Padre Pio Prayer Group, Lancaster, PA
Who We Are...
Padre Pio started his Prayer Group movement in 1947, originally to support the building of the "House for the Relief of Suffering," the hospital he started in San Giovanni Rotondo. The hospital is located immediately adjacent to Padre Pio's monastery. Before long, the prayer groups became a worldwide movement. Today the prayer groups are still associated with Padre Pio's monastery and administered through the Office for the Prayer Groups at the "House for the Relief of Suffering."
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The Lancaster Padre Pio Prayer Group was founded in the summer of 2016 by several families with a devotion to the saint. In December of that same year, the group received the required approval of Bishop Gainer of the Diocese of Harrisburg that allowed the group to be recognized by, and affiliated with, the Office of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. It is the first Padre Pio Prayer Group to be so recognized in the Diocese of Harrisburg.
From 2016 to June of 2019, the group's spiritual director was Father Leo Goodman of Historic St. Mary's Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With the transfer of Father Leo in June of 2019, the group underwent a period of transition as it searched for a new spiritual director. During that time the group was aided spiritually by Father Bernardo Pistone with gracious kindness and to whom, along with Father Leo, the group is forever indebted.
In 2018 the Prayer Group, in conjunction with the San Juan Bautista Padre Pio Prayer Group also in Lancaster, organized an Eucharistic Procession through the streets of Lancaster, between three churches. The procession was a success, being attended by approximately three hundred people.
In January, 2020, the group was thrilled to be joined by Father Brian Olkowski, who now serves of the group's spiritual director. When Father Olkowski was assigned to Historic St. Mary's of the Assumption in Lancaster, the Padre Pio Prayer Group returned to St. Mary's with him.
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