CNA Staff, Sep 28, 2020 / 10:05 am MT (CNA).-

The EWTN network has invited Catholics to join a novena to the Mother of God that will begin Tuesday, and be offered for unity and truth amid challenges facing the United States.

“As Catholics, we turn instinctively to our Blessed Mother in times of need,” said EWTN Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw in a statement on the novena.

“America’s first bishop, John Carroll of Baltimore, chose Our Lady as the patroness of the United States. And throughout our country’s history, we have always entrusted our nation to Mary’s motherly protection.”

“In this present moment, when there is so much division and unrest in our country, and when many of the values that formed our nation seem to be at risk, we again need to turn to our Blessed Mother. We need to pray for her intercession that leaders and all who seek public office will follow the path of Truth, guarantee religious liberty, and ensure that all human life is valued and protected, most especially the unborn,” Warsaw added.

The novena will begin Sept. 29 and be prayed through Oct. 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Fr. Fred Miller, a well-known theologian and the spiritual director at the College Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, is the author of the novena’s meditations and prayers, which ask the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary the U.S.

The network will broadcast the novena’s prayers daily, and has created an ebook that aims to make the novena available to Catholics.

The novena comes five weeks ahead of the U.S. presidential election, and as hearings will soon get underway regarding the nomination of federal judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and amid the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing protests in some parts of the country.

“In this critical moment, I hope that everyone will join in this powerful prayer for the nation and its leaders,” Warsaw said.

EWTN Global Catholic Network is the largest religious media network in the world. EWTN’s 11 global TV channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 300 million television households in more than 145 countries and territories.

EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 500 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the largest Catholic websites in the U.S.; electronic and print news services, including Catholic News Agency, The National Catholic Register newspaper, and several global news wire services; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division.