Focusing On the Rosary

CLIFTON  Parishes, schools and religious groups across the Diocese have been holding an array of events to encourage public prayer of and a devotion to the rosary and the Blessed Mother throughout the month of the Most Holy Rosary this October. In a letter to all priests of the Diocese earlier this month, the Bishop urged all parishes to follow Pope Francis’ request to pray the rosary every day in “this time of spiritual turbulence.” And in his column in last week’s edition of The Beacon, he wrote about origins of Oct. 7 as the feast of the Most Holy Rosary and the need to pray the rosary daily.

In response to the Bishop’s call to pray the rosary, following is a look at three rosary activities that have taken place in the Diocese: at Divine Mercy Academy, Rockaway; at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Mountain Lakes; and by parishioners of St. Peter the Apostle, Parsippany. These examples represent a fraction of the rosary events in the Diocese this month.

MOUNTAIN LAKES The scene was as dramatic as it was spiritual on Saturday, Oct. 6, after the 5 p.m. family Mass at St. Catherine of Siena Parish here. Fifteen seventh-grade religious-education students sat on the floor in a darkened gym in the configuration of a large “life-sized” rosary. Holding rosaries, they took turns leading the rosary by reciting the “Hail Mary,” illuminated by glow sticks and candles.

The “Living Rosary” took place during Bishop Serratelli’s pastoral visit to St. Catherine’s, where he served as main celebrant and homilist of the 5 p.m. Mass. After the Mass, the children led the praying of the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary in the gym. It took 20 minutes to complete the rosary, as students prayed the “Hail Mary” and the religious education teachers recited the “Our Father” and “Glory Be,” said Gail Egan, St. Catherine’s coordinator of youth ministry. “We presented the Living Rosary this month because October is dedicated to teaching about the Blessed Mother and the rosary,” said Egan.

Egan gave three testimonies about how the rosary has impacted her life. She remembers that, in retirement, her grandfather prayed the rosary seven times a day for his seven children. Her mother also has prayed the rosary daily. Years ago, Egan and her mother prayed the rosary at the hospital bedside of her brother, who had suffered a serious brain injury. In time they witnessed his first signs of recovery — mouthing the words to the “Hail Mary,” “Our Father” and “Glory Be,” before he could actually talk, Egan said.

“The rosary is a great gift that the Church has given us,” Egan said. “There is great value in muscle memory as rhythmic prayer — not having to think about them too much. The rosary can be a great consolation later in life when people face challenges,” she said.

Father Michal Rybinski, St. Catherine’s parochial vicar, called the Living Rosary a “very special way for young people to use their senses — with light, darkness and the reciting of prayers — to experience God.”

“We have to use all things from God to welcome the youth and bring them closer to God,” Father Rybinski said.

PARSIPPANY The crowds cheered as a large ring of blue and white balloons — fashioned into the shape of a rosary — floated up into the air Oct. 7 on the beach in Long Branch. The group of 70 parishioners from St. Peter the Apostle here, who launched the rosary that day, asked for God’s protection of the U.S.

“We prayed the rosary for healing, peace and unity in our country. The large rosary was a sign of all our dedications and requests to God going to heaven,” said Father Yojaneider Garcia Ramirez, a St. Peter’s parochial vicar, who traveled to Long Branch with Father Krzyzsztof Slimak, another parochial vicar, and the parishioners. It was part of St. Peter’s participation in the national “Rosary Coast to Coast” rally at 4 p.m. on Oct. 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which also included a rosary rally at the Parsippany parish 65 miles away. “It was an amazing experience,” Father Garcia said.

Before the launch, the St. Peter’s parishioners started praying the rosary, standing in the sand, while holding up the balloon rosary. They went around the large rosary praying a “Hail Mary,” “Our Father” or “Glory Be” with each appropriate balloon “bead.” They prayed in four languages — English, Spanish, Polish and French — as crowds gathered on the beach. Many onlookers prayed with them or snapped photos, Father Garcia said.

“This was a great opportunity to evangelize,” said Father Garcia, who noted that an anonymous St. Peter’s parishioner thought up the idea for the balloon rosary.

At St. Peter the Apostle Church. Msgr. Herbert Tillyer, pastor, united in prayer with the contingent in Long Branch and led recitation of the rosary at the stone “grotto” next to the church. The large shrine commemorates the Blessed Mother’s appearances in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. While praying the rosary that Oct. 7 afternoon, the group of faithful at St. Peter’s held balloons, Father Garcia said.

The two groups of St. Peter’s parishioners spiritually joined with 400 “Rosary Coast to Coast” rallies around the U.S. and around the world to pray to defend the dignity of the human person: life, for traditional marriage, family and religious liberty. The prayer campaign’s organizer, the New Holy League of Nations, set rallies in the Eastern Standard Time zone to be held at 4 p.m.

Watching the balloon rosary rise into the Long Branch air to cheers from the crowd, Sara Fourounjian, St. Peter’s business manager, called the event “a moving experience, praying with people of different cultures, languages and ages — from children to adults. So many people were moved,” she said.

ROCKAWAY Students in the fifth-grade class at Divine Mercy Academy (DMA) led by their teacher, Karen McNamara, decided to start the rosary making process by tying the religious medallion at its center to the string that holds it together before the students threaded the beads for each decade. The students keep their strings tight and their minds focused on making rosaries. The students have been using their rosaries to pray through the Blessed Mother to Jesus — a religious practice that they will continue throughout this current academic year.

“Children don’t know about the rosary, so this teaches them about it,” said McNamara, who teaches fifth-grade religion and social studies and fourth- and fifth-grade language arts and reading at DMA. “By making their own rosaries, students take ownership of them. They can say, ‘I did that.’ It makes them feel good. The students also are excited to say the rosary. Their parents also love that their kids are learning to pray the rosary,” she said.

The fifth-graders made an assortment of rosaries in many eye-popping colors and designs. With their parents’ help, they selected the beads that they wanted so they could personalize their rosaries — a way to encourage them to pray the rosary more often. Students keep their rosaries in their desks in a small burlap bag, provided by McNamara, taking them out three times per week to pray.

Before making the rosaries, McNamara taught her class about the history of the rosary, the configuration of the rosary, how to pray the rosary and the mysteries of the rosary.

One fifth-grader, Sama’a Wong, said “I liked learning about the mysteries of the rosary and I like when we pray them in class.”

After the fifth-graders finished their rosaries, Father Cerilo Javinez, a parochial vicar at St. Cecilia Parish, also in Rockaway, visited their classroom to speak on the rosary and to bless their rosaries.

“I spoke about the importance of making their rosaries and encouraged the students to use them. I also talked about the rosary, as a powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother that’s the shortest route to Jesus,” Father Javinez said. “I was honored to bless their rosaries.”