Only the soft clicking of knitting needles can be heard as the circle of women stitch their prayers into gifts of love.

This is the prayer shawl ministry at St. Basil Parish in Vallejo, a group of 12 women who meet monthly to knit prayer shawls and lap robes for friends and sometimes people they have never met.

Ministry founder Yvonne Parrino was inspired to start the group just five months ago after reading “Knitting into the Mystery: A Guide to the Shawl-Knitting Ministry.”

The book is a primer about a ministry started in 1998 by two Connecticut women, Vicki Galo, a Catholic, and Janet Bristow, a Congregationalist, in which small groups of women create shawls that will nurture others.

The shawl-knitting ministry is a worldwide ecumenical movement that puts to use the principles of a contemplative practice known as centering prayer, enabling women to open their minds and hearts to God as they create gifts that comfort and heal.

“Women are spiritual people and knitting is something quite soothing to do for the soul,” said Parrino, who has been knitting for 60 years now. “This was a contemplative thing women could do.”

Learning to knit and pearl from her mother as a child, Parrino started out knitting clothes for her dolls, later moving on to knit clothes for her four children.

Parrino knit her first prayer shawl with a friend, projects both women originally planned to keep.

“As soon as I started knitting, I discovered mine was meant for a friend who had breast cancer,” she said. “The colors I picked weren’t mine but were perfect for her.”

Her second project, the one that actually launched St. Basil’s prayer shawl ministry in February, was a prayer shawl for Bishop William K. Weigand, who in January was preparing for liver transplant surgery.

During a Mass celebrated at St. Basil Feb. 6, the entire congregation prayed over Purino’s shawl, which was presented to Bishop Weigand prior to his surgery April 1 by the Father Leon Juchniewicz, pastor of St. Basil.

Since then she has made 10 more shawls, one a gift to the mother of a young soldier killed in Iraq, another to a former classmate battling colon cancer, and a third to a female cousin facing hip replacement surgery.

“While she was knitting her bones, I was knitting her shawl,” quipped Purino.

Not all the members of the prayer shawl ministry are accomplished knitters when they join. Connie Castro had crocheted as a child but hadn’t picked up a knitting needle for 18 years until she joined the group.

“Knitting was a real challenge. I like things to be perfect but realized they will never be perfect,” said Castro, who started her first prayer shawl with no one in mind only to find it was for a friend with cancer. “You end up thinking about the person, praying about their condition and knit your love into your shawl.”

Like other women in the group, Castro has found that in helping others, they are blessed themselves.

“Prayer is making a spiritual connection with the person you are knitting for,” she said.

Castro tangibly witnessed that connection upon presenting a prayer shawl to an aunt on the anniversary of her uncle’s death.

“She put the shawl over her shoulders and held it there,” said Castro, remembering the moment. “Then she took it off and put it on my uncle’s chair.”

Another member of the prayer shawl ministry is Paula Tschida, a retired principal and teacher. As a child Tschida remembers making blankets and shawls for her dolls, a legacy passed on to her from an Italian grandmother. It wasn’t until she joined the shawl ministry that she discovered how knitting can enrich the spirit.

It happened when she was knitting her first shawl for a neighbor who had lived next door for 30 years and had cared for Tschida’s children.

“I don’t see her that much anymore, but she was diagnosed last year with breast cancer,” she said. “Making the blanket brought her spirit so close to mine, remembering all her wonderful qualities.”

A second blessing of the knitting ministry, Tschida added, is that it enables you to become calm and awake to the futility of racing through life.

Peggy Doherty has also found knitting to be an effective stress reliever.

“When I was stressed and picked up my knitting, it helped a lot,” she said. “The whole process of knitting and making a mental and spiritual connection with a person is a tremendous blessing.”

One of Doherty’s prayer shawls was sent to Ohio to a friend who is a retired priest. He liked the shawl so much he ordered 40 more.

At the prayer shawl ministry’s meeting in June, Purino presented a framed copy of a painting of a Madonna wrapped in a shawl made of spider web. Painted by Polish artist Wieslawy Kwiatkowskiej, the painting depicts Mary as the mother of sowers and will now watch over the knitting ministry.

“My hope is this group will grow to include people confined, the elderly and those with special needs so they will feel connected in their homes,” Purino said.

For more information on the prayer shawl ministry, call Yvonne Purino at (707) 644-7157, or visit the Web site at www.shawlministry.com.

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