weather in our team's history -- frigid temperatures and wind gusts! Despite our tent being blown over and a certain level of chaos for the items on our table, we had a joyful and fruitful outing.
A special thank you to Dan Weed, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception who is also involved in groups such as the Knights of Columbus. He joined us on behalf of the Cemetery Committee in case those services were of interest to people visiting our table. Despite intending to stay for one hour, he stayed for two, and ended up actively engaged in evangelizing visitors himself! In one conversation, a man came up to our table expressing his hostility towards organized religion. By the end of his conversation with Dan, he was vulnerably sharing about difficulties he's having in personal relationships! Dan was clearly a natural and a blessing to have, and we were grateful for his presence.
We also want to thank Zach Clark, who had his own table representing State Farm, and graciously bought some chili for our evangelists. A generous act that warmed hearts and bellies!
Please pray for the many people we encountered and spoke with. Please also pray for these specific intentions that were entrusted to us:
- "Pray for me, please. I am diabetic and need to get my blood pressure better. Thank you."
- "For Betty Schoff and the Gracen family."
- "Need prayers for me, Franck. For my family, especially my daughter Lynn. We need more presence of God in our life."
- "I need prayers for myself, Dariana. The devil tempts me and tells me things that are not true. I also need prayer for the people of Palestine."
Team Prayer Requests - Winter Holiday Bash
December 9, 2024
This past weekend, our team took the opportunity to evangelize outside of Immaculate Conception while the annual Winter Holiday Bash took place around the corner in Ithaca Commons. With events like Santa's arrival in the Commons, we were hoping to get more foot traffic coming through our way -- and we were not disappointed! Despite the cold, our evangelists were able to have some incredible conversations and encounters, and strongly felt the intercession of the Blessed Mother on the eve of the (usual) date of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
Here are some prayer intentions from our outing, as well as a recent previous outing:
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J: A bike rider who was hit by a car twice. He suffers from a traumatic brain injury and is disabled. He needs prayers for healing and help with resources.
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S and L: They are homeless and living at the shelter at Key Bank building. They asked for prayers for housing, safety, and basic needs.
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M: She said she does not believe in God, but she took a brown scapular and a Holy Family medal. We told her we would pray for her as she finishes her last year at Cornell.
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Anonymous: Pray that people don't loose their Social Security, including a man named R.
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Anonymous: Pray for the deceased Matthew Basile.
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R: That he returns to Mass and renews his devotion to our Blessed Mother.
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J: “Please pray for Connie, for her health and that she has many blessings come her way, and for me as I just became homeless and am trying to get back on my feet.”
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V: “That I can be released into the next realm to be with my Dios forever and always, as I am ready to go home and life is no longer generally pleasant.”
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K: To heal.
- R: That she may continue to be guided by the Holy Spirit, as she doubted why God would allow suffering but rejoiced to hear (for the very first time) about Jesus' Resurrection.
Team Prayer Requests - Apple Festival 2024
October 3, 2024
Our team returned to the Apple Festival for another consecutive year this past weekend. This year, the festival changed its layout, sprawling down the Commons all the way to and along Geneva Street. Although this meant closing off our church parking lot (and some chaos for those who were coming to Sunday Mass via car), it gave us the incredible opportunity to set up our street evangelization table right by the steps of our own church and invite festival-goers inside -- which certainly bore fruit! We encountered countless people at our table, including:
- A number of young Catholic students from Ithaca College who did not know about our parish, but stepped inside for Eucharistic Adoration during the festival. One of them was even at daily Mass at the parish a few days later!
- A young student from Syracuse University who was in a terrible car accident but walked away unscathed -- which she attributed to the St. Christopher medal she had in her glove compartment. She brought her non-Catholic friend to our table, who took an interest in our St. Michael and St. Benedict medals.
- An elderly man who went to a Catholic school for eight years as a child, but had since stopped practicing his faith. He accepted our invitation to step inside the church for a moment of prayer, and when he saw the beauty of our renovations, he said, "I'm going to kneel right over there and pray!"
- A young non-Catholic woman with cancer, who was intrigued by the Rosary and asked us to explain how she could pray it.
- A little girl who had received a Guardian Angel medal from us at a previous festival, and stopped by this year to see what else we were offering.
- An older man who, when we showed him a St. Rita medal and mentioned she was the patron of impossible causes, exclaimed, "Oh, I definitely need her!"
