On the banks of the Mississippi River in the city of Quincy, Illinois, Father Aaron Kuhn at Saint Peter Parish has spearheaded another major way to fight the coronavirus.

Taking a lesson from Perpetual Eucharistic adoration, he’s organized the Perpetual Rosary. People sign up for half-hour time slots to take turns to keep the Rosary going day in and day out, 24/7, for two intentions: 1) An End to the Pandemic and 2) For Conversion of Hearts.

Ready to celebrate the second anniversary of his ordination in May, Father Kuhn said the idea came about as an initiative from one of the faithful. While his area hasn’t had a lot of individual cases of the coronavirus, one parishioner suggested if “this is as serious as people say it is, we need to do something serious about it. He suggested some sort of praying of the Rosary for the intercession and protection of our Blessed Mother.”

Father Aaron, as he is popular known, said that without the ability to offer public Masses, while the church remains open for private prayer, the parish’s Perpetual Adoration chapel is closed. That circumstance helped inspire this initiative because “after some thought, the ‘Perpetual Rosary’ idea came to be” as a way to combat this current pandemic situation.  People can obviously join, sign up for a half hour time slot, as many as they want, and pray the Rosary from home during that time for our Blessed Mother’s intercession.

The parishioners as well as many elsewhere are longing to celebrate the liturgy, but while that isn’t happening yet, “We have to continue our faith lives and nurture that all the more,” said Father Aaron. Putting all this together, the obvious answer was to “to do a Perpetual Rosary” to continuously pray for the need to end this pandemic, he said, knowing at the same time there was more to what this Perpetual Rosary intention should include — specifically, the conversion of hearts.

“That’s really the more underlying thing we need to look at for all of us. For those who have been away from the Church. For those who don’t see God as significant in their lives at all,” Father Aaron emphasizes. So the double intention of the Perpetual Rosary is to underscore not just for ending the pandemic, “but a greater need that we all need to pray for — the conversion of hearts.”

“We certainly support and want to find a treatment or containment of this virus,” he makes clear, “but we have to remember — we are people of God and have to bring ourselves back to him. All we are doing is because of the great gifts he gives us and his great love for us.”

 

Recruits Right Away

People took to it at once. Parishioner Jane Drechsler immediately thought it was “a great idea, a fantastic idea. It was something I knew I could do with fellow parishioners for the end of the pandemic.”

While Dreschsler could not get on the front lines physically to help during this time, praising the people who works so hard and the “countless others who keep things moving,” she said “she could help “by praying the Rosary for the end of this.”

Those responding also came in families such as Tyler and Bryn Peters and their seven children, from 12 years to 9 months. The Peters signed up to pray the Rosary each evening. They pray it together, except for the baby who is in bed, of course.

This Perpetual Rosary sign-up was a double blessing for them. “We wanted to get into the habit of praying it as a family,” Bryn said. Before this, she and Tyler “had been individually saying the Rosary on our own every night, being so busy with the kids.”

Now they pray it together. Even the 3-year old will stay and will sit for a while.

At first Tyler or Bryn would lead, but “the older kids are taking turns leading now” — 12-year-old son Cayson and daughters 10-year-old Breckyn and 9-year-old Vaylea.

Bryn sees a bright light here as far as this whole coronavirus situation when considering the second important intention for this Perpetual Rosary. “It’s really helping people slow down and connect with what is important, to see this is what what’s important, to focus on Jesus.”

 

Not Limited to This Parish

Those signing up came from a distance too, like Roger and Angela Lipcamon whose daughter is a parishioner but who themselves are 50 miles away at St. Mary’s Parish in Pittsfield.

Angela sent the information to all the members of the (Springfield) Diocesan Catholic Women in her deanery, to her sister near Springfield, and to others around the diocese. “Our parish had several people sign up too,” she said. “Technology can be a good thing if you use it in that way.”

Angela and her husband have a great devotion to Blessed Mother and “know her power through the Rosary and the enrichment for all the souls who sign up for it,” she said. “I knew it was being guided by God.”

Their response answered another of Father Aaron’s aims. It’s not exclusive to the members of St. Peter’s Parish. “It isn’t only for the parish doing this,” he emphasizes. “This is for anybody.”

A local radio station has made announcements. Father Aaron’s older brother, Father Melvin Kuhn in the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has told his parishioners about it. Anyone, anywhere, reading about this Perpetual Rosary can sign up at the links below.

Father Aaron did offer that prayer is an important part of our life and he wants people to know if they’re not signed up to pray, that’s okay. Sometime someone can’t sign up. But this initiative is for all of us keep prayer at the forefront of our lives and keep this prayer going.

 

Far-Reaching Goals

Father Aaron points out that this Perpetual Rosary effort is not just about praying the Rosary in a specified amount of time because we don’t know how long this pandemic will go on.

But looking ahead, he has two great hopes. One is “to move to a Rosary of Thanksgiving.”

Drechsler said she thinks Father Aaron would like “to see us continue after the pandemic is over with.” It’s only asking for a half hour of your time.” She’s right.

He brought to light what his other great hope is once the pandemic is over and the intention changes.

“I hope it instills in people prayerfulness,” he said. “To continue praying as a family.” As families “are now taking time every day to pray as a family,” that they will “continue this prayer habit they’re getting into.”

Already the Peters family is on board to fulfill this great hope.

 

Anyone can join this Perpetual Rosary and can sign up for a time slot at this site or through the link at St. Peter’s Parish.