'Rosary Bowl' set for May 19, 2007
The largest outdoor celebration of the Rosary in Southern California in nearly 50 years will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on May 19, 2007, it was announced on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12, by Holy Cross Family Ministries, Easton, Mass., and its local member Family Theater Productions, Hollywood, which are planning the event in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.“A World at Prayer Is a World at Peace: A Rosary Celebration, The Rosary Bowl” will take place between 6 and 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
“The Rosary Bowl carries forward the tradition and mission of the 'rosary priest,' servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, to foster world peace and support the spiritual well-being of the family by encouraging daily family prayer, specifically the rosary,” stated Holy Cross Father John Phalen, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries, furthering Father Peyton’s mission.
“As ‘Mystical Rose’ is one of Mary’s many special titles,” he added, “the Rosary Bowl in the Rose Bowl is the perfect family environment to unite Catholics and other people of faith and goodwill in prayer to ask Mary’s intercession for world peace.”
Bishop Oscar Solis, vicar for Ethnic (Multi-cultural) Ministries for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and the archdiocesan director of “The Rosary Bowl,” said, “The Blessed Mother is the special patroness of the City of Los Angeles and the object of special veneration by the Southland’s many ethnic communities. This rosary celebration in Mary’s honor will enhance the prayer lives of our families, strengthen family unity and rely on Mary as an intercessor for world peace.”
The special Eucharistic celebration, which will combine prayer, music and cultural exhibitions, is expected to draw the many ethnic populations which comprise the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the country’s largest, and serve as a dynamic display of unity of the Catholic faithful. The religious service will culminate in a public recitation of the Rosary with people of different cultures and languages leading some of the prayers.
“The faithful of the archdiocese have long maintained a special intimacy with our Blessed Mother Mary, particularly under the title of Our Lady of the Angels,” said Cardinal Roger Mahony in a September letter to clergy and other leaders of the archdiocese. “I strongly urge all our pastors, the leaders of our parishes and schools, and individuals to unite in prayer, labor and sacrifice in helping organize our communities’ participation in this Rosary celebration."
Cardinal Mahony, who was the papal envoy to the 50th Anniversary Mass for the Family Rosary in 1992 in Manila, Philippines, that attracted 2 million people, will lead the procession and address participants of “The Rosary Bowl.”
The Family Rosary, a member of Holy Cross Family Ministries, was founded in 1942 in Albany, N.Y., by Holy Cross Father Peyton, now a sainthood candidate with the title “Servant of God.”
Holy Cross Father Wilfred Raymond, co-facilitator of the event and national director of Family Theater Productions, which Father Peyton founded in Hollywood in 1947, noted that “‘The Rosary Bowl’ is our first celebration of this magnitude since Father Peyton’s death in June 1992. I believe most bishops and Catholic Church leaders in North America will be watching to see how this large event unfolds. I think all the faithful will be eager to participate in this kind of a large public gathering celebrating the Catholic faith and the power of prayer.”
Beth Mahoney, co-facilitator of “The Rosary Bowl” and mission director of Holy Cross Family Ministries, said, “We will use Father Peyton’s Rosary Handbook and his famed ‘Six Mountains’ methodology in creating this event.” The “Six Mountains” include: 40 Holy Hours; the celebration of 40 Masses; Sunday sermons; a Catholic school campaign; harnessing the spiritual power of the sick; and the event itself.
Mahoney and Father Raymond, in collaboration with Bishop Solis, lead a planning committee comprised of the chairs of 13 subcommittees.
The late Pope John Paul II called Father Peyton “The Apostle of the Rosary.” He was proclaimed “Servant of God” in 2001 when the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave approval for the opening of his cause for sainthood.
For 64 years, Father Peyton’s international ministry to families popularized the Rosary and helped make it the most widespread and popular form of prayer, with the exception of the Eucharist, among Catholics worldwide. He coordinated Rosary events in more than 40 countries, culminating in massive outdoor rallies in 1961 in San Francisco (500,000 attendees) and in 1985 in the Philippines (2 million attendees). The essence of Father Peyton’s ministry is captured in his slogans, “The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together” and “A World at Prayer Is a World at Peace.”
In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, large outdoor Rosary celebrations – Mary’s Hour, sponsored by the Holy Name Union – date back to 1948 and 1949 at the Hollywood Bowl. They continued in the 1950s with some 90,000 people annually in the Los Angeles Coliseum, and continued at the coliseum until 1968. In 1969 it was moved to Dodger Stadium. In 1988, the archdiocese sponsored a Rosary event at the Hollywood Bowl. The last Mary’s Hour was held in 1989 at the Hollywood Bowl.
The May 19, 2007, event follows the Eucharistic Family Rosary Crusade held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on May 13, 2005, the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. Holy Cross Family Ministries was one of the sponsors of that event.