Glory to Jesus Christ for this opportunity this weekend and for all those we encountered and spoke with. Please pray that Jesus may draw them to Him and to His Church, especially through answers to the prayer intentions that they entrusted to us. Please pray for the following:
S: For my family to remain safe and happy forever
K: For prosperity, abundance, strength, courage, more life, consistent love and support
S: For my breast cancer surgery to go well, and for God to watch over me
A & L: For baby
J: For my family
M: For love, light, kindness and peace in this world.
K: For Albina's soul, on the first anniversary of her passing
E: For healing and togetherness in our family
Anonymous:
- For our finances/economy to improve
- For good health for mankind
- For the Ithaca Mobile Pack, that we would bring in many volunteers to provide meals and that all who provide and receive the work would be blessed
- For Mira’s health and future
- For a successful career in film or directing for Nicholas Nappi
- For my family, and to be wealthy
- For success in school
- For Albert and for health
- For a good semester in my last year, and for happiness and joy
- For those suffering from the ill effects and consequences of abuse, especially child emotional and verbal abuse
- For T1 to win Worlds
- For my daughter Alana to be healed in her body
- For Allegra's life to become better
- For Jackie to overcome addiction
- For my sobriety
- For Francesca
- For my best friend, Steven, to return to me and be safe from the people that tried to kill him
- For my deceased stepdad and my healing (As written: "I wish I could see my stepdad and hug him but I can't. He passed.")
- For my brother, who just had to get surgery for his foot
- For my sister Valentina, who is sick and needs help
- For Luke and Abby who suffered severe damage to their new home in Asheville due to Hurricane Helene
- For the health of my parents and for the joy of my friends, and for my happiness
- For my mother and father's health, luck, and strength, and for my grandparents
- For my family, health, and education
- For this school year to be guided in love and light
- For my sister's happiness and strength
- For my health
- For a new job and hope for a happy & quick resolution. Also for my dad and grandfather
From our team:
- For Morgan and Janaye, sisters who were baptized when they were babies but never received the Sacrament of Holy Communion, who want to return to the Church
- For Evan, a bright, inquisitive seven-year old, to find God in his heart
Team Prayer Requests - Ithaca Festival
June 8, 2024
Our team had the blessing of participating in our town's annual summer festival once again, the Ithaca Festival, last week! We had a prime location across from Dewitt Park with a lot of foot traffic, especially on the very beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon. We encountered a range of people, both from within and outside of town, allowing us to have a variety of great conversations and to distribute a lot of sacramentals and brochures about our Catholic faith. Here are the prayer intentions we received; please keep all of those we encountered in your prayers, so that they may know and encounter the presence and tender love of Jesus Christ through those petitions they are bringing to Him, through us and you!
- "Dear God, I hope that my whole family is safe forever and stay alive. From Ba to God"
- "To stay at namaste"
- "Love, health, peace, abundance"
- "For health for Tracie, Sherri and Tiffany. For a job for Jackie"
- "Pray for the Gorney family as they transition to a new community"
- "For Yolanda to be healthy"
- "For Nancy who has MS"
- "Please pray for our neighbor Jane Horton"
- "For a new job in/near Ithaca"
- "For Roseanne and Vince as they repair their house and prepare it for sale"
- "Pray for me, breast cancer. Gloria. Thank you."
- "Prayers for provisions to fix household things (hot water tank/heater)"
- "For Grandpa"
- "I have been stressed. Please pray for my family. We pray for peace and stability and to be financially stable"
- "My grandpa doesn't die from metastatic stage 4 colorectal cancer"
- "Please pray for my health. Thank you."
- "For Lilly Gonzalez"
- "The state of the world. That more people would come to Christ and for family members who are experiencing illness"
- "My friend is struggling with mental health. Hope she comes to faith and God heals."
- "Pray for my Christopher who is autistic"
- "For Stephen"
- "Praying for my friend Alex, wishing him well and hoping he finds himself and peace. Praying for Grandma and her health. Love, Nicholas"
- "We want to pray that the world will always be the best place. (from A, 6 years old)."
- "I want to pray for my parent's health"
- "Please pray for David (cancer) and for Christopher (leukemia), for healing"
- "Pray for the health of Stephanie and Shirley"
- "Pray for John Navarro"
- "Please pray for my mother who has dementia. Help us find guidance for her. Thank you."
- "Please pray for David and Toni. Toni has cognitive decline and needs our prayers. David has high blood pressure and diabetes. Please pray for strength and healing."
