A group of six men fast to accompany Seven Sisters’ prayer ministry
By Jay Sorgi
for the Register
The Seven Sisters prayer apostolate supporting priests has grown from its humble roots in Minnesota, spread through the Diocese of Lincoln and throughout the U.S. to a worldwide platform. Their sibling apostolate, Fasting Brothers, are not as well known.
A retired optometrist is leading a group of men from St. Joseph Parish in Auburn in such a continual mission of prayer and once-a-week fasting for their parish priest.
“This is a joyful apostolate,” said John Crotty, the leader and organizer of a Fasting Brothers group lifting up the needs of Father Randall Langhorst, the pastor at his parish.
“You are doing something that is part of God’s will, that is for His priest.”
Crotty fasts on Tuesday, the same day his wife takes part in a Seven Sisters holy hour.
“You can fast from anything, something that’s sacrificial for you as a man,” he said. “You get hungry, and you think, ‘Father Rand needs my prayer right now.’ And then you turn your thoughts toward him and supporting his health, his ministry, his purity, all of those things for your priest.”
Crotty and his Fasting Brothers group began in July 2025, about eight years after Seven Sisters started in the Diocese of Lincoln in 2017, thanks to the work of diocesan coordinator Rhonda Litt.
Their group of six men rotate their day of fasting from Monday through Saturday. Crotty pointed out that Sunday, as the day marking the Resurrection, is not suitable for fasting.
“When I think of it at its essence, it is an imitation and joining in with Christ in his 40-day fast in the desert. We have the opportunity to choose year-round to join him in that as a weapon against the demons that want to attack our priests,” Crotty said.
“Our priests have a target on their backs. They are highly attractive to demons. Demons want to attack our priests and take them down. They need our support in as many ways as they can possibly get it.”
Crotty sees Father Langhorst on a daily basis at 7 a.m. Mass, and that constant presence in his own life leads him to a deeper calling to support him in any way he can.
“Our priest has some health issues, so we are praying for him on a daily basis and fasting for him on a daily basis, the women and the men, just to absorb some of his pain, to experience a little bit of it with him,” Crotty said.
“If you have Christ, then you are united with him, and he is the one who has the power to help your priest. He’s the one who can make his life, according to his will, the life that he needs to lead for us.”
Crotty said he doesn’t always meet up regularly with his Fasting Brothers, who are mainly retired men like himself, but they will often hold specific Masses where they get together and pray together.
“We have a regular thread where if you have something going on, you just throw it out there for the brothers, and then they’re all praying for you, too,” Crotty said. “That’s a constant connection.”
Crotty said Father Langhorst appreciates the continual prayer this group of six men offer to God for him along with a Seven Sisters prayer group, and he honors his parishioners’ prayer and fasting with a meal.
“All of us came together for a meal Father provided. He wanted to recognize us and be able to provide something for us. He loves to cook for big groups anyway,” Crotty said. “A big-hearted priest.”
Father Langhorst said he is honored and grateful for the prayer and fasting.
“They give me the motivation and encouragement needed as I surrender all to the Lord and meet the challenges and needs at hand,” he said.
Crotty suggested that all can apply fasting within one’s prayer life, offered for the suffering loved ones.
“You see someone else who has cancer, and you’re praying for them. If you fasted for them, would that have more power? Potentially so, you know, because Christ sees your heart and your willingness to give up something for their benefit,” Crotty said.
“It has to be something good. You can’t give up something bad, because there’s no doing the bad stuff anyway. It has to be something that means something to you.”
He said the journey of fasting is all connected to the suffering of Christ, and that it is worth the action as a celebration of the Savior’s suffering during Holy Week.
“If we can keep everything focused on Him, then everything goes through His suffering. This is the happy fault of our sin that’s brought such a Savior into the world,” he said.
“There is a verse in Colossians that says, ‘Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the Church.’ Christ’s suffering is perfect, but what’s lacking is our participation. So if we can somehow throughout the year, not just during Lent or on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, enter into a spirit of sacrifice, then that will raise our spirits up and unite us with Christ and His sacrifice.”
To enroll in the Fasting Brothers apostolate, visit https://sevensistersapostolate.org/fasting-brothers-group.
