Biography

In 1998, Mr. Miller retired from his business activities and, in partnership with Father Fred De L’Orme, founded the Apostolate of Saint Joseph, a Catholic society established in various parts of the world with the aim of exalting the role of the family under the patronage of Saint Joseph and Saint Monica.
 

In 2007, Mr. Miller began a project with the Pallottine Order in India to build Catholic shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary in places that were formerly pagan in southern India. Under the supervision of the Pallottine Order and local bishops, ten shrines have been built to date. That same year, he visited Colombia and met with President Álvaro Uribe to discuss the nation’s challenges and proposed Consecration as a means to address them. As a result, President Uribe, his family, members of the government, military, and police all consecrated themselves. Subsequently, the Catholic Church consecrated Colombia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the first time, and renewed its consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on October 12, 2008.

 

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Mr. Miller was also the founder and director of the Confraternity of Our Lady at the Marian Shrine of London, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden. The Confraternity, which began—ironically—on September 11, 2001, is a Catholic organization whose members pray daily for the protection and conversion of the city of London. Its president and patron is His Eminence Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, 10th Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and then Primate of England.
 

In 2008, Mr. Miller launched a mission to establish country-specific organizations committed to founding Catholic prayer cenacles throughout Central and South America and in historically Catholic nations. The goal was to form prayer groups at every level of society, with the daily purpose of praying for the protection of each nation and the return of inactive Catholics to their faith. The first of these initiatives was “Colombia in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,” officially approved in 2008.
 

Throughout 2008, Mr. Miller traveled extensively, speaking at churches and conferences around the world about the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Heart of Saint Joseph.

In October 2008, Colombia as a nation was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary—nearly 500 years after the Catholic faith first arrived in the region. The organization responsible for this historic consecration, and for renewing the country's consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was “Colombia in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.”
 

He was later invited to Venezuela, where he realized that Colombia had served as a model for what God was calling him to do. Thus, in early 2009, Mr. Miller founded and established the international organization Mission for the Love of God Worldwide.
 

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His first visit to Central America was in Panama in 2008, where he gave talks in various parishes and promoted the establishment of Perpetual Adoration Chapels with financial support from Catholic families. From there, he was invited to other countries in North and South America, and in October 2010, after visiting multiple cities, he called for the organization of the First International Congress of the Mission, held at the headquarters of the Mexican Episcopal Conference in the State of Mexico. Representatives from Mission committees in Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Florida (USA), along with bishops and priests affiliated with the Mission, were in attendance.
 

In 2010, the Mission expanded to Australia and to U.S. cities in California, Louisiana, and Mississippi, becoming one of the fastest-growing Catholic missions in the world, with an estimated 1.25 million people praying the Mission’s daily prayers.
 

In 2011, the Mission reached Genoa, Italy; Westport, Ireland; Madison, Wisconsin; and Houston, Texas, in the United States.
 

As the Mission continued to expand, support from the Church hierarchy also grew. On June 16, 2011, the Mission for the Love of God Worldwide was officially recognized by the Catholic Church as a Private Association of the Faithful through the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference.
 

Later that year, the Mission celebrated its Second International Congress in Villa de Leyva, Colombia, and in 2012, its third in Panama City, with increasing participation from Church leaders and members from the 21 countries where the Mission was then present.
 

In 2012, the Mission was invited to begin in Alabama and Alaska (USA), as well as in Costa Rica, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Los Angeles.
 

On September 24, 2012, John Rick participated in the Enthronement of the Relic Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Basilica of the National Vow in Quito, Ecuador, during which the country renewed its consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This act was led by the top command of Ecuador’s Armed Forces and National Police, dedicating the nation to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

 

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On May 30, 2013, Mayor Tomás Regalado and Archbishop Thomas Wenski consecrated the City of Miami, in a historic event attended by government and Church authorities and more than 1,200 participants.
 

By 2013, the Mission had achieved the consecration of 18 cities and states, 11 government entities, 16 archdioceses and dioceses, 16 military and police forces, 140 companies, and 72 schools and universities, as well as the opening of six Perpetual Adoration Chapels, among other milestones. The Mission was also instrumental in initiating dialogue between the Government of Costa Rica and the Church, which led to the nation’s consecration on August 2, 2013, with the participation of the three branches of government and the Costa Rican Episcopal Conference.
 

At the end of 2012, Mr. Miller was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which prevented him from traveling during the first three quarters of 2013. However, in September, he managed to attend the Fourth International Congress in Quito, Ecuador, which exceeded expected attendance and featured delegations from many Latin American countries and beyond. Most notably, over 120 Catholic Church authorities, including archbishops, bishops, priests, and religious sisters, participated. More than 500 international and national delegates were present, and the Catholic Church reaffirmed its full support for this universal mission.
 

In January 2014, the city of Fort Lauderdale was consecrated. In February, John Rick undertook his final mission trip to Mexico, where Church authorities publicly honored him for his evangelizing efforts, his deep love for the Virgin Mary, his powerful witness of soul conversion, and his profound affection for the Mexican people.