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ROSARY Dec-19-2006 (670 words) xxxn
'Rosary at the Rose Bowl' planned for May aims to draw 65,000
By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Attendance expectations for a "Rosary at the Rose Bowl" in May won't quite get to the 92,000-plus expected for the New Year's Day Rose Bowl tilt between Michigan and Southern Cal.
But that's only because organizers need one of the end zones for logistics and the choir.
Still, rosary organizers expect about 65,000 people to head to the venerable football stadium in Pasadena, Calif., for the three-hour event. The 65,000 figure represents 1 percent of all Catholics in Southern California.
The "Rosary at the Rose Bowl" was announced in Los Angeles Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Sponsors, which include Holy Cross Family Ministries and Family Theater Productions, had been working hard well before then to reach out to Catholic groups, organizations and parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Dioceses of San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino and Fresno, Calif.
"All the parishes have postcards out there with the information on it and the (event) logo and the Web site information," said Beth Mahoney, mission director for Holy Cross Family Ministries in Easton, Mass., and a co-facilitator of the rosary event.
In a telephone interview with Catholic News Service, Mahoney said she attended a May 2005 rosary in Dallas that attracted 25,000 people and was buoyed by its success.
Holy Cross Father Wilfred Raymond, the head of Family Theater, told CNS the idea had been kicking around in his mind for four years, since Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter in 2002 on the rosary, "Rosarium Virginis Mariae" ("The Rosary of the Virgin Mary").
Father Raymond noted how Father Patrick Peyton, a Holy Cross priest, became known as "the rosary priest" for his rosary crusades. Father Peyton established both Family Theater, which is based in Southern California, and Holy Cross Family Ministries. Among the late priest's sayings was "A world at prayer is a world at peace."
The last time a mass rosary recitation was tried in Southern California was in 1989, with the Hollywood Bowl -- an amphitheater much smaller than the Rose Bowl -- as a venue.
What makes Father Raymond think the turnout will be many times greater now? Again, the priest credits the late pope for renewed interest in the rosary: "He breathed new life into a devotion that had been on the wane," including developing a new set of rosary mysteries in 2002 -- the luminous mysteries.
The May 19 rosary will feature 90 minutes of praise and worship beforehand. "We're going to have some very inspiring messages given," Mahoney said. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles is scheduled to deliver a homily. Father Raymond said the glorious mysteries would be used at the Rose Bowl.
Mahoney is encouraging attendance by Catholic schools -- there are 58 Catholic high schools and about 200 grade schools in the Los Angeles Archdiocese -- and that participants use bus transportation.
Father Raymond said outreach will continue before the May event. "The Knights of Columbus and the Daughters (of Isabella), they're very interested in this," he said.
Father Raymond added that more links will be established with the Latin American and Filipino communities in and around Los Angeles. He noted that about 30,000 Hispanics celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in East Los Angeles, a group he described as one natural constituency for the rosary.
And before promoting the '07 event, he "didn't know about these Filipino rosary alliance groups," he said. "They're planning to bring their people out."
Organizers of the "Rosary at the Rose Bowl" also plan to have a corner booth at an annual religious education conference sponsored by the Los Angeles Archdiocese that draws 40,000 attendees each year.
"At the Rose Bowl, we're hoping to get some publicity on the air or on one of the floats" during the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day, Father Raymond said, "but it's not a sure thing."
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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