How to write a personal prayer intention for the bulletin
At Epiphany of Our Lord Church in South Philadelphia, the parish bulletin is more than a record of what is happening. It is a place where the community can pray with people who ask for support, remember those who are suffering, and give thanks for blessings received. A carefully written prayer intention makes those needs known without taking over the bulletin or exposing private details. For people contributing from Australia, it is also a simple way to join that shared worship across time zones.
The process begins with a simple idea: one person, one need, and one clear request. The finished intention may be only two or three sentences, but it should sound pastoral rather than private, specific enough to be meaningful, and broad enough to be carried in prayer by parishioners who do not know the full story. A phrase such as “Please pray for the Crawford family” may be enough; adding the reason and the hoped-for help usually makes the intention more useful. The aim is not literary polish. The aim is a request that can be spoken naturally and prayed sincerely.
Understand what belongs in a bulletin intention
An intention for the bulletin is a condensed prayer of intercession, remembrance or thanksgiving. It addresses God, usually begins with “Please pray for...” or “Give thanks for...”, and names the people or community connected to the need. It is not an announcement, a biography or a request for donations. When the purpose is clear, the parish can gather around it in worship and in private prayer. A clear intention can also be read during a visitation, shared with a homebound neighbour, and remembered without requiring the original explanation to travel with it.
The wording should respect the person named. If someone is ill, state the concern without announcing a diagnosis. If a family has lost a job, avoid financial figures that nobody else needs. If a person has reconciled after conflict, share the joy without retelling the dispute. In each case, the intention should make room for dignity: it identifies enough of the need for prayer and leaves out material that would not help the community pray. Good editing protects both privacy and trust; the person named should recognise the intention as respectful if they later see it in print.
Many people find it easier to pray after naming what they are carrying. For those who want to develop a fuller private prayer before sending a short bulletin version, the night prayer reflections can guide a period of silence, petition and gratitude. The longer reflection can stay with the writer while the bulletin intention remains brief.
Gather the details before writing
Before drafting, gather four details: who is involved, what has changed, what kind of prayer is requested, and how the person should be named. A simple working sentence might read, “Please pray for Maria, who is recovering after surgery, and for peace for her family.” It conveys the situation and the response of the community without depending on a surname.
Choose the request that matches the situation. Use intercession when someone needs strength, healing, clarity or peace. Use thanksgiving when the answer to prayer has become visible, and remembrance when the purpose is to hold someone in memory during a particular season. Avoid vague directions such as “pray for a miracle” unless that language belongs to the person’s own prayer; “pray for peace and strength during treatment” gives the community a clearer way to pray.
Australian readers will recognise the practical rhythm around parish life: Sunday Mass, morning tea with neighbours, the school run, sport and a quick check of community notices between activities. A bulletin in a Sydney or Melbourne suburb may share its pages with a school fete, parish market, produce stall, second-hand book sale or local fundraiser. An intention should remain an act of prayer rather than resemble an advertisement for any of those activities. If the intention concerns relatives, marriage, parenting or household harmony, the Holy Family feast guide can provide a fitting spiritual theme and a few words for prayer.
Build a clear intention with a privacy-aware review
Start with a request that can be read aloud. Keep the main need in one sentence, and remove details that would only confuse or embarrass the person named. The following structure helps turn raw information into a bulletin-ready prayer.
A simple writing structure
- Name the person or community in the way they have agreed to be named.
- State the present need in one respectful phrase.
- Express the prayer the parish can share, such as comfort, courage, healing or peace.
- Offer thanksgiving when there is good news to acknowledge.
Privacy deserves a separate check. For an Australian parish, the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles provide a useful national reference for collecting, using and protecting personal information, even where an organisation’s legal duties need individual interpretation. State and territory rules may also matter. Obtain consent before publishing a name, a photograph or a recognisable situation, and keep the detailed prayer request separate from the shorter public wording.
A privacy and tone review
- Replace addresses, phone numbers, account details and precise locations with general terms.
- Leave out diagnoses, legal disputes and financial figures unless the named person has expressly approved them.
- Read the intention aloud to check that it offers dignity rather than gossip.
- Ask what the person wishes to be called and whether their name may appear at all.
These checks also help when an electronic bulletin update is sent. The Spam Act 2003 makes consent and clear sender information important where fundraising or commercial material enters the communication, so a prayer request should remain separate from promotional messages. For people in Australia, the time difference with Philadelphia is another practical point: record the submission time and use the deadline shown in the parish’s bulletin information rather than assuming that midnight in Sydney or Melbourne will match the parish deadline.
Compare a strong intention with a weak draft
A side-by-side comparison makes the difference between a helpful intention and a raw personal note easy to see.
| Element | Clear and bulletin-ready | Draft that needs revision |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | Please pray for the Alvarez family as they move into a new home. | Family stuff again. |
| Need | They ask for patience and peace while settling into the area. | Everything is changing and it is hard. |
| Request | Please bring them stability, neighbours and calm during the transition. | Please fix it. |
| Gratitude | We thank God for their safe arrival and the help they have received. | Thanks for stuff. |
| Privacy | The first names and broad need are used with permission. | The full address and medical history are included without consent. |
Strong wording does not need dramatic emotion. It gives the reader a clear way to participate in the prayer while keeping private facts out of view. The same principle applies to an anniversary intention: the parish history guide can confirm a founding date, former name or long-standing tradition before it is named in the bulletin.
Before the intention is sent, read it once for accuracy and once for tone. Check every name, relationship and date. Ask whether a visitor, parishioner or family member would recognise the situation and feel comfortable with its publication. If an answer is unclear, obtain consent or remove the identifying detail. A shorter intention is often more pastorally effective because it gives the bulletin reader enough information to pray without turning a private story into a public account.
Prepare the intention for the parish team
Send the finished intention through the prayer-request channel named by the parish, and include the consent decision with it. State whether the name may be printed, whether it should be confidential, and whether the situation may be shared only with the prayer team. If the parish needs a specific form, email address or submission method, use the contact information published for that purpose rather than sending the same request through several channels.
Once received, the parish can confirm the wording, ask for missing permission and adapt the sentence to the bulletin’s style. Some requests are best placed under parish prayers, while others belong in a wider intercession list. If the person has included Mass, online giving or fundraising information in the same note, separate those items so a prayer intention remains focused and any financial request can be handled in its appropriate place.
The final version should be calm, clear and ready for communal prayer. It does not need to explain every hardship, and it does not need to sound polished in a formal way. Its purpose is to invite the people of Epiphany of Our Lord Church to stand before God with the person named. The next tangible step is one intention written on a single card, checked for consent, and sent through the parish’s published prayer-request channel before the next bulletin deadline.