- "Kristi - life choices"
- "Pray for Uncle Jimmy and Grandma Cheryl"
- "For Baby Tommy - neurologic surgery"
- "Emma - no more cancer. Peace on earth. Thank you."
- "Prayers for guidance, health, protection and joy for my son Henry, mother Elizabeth, our friends Perdita, Clark. Sophie and Jonah. Thank you."
- "Prayers for brother Mike's cancer"
- "I would like my mom to be prayed for. She's been in a 'tough' situation with drugs and relationship issues. Chooses her friends over her kids. She still has hope but if she keeps going I'm scared she'll get too deep."
- "Nuestro senor, que se mejore mi tio Gabriel" (translation: "Our Lord, may my uncle Gabriel get better.")
Please also pray for the following intentions we received from a recent food pantry outing as well:
- "Pray for the Wright family and Rice family (cancer)."
- "Save the boy I saw from his grandmother, and save his grandmother from herself."
- "For the intentions of Heather Macdonell"
- Nicholas has thanked God wants us to do so also: "thank God for doing that for the PPI"
Team Prayer Requests - February/Early March 2024
March 11, 2024
Our team had an engaging and fruitful February and beginning of March. In addition to our presence at the Immaculate Conception food pantry on numerous occasions, we also had the opportunity to evangelize at the annual Chili Cook-Off. Please pray for all of those people we encountered, all those who visited our tables, all those who received sacramentals from us, and all those who entrusted their intentions to our prayers. Here are the prayer intentions we received:
From the food pantry:
Dawn: that her surgery will be successful and that her insurance will pay for it.
Jonathan: He has been crippled since birth; that his legs will grow stronger and that the kids at school will not make fun of him.
S: that the medications will work so she can avoid surgery.
W: for unity in her family and community, for a financial breakthrough so she can pay her bills, to break a generational curse, and for good health and strength for her family.
A: for healing of her knee and for her family.
Anonymous: for prayers for her sick dad and the ill in my family to come.
R: that his dream of becoming a professor of dance at Cornell University will come true.
Frank: for his ulcer and his colon and lung cancer to heal.
Anonymous: Please pray that all hearts will be open to peace.
Anonymous: Please pray for better days.
U: for my grandson.
U: for my brother Frank who has colon cancer and diabetes.
From the Chili Cook-Off:
Anonymous: for her grandma.
Anonymous: for the world and the earth.
Charlotte: for the miracle of a loving soulmate in her life, especially through the intercession of our Blessed Mother.
Anonymous: for healing of Otto and Britton.
Josie: "For five-year-old Josie, who was drawn to our table by the Rosaries, which she said were beautiful. I told her she could pray on each bead but she said she didn't know how to pray. I asked her if she knew about God but she'd never heard of Him. I saw her parents standing a few yards away watching. I told her she could talk to God any time - when she was sad or when she was happy and that he would always be listening. Then I gave her (and her parents) a brochure about how to pray the Rosary and a Catholic Devotional prayer book. May the Holy Spirit continue to speak to this child with His love."
Anonymous: for the healing of Dorothy and Joe.
Anonymous: for my father who has cancer and advancing dementia. I am the caregiver. For patience and compassion.
Anonymous: for a young fellow who knew passages from the Bible and said he was a minister.
Anonymous: for an eight-year-old girl who knew nothing about God. She took a medal and some pamphlets. Later in the afternoon she came back with her friend. Both of them were very charming.
Team Prayer Requests - January 2024
January 27, 2024
Below are the prayer requests that our team received at our outings in the past month. Please keep these people in your prayers, and ask Jesus to powerfully act in their lives to reveal His love for them through the requests they've made of Him (and us!).
- In thanksgiving to God for the help I receive, for help that I find a job, and for my family.
- That people do not freeze.
- That God be my guide and that I do not falter.
- For Gregg, Kyle, Dan, and Aunt Elaine.
- For me to win the lottery.
- For blessings upon Barbara in 2024 and that she would receive her green card.
- For Hazel to get back together with Nani.
- For Michelle's healing as well as prayers for Sarah's family in their grief.
- For peace in Gaza, Ukraine, and the world.
- For Typah's employment.
- For peace and safety for all animals and other vulnerable creatures.
- For Jay and his family, that they will be reunited.
- For Bob, who was married at Immaculate Conception Church in 1968, that he may return.
- For me and Michael to reconcile.
- For the Schlimmer family.
Our Team Featured in the Catholic Courier!
January 11, 2022
Our parish St. Paul Street Evangelization team has been featured in our local diocesan newspaper! You can find the article profiling our team here.