PEYTON PRAYER GUILD

One such day was Thursday, November 17, 2022, when the priests at the Father Peyton Center and Family Theater Productions received the following email from Stephanie Whelan, Special Assistant to the President:

“Good morning, Fathers,

I just received a call (through our answering service) from Kenny Noll. He is a dear friend of over 35 years of Sister Mary Romaine Krug, IHM, and he is a member of the Father Peyton Prayer Guild in Pennsylvania. Sister Mary Romaine is 109 years old and was a friend of Father Peyton’s. Last night, before she slipped into a coma, she asked him [Kenny] to reach out to one of the priests here and mentioned “Father David,” but Kenny did not get more than that from her. 

She has received the Sacrament of the Sick, and it is now just a matter of time. I told him that I would be in touch with all the priests at the Father Peyton Center and Family Theater Productions right away and ask them to remember her at Mass today.

Do any of you know Sister or Kenny Noll? I did get his number, should you want to reach out. 

Please let me know that you’ve received this timely message.”

It was a timely message, and through Kenny Noll’s faith and friendship with Sister Mary Romaine, and Stephanie’s prompt and compassionate communication, I was able to reach him that day and arrange to pray over the phone with Sister Mary Romaine and Kenny in her hospital room the following morning.

Kenny put the phone on speakerphone mode and placed it beside Sister’s ear. I thanked her for continuing her friendship with Father Peyton spiritually and through inviting many others to pray for his beatification and canonization. I told her that I was sure Father Peyton would want us to pray a Hail Mary for her journey home to God. And, so I began, “Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with you…” concluding the prayer, “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” I then gave Sister Mary Romaine a blessing and told her we would pray for her at the Rosary and Mass in just a few minutes.

That afternoon, I received a phone call from Kenny telling me that while praying the Hail Mary, he saw a change in Sister’s facial expression, though she had been in a coma. And he believed that she had heard our prayer and my blessing. Just two hours after our prayer for her, while one of her fellow Sisters was beginning to read from the Gospel of John, Sister Mary Romaine Krug, IHM, went home to God.

I thank God and Our Blessed Mother for leading people like Father Peyton, Sister Mary Romaine Krug, Kenny Noll, and Stephanie to be united in friendship with God and each other, revealing God’s presence and the role of our Blessed Mother in leading us to Her Son.

In Jesus and Mary,

Father David S. Marcham

Vice Postulator and Guild Director

P.S. Please share your stories of faith and intercessory prayer through Father Peyton to further his Cause for Sainthood and deepen our faith.