The Rosary, from the Latin rosarium or “a garland of roses,” is an important and traditional devotion in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consisting of the recitation of a set number of prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be) using a string of beads. It combines prayer, meditation and reflection on important events in the life of Jesus Christ, as seen through his mother, Mary. It gives those who pray it the opportunity to conform their lives to Christ.
Originally devised as a daily devotion in Middle Eastern monasteries in the 2nd century, the Rosary was popularized by St. Dominic in the 1200’s and was championed by popes throughout the ages, most recently by Pope John Paul II in his papal encyclical “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” in 2002.
A series of Marian apparitions in the 19th and 20th centuries, most notably at Lourdes, France and Fatima, Portugal brought the Rosary and devotion to the Blessed Mother to the attention of believers around the globe.
For more information and/or to make a prayer commitment or a financial contribution for the “The Rosary Bowl,” go online to www.rosarybowl.org, e-mail info@rosarybowl.org or call (800) 874-0999.
Cardinal Mahony, who was the papal envoy to the 50th Anniversary Mass for the Family Rosary in 1992 in Manila, Philippines, that attracted 2 million people, will lead the procession and address participants of “The Rosary Bowl.”
The Family Rosary, a member of Holy Cross Family Ministries, was founded in 1942 in Albany, N.Y., by Holy Cross Father Peyton, now a sainthood candidate with the title “Servant of God.”
Holy Cross Father Wilfred Raymond, co-facilitator of the event and national director of Family Theater Productions, which Father Peyton founded in Hollywood in 1947, noted that “‘The Rosary Bowl’ is our first celebration of this magnitude since Father Peyton’s death in June 1992. I believe most bishops and Catholic Church leaders in North America will be watching to see how this large event unfolds. I think all the faithful will be eager to participate in this kind of a large public gathering celebrating the Catholic faith and the power of prayer.”
Beth Mahoney, co-facilitator of “The Rosary Bowl” and mission director of Holy Cross Family Ministries, said, “We will use Father Peyton’s Rosary Handbook and his famed ‘Six Mountains’ methodology in creating this event.” The “Six Mountains” include: 40 Holy Hours; the celebration of 40 Masses; Sunday sermons; a Catholic school campaign; harnessing the spiritual power of the sick; and the event itself.
Mahoney and Father Raymond, in collaboration with Bishop Solis, lead a planning committee comprised of the chairs of 13 subcommittees.
The late Pope John Paul II called Father Peyton “The Apostle of the Rosary.” He was proclaimed “Servant of God” in 2001 when the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave approval for the opening of his cause for sainthood.
For 64 years, Father Peyton’s international ministry to families popularized the Rosary and helped make it the most widespread and popular form of prayer, with the exception of the Eucharist, among Catholics worldwide. He coordinated Rosary events in more than 40 countries, culminating in massive outdoor rallies in 1961 in San Francisco (500,000 attendees) and in 1985 in the Philippines (2 million attendees). The essence of Father Peyton’s ministry is captured in his slogans, “The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together” and “A World at Prayer Is a World at Peace.”
In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, large outdoor Rosary celebrations – Mary’s Hour, sponsored by the Holy Name Union – date back to 1948 and 1949 at the Hollywood Bowl. They continued in the 1950s with some 90,000 people annually in the Los Angeles Coliseum, and continued at the coliseum until 1968. In 1969 it was moved to Dodger Stadium. In 1988, the archdiocese sponsored a Rosary event at the Hollywood Bowl. The last Mary’s Hour was held in 1989 at the Hollywood Bowl.
The May 19, 2007, event follows the Eucharistic Family Rosary Crusade held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on May 13, 2005, the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. Holy Cross Family Ministries was one of the sponsors of that event.
The Rosary, from the Latin rosarium or “a garland of roses,” is an important and traditional devotion in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consisting of the recitation of a set number of prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be) using a string of beads. It combines prayer, meditation and reflection on important events in the life of Jesus Christ, as seen through his mother, Mary. It gives those who pray it the opportunity to conform their lives to Christ.
Originally devised as a daily devotion in Middle Eastern monasteries in the 2nd century, the Rosary was popularized by St. Dominic in the 1200’s and was championed by popes throughout the ages, most recently by Pope John Paul II in his papal encyclical “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” in 2002.
A series of Marian apparitions in the 19th and 20th centuries, most notably at Lourdes, France and Fatima, Portugal brought the Rosary and devotion to the Blessed Mother to the attention of believers around the globe.
For more information and/or to make a prayer commitment or a financial contribution for the “The Rosary Bowl,” go online to www.rosarybowl.org, e-mail info@rosarybowl.org or call (800) 874-0999.