It’s a good bet that many viewers especially younger ones have never heard of Father Patrick Peyton, even though he was a household name for decades starting in the 1940s. The short documentary “Pray: The Story of Patrick Peyton” is a powerful introduction to the priest who in the ‘40s launched a crusade to urge people of all faiths to pray the rosary and to encourage families to pray together. Father Peyton wasn’t a religious zealot or a hypocrite, nor did he espouse doctrine. Among the interviews in the film include Peyton family members and colleagues including his secretary and nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor who were at his bedside when he died in San Pedro, California in 1992. All attest to his humility, tireless work and unwavering belief in the power of prayer. There is also testimony from individuals about how praying the rosary helped heal family discord and divisions.
The film traces Peyton’s childhood in impoverished rural Ireland where he was born in
1909 into a large family that prayed together daily. As a young man, Peyton and his brother Tom emigrated to the US to join three of their sisters in Scranton, Penn. Patrick got a job as a janitor in a cathedral and was eventually accepted into the Holy Cross seminary at Notre Dame University where he was a stellar student. A battle with tuberculosis and his subsequent recovery only deepened his faith; he attributed the healing to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who would remain the focus of his devotion. Alongside his brother, Peyton was ordained in 1941 and, a year later, began his “pray the rosary” campaign which in 1945 led to a national radio show that featured screen stars including Bing Crosby, Maureen O’Hara and James Stewart. Wanting to expand his reach, he went to Hollywood to launch Family Theater and produce religious themed films such as “Hill Number One” starring a young James Dean. Father Peyton’s live “rosary rallies” from the ’50s through the ‘80s drew massive crowds all over the world.
What’s perhaps most powerful in the film are Father Peyton’s own words, spoken simply, with his Irish brogue: “I am not against anything. I am so busy being for things that I don’t have time to let the things I am against encroach on my schedule. I’m for God, for prayer, for peace, for justice, mercy, truth, love. I’m for racial harmony and the better sharing of the material riches God has disposed for us on the green planet. I’m for everything that ennobles man and exalts woman and enshrines children. The things I’m for crowd out the things I’m against.”
