The Rosary effort started by Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire ministry has set the world on fire answering the call.
Originally, their goal at the beginning of May was to have 10,000 Rosaries prayed during this month dedicated to Mary. The specific intention was “that those who have fallen away from their faith may return to the Church with a renewed understanding of God’s love and mercy.”
“When they came to me and they told me I said, ‘Oh gosh! Ten thousand! That's kind of a lot,” Bishop Barron says in a recent short video. Surprisingly, he continues, “We met the goal in less than two days.”
Next, the goal to continue was reset for 50,000 Rosaries. People quickly responded. Pledges to say a Rosary for this intention poured in from all around the world.
“On the website, you can see this marvelous map of the whole world, people who have signed up all over the place,” adds Bishop Barron, the bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota.
In North America, people have been making their pledge from Lafayette, Louisiana, to Laredo, Texas; from Hollis, New Hampshire, to Ryan, Iowa; from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Ave Maria, Florida; from Eskridge, Kansas, to Vienna, West Virginia; from Montreal to Saskatoon in Canada, from Limerick, Ireland to Johannesburg, South Africa.
From Mexico down through South America with countries including Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Nicaragua. From Western Europe to people in places like Nigeria, Tanzania, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines and Australia.
Goal Reset
By the start of the Memorial Day weekend, the new goal of 50,000 had already been surpassed, as 58,741 Rosaries were already pledged and prayed!
“We were overwhelmed by the response of Catholics around the world who joined in this beautiful movement of prayer. Keep the momentum going,” the Word on Fire ministry says of this movement, asking people to keep making the pledges and to log their Rosary on their website (scroll down).
“The purpose is to bring back the ‘nones’ — the n-o-n-e-s — all the people who have wandered away from the Church, especially young people,” implores Bishop Barron. He pleads, “Can we pray, all the Word on Fire family all over the world? Can we pray? Can we ask the Blessed Mother to bring people back to the Church?”
May is not over. There’s still time to make that number soar even higher as it did for those like St. Dominic who brought people back to the Faith through the power of the Rosary.