Catholics invited to annual rosary march

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SALT LAKE CITY – Walking and praying, Catholics will draw attention to the power of the rosary during the 17th annual International Rosary March, Oct. 3 at Saint Ann Catholic Church.

The march will consist in praying the 20 decades of rosary while walking around the property of Saint Ann Catholic Church. It is part of a worldwide effort that seeks, through the power of prayer, to fulfill the prophecy of Fatima.

In 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal, asking that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. With this conversion would come world peace, she promised.

The International Rosary March hopes to further this conversion with worldwide prayer. In the Diocese of Salt Lake, marchers will start at St. Ann Church and carry a statue of Mary as they pray and walk.

Four people are needed to carry the statue; everyone is welcome to take a turn as a bearer, said Tom LaVoie, a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus who is organizing the march.

“The march is supposed to be a public display to bring awareness to the rosary,” LaVoie said.

Sister Lucia, the only surviving seer of Fatima, wrote in 1970: “If it is possible, have processions in the streets, praying and singing the rosary. Do this in a spirit of prayer and penance, begging for peace in the Church and in the world.”

St. Ann Parish’s participation in the international march began when Monsignor John Joseph Sullivan, who was pastor from 1982 to 2003, asked the Legion of Mary to bein charge of the march. Roxie McKusker, a member of St. Ann’s Legion of Mary, oversaw the rosary march for 18 years; two years ago La Voie took over and involved the St. Ann’s Men’s Club. This is the only Catholic church in Utah that continues to participate in the annual event, LaVoie said.

“This started wonderfully, but it has decreased during the years,” he said, inviting parishioners to celebrate the rosary together.

Saint Ann conducts two rosary marches a year, one on the first Sunday in October and the other on the first Sunday of May.

Dolores Lawless, chairwoman of the International Rosary March, refers to the ‘Power of the Rosary’ stories to inspire others to join the processions.

These stories go back to the 1500s. One of the stories narrates when the Turks were over-running Europe and threatening to destroy Christianity, Pope St. Pius V organized a Rosary Crusade. He asked Catholics everywhere to pray the rosary. The Christian soldiers carried swords in one hand and rosaries in the other as they went into battle. On Oct. 7, 1571, the little Christian fleet, vastly out-numbered, defeated the mighty Turkish Armada and Christianity was saved. The day is now commemorated as the feast of the Most Holy Rosary.

“I think that we can turn the world around,” LaVoie said. “We can only hope.”

WHAT: The International Rosary March

WHEN: When: Sunday, Oct. 3

WHERE: Saint Ann Catholic Church 450 East 2100 South, Salt Lake City

For information, call Tom or Dora LaVoie 801-261-5943