WASHINGTON (CNS) — Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has announced the U.S. bishops will join the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops today in consecrating the two nations to the care of the Blessed Mother under the title “Mary, Mother of the Church.”

Precisely at 3 p.m. (Eastern Time) Catholics all over the country will pause to pray to Mary and ask for her intercession in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Diocese of Brooklyn will be livestreaming the prayer on its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BrooklynDiocese.

Schoolchildren throughout the Diocese are taking part in a special way. DeSales Media Group asked schools to submit videos of children reciting the Rosary.

The schools responded by sending in touching videos of their students, according to Adrianna Rodriguez, spokesperson for the Diocese of Brooklyn. One video shows a student from St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy in Greenpoint singing “Hail Mary Gentle Woman,” a well-known hymn. “She has a beautiful voice,” Rodriguez said.

DeSales Media Group compiled all of the videos into one video, which will be posted to social media during the day.

Archbishop Gomez will lead the prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary and has invited U.S. bishops to join in from their respective dioceses and asked them to extend the invitation to the faithful in their dioceses for their participation.

“This will give the church the occasion to pray for Our Lady’s continued protection of the vulnerable, healing of the unwell and wisdom for those who work to cure this terrible virus,” Archbishop Gomez in a letter to the bishops.

Each year, the church seeks the special intercession of the Mother of God during the month of May.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has stricken 3 million people around the world, is a special focus of this year’s event. “This year, we seek the assistance of Our Lady all the more earnestly as we face together the effects of the global pandemic,” Archbishop Gomez said.

For the U.S., the event actually marks a re-consecration of Mary.

Today’s event reaffirms the bishops’ previous consecrations of the U.S. to Mary. The first took place in 1792, when the first bishop of the U.S., Bishop John Carroll, consecrated the nation to Mary under the title Immaculate Conception. In 1846, the bishops unanimously chose Mary under that title as the patroness of the nation.

In 1959, Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle of Washington again consecrated the U.S. to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That was also the year construction of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington was completed. The national shrine was elevated to minor basilica status by St. John Paul ll Oct. 12, 1990. This was renewed by the U.S. bishops Nov. 11, 2006.

The U.S. re-consecration of Mary follows the Latin American bishops’ council who consecrated Latin America and the Caribbean to Our Lady of Guadalupe on Easter.

Additional reporting by Paula Katinas