Prayer warriors assemble with groundbreaking new platform
A new web application called PleasePray has been launched to unify prayer sharing, encouragement, and donations within a Catholic framework. The platform addresses common issues such as forgetting to pray for someone or wanting prayers to accompany charitable contributions. It combines features of crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe with a focus on spiritual support. The app provides a single place for users to post prayers, give encouragement, and donate, aiming to enhance the prayer community.
4 months ago
Prayer warriors now have a dedicated online hub called PleasePray, a Catholic‑focused platform that blends intercessory prayer with charitable giving, launched just four months ago and already hosting over 15,000 prayers from 1,600 users 1.
PleasePray positions itself as “The Communion of the Saints activated in prayer.”
It guides users through a three‑step process:
The app was co‑founded by husband‑wife team Carlos Espinoza Banegas and Carolyn Madigan Espinoza.
The idea arose after a South American friend was diagnosed with a terminal illness and requested the intercession of Blessed Guadalupe Ortiz; the couple saw a need for an automated, visible prayer‑tracking tool aligned with Catholic social teaching 1.
PleasePray hosts free webinars under the series “Friends of the Future Saints.”
The inaugural session (May 23, 2026) featured Concha Alvira, daughter of Tomás and Paquita Alvira, whose cause for canonization is underway.
Upcoming talks will include the family of Servant of God Pedro Ballester and the daughter of St. Gianna Molla 1.
The launch coincides with the early years of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, a period highlighted by Aleteia’s “A Year With Pope Leo” series, underscoring renewed emphasis on communal prayer and charitable outreach 1.
How does Catholic doctrine support integrated prayer and charity platforms?
Catholic doctrine not only allows but strongly encourages structures that help people pray and then turn prayer into concrete charity—provided those structures remain rooted in Christ, faithful to Church teaching, and properly connected with the Church’s mission.
Catholic teaching presents prayer and Christian life as inseparable: they arise from the same love of God and draw the person into a transforming union in the Holy Spirit that conforms one more fully to Christ.
This means that any “platform” (digital or otherwise) that helps believers move between prayer and action corresponds to a core Christian principle:
“He ‘prays without ceasing’ who unites prayer to works and good works to prayer.”
Likewise, Pope John Paul II teaches that prayer is the goal of catechesis and that the Church’s social action grows from prayer:
“The call to prayer must precede the call to action, but the call to action must truly accompany the call to prayer.”
So an integrated prayer/charity platform reflects a doctrinal pattern: prayer first (root), charity second (fruit), and charity then sustains ongoing prayer (cycle).
Catholic doctrine warns against reducing charity to activism. Pope Francis states the relationship sharply:
Benedict XVI likewise emphasizes that prayer is needed “in the face of the activism” of Christians engaged in charity.
He also teaches that prayer is an inexhaustible source of loving service—using Blessed Teresa of Calcutta as the example: time devoted to God in prayer does not detract from charity, but sustains it.
Therefore, Catholic doctrine supports integrated platforms specifically when they are designed so that:
The Catechism states that charity—drawn from the Eucharist above all—is “as it were, the soul of the whole apostolate.”
And Vatican II grounds apostolic action in a life that is truly Christian: the lay apostolate springs from living union with Christ and is never merely external.
An integrated platform can align with this teaching when it supports:
Catholic doctrine does not treat prayer/charity as private “religious content,” but as participation in the Church’s mission. It stresses unity with the hierarchy and coordination among apostolic efforts.
Vatican II teaches that whether lay apostolate is done individually or through organizations, it should be incorporated into the Church’s apostolate “according to a right system of relationships,” including cooperation directed by the hierarchy and avoiding rivalries.
It also sets an important boundary condition for anything calling itself “Catholic”:
“No project, however, may claim the name ‘Catholic’ unless it has obtained the consent of the lawful Church authority.”
Canon law similarly describes associations (distinct from consecrated life) whose common endeavor includes works of piety and charity and other apostolic initiatives.
John Paul II adds that organizations and movements can be strengthened and adapted for current needs, but their fruitfulness depends on unity—especially unity with the hierarchy and among themselves.
So a prayer/charity platform is doctrinally supported when it is:
Catholic teaching describes prayer as intercession—asking for others, including practical concern for their needs.
It also indicates that prayer should nourish the discovery of others’ needs:
“In prayer we discover the needs of our brothers and sisters and make them our own.”
Therefore, doctrinally, integration is not just “post two buttons.” It is a spiritual logic:
To be strongly aligned with Catholic doctrine, an integrated prayer/charity platform should support (at least):
Catholic doctrine supports integrated prayer-and-charity platforms because it teaches that prayer and charity are inseparable, that charity must be rooted in Christ (especially via Eucharistic charity) rather than reduced to activism, and that apostolic initiatives—especially those presented as “Catholic”—must be in communion with the Church’s hierarchy and teaching.