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Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Divine Mercy Center aims to promote healing, reconciliation

by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 25, 2008

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Catherine Lanni stands before the Divine Mercy image in the chapel of the Divine Mercy Center in Eastpointe.

Eastpointe — Hemorrhaging profusely after child birth back in 1976, Catherine Lanni had been given just two hours to live by her doctor.

She attributes her survival to her fervent prayers for Mary's intercession with God. Lanni's own experiences of the love and healing power of God have led her to devote her life to helping others experience His Divine Mercy.

Lanni, 50, is firmly convinced the remarkable healing she experienced 31 years ago was through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.

Believing she saw Our Lady standing by her hospital bed, she prayed, "Blessed Mother, I beg you to go before the throne of God and beg for my life – just so I can raise my children."

Lanni not only survived, but went on to have two more children.

In the 1990s, Lanni began to feel called by Christ to a ministry of prayer, which eventually resulted in the founding of the Servants of Jesus of The Divine Mercy, which was declared a "private association of the Christian faithful" by Cardinal Adam Maida in 2003.

Where and when The Divine Mercy Center is at 16103 Chesterfield Ave. in Eastpointe, south of 10 Mile Road, near St. Barnabas Church. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, with prayer at noon and 3 p.m. Also, on Thursdays: rosary at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass and Divine Mercy devotions. For more information, call (586) 777-8591 or access www.sjdivinemercy.org.

Then, through the Divine Mercy Center, which opened in 2006 in the former convent of St. Barnabas Parish in Eastpointe, Lanni has sought to provide a "peaceful place of prayer, a place of work, and a place to learn about and experience the Divine Mercy of God."

The center promotes the message of mercy as presented in the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska.

Visitors are welcome to join members of the Servants of Jesus of The Divine Mercy for the two daily prayer sessions, Monday through Friday, or to just pray by themselves in the chapel at other times.

They are also welcome to come for the Thursday night rosary, Mass and Divine Mercy devotions. Jesuit Fr. Oswald Mascarenhas, who celebrates Mass on Thursday nights, also conducts a Bible study class and monthly days of reflection.

Fr. Joseph Mallia, pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Allen Park, is the group's spiritual director.

Trained prayer teams are also available, by appointment, to pray with individuals for healing.

"Through our prayers we place our trust in Jesus and implore the Divine Mercy of God. It is through this powerful intercession many people are healed spiritually, emotionally and physically," Lanni says.

The center also serves as a base of operations for members of the Servants of Jesus of The Divine Mercy, who make visits to hospitals, nursing homes and retirement centers, and perform corporal works of mercy, such as helping the needy with food and clothing.

Members have also engaged in door-to-door evangelization efforts in the St. Barnabas neighborhood.

Lanni believes their first door-to-door effort was divinely inspired, including the idea of giving each household a caramel apple along with the literature they were distributing. And one of those visits most likely saved a man's life.

Lanni tells how she happened upon a very sick man who was all alone and unable to get out of the recliner in which he was sitting. His caregiver hadn't shown up in days (it turned out he had been arrested), and the man was unable to get up to get to any food or his medications.

"It was the last house on the last block of the last street I was working," she recalls, adding that besides the candy apple she was giving out at every house, she saw to it the man got a full meal and some assistance.