Catholics worldwide invited to join Global Rosary for Peace

Catholics around the world are invited to join in prayer for the Global Rosary for Peace taking place on Oct. 22, the feast of St. John Paul II.

The event is an international prayer initiative that aims to bring together families, parishes, schools, religious communities, and individuals from around the world in response to Pope Leo XIV’s call for the Church to pray the rosary for peace.

The Global Rosary for Peace is organized by Holy Cross Family Ministries and is part of its efforts to strengthen family prayer and encourage the faithful to pray the rosary. The initiative received the pope’s blessing last year and over 67,000 people prayed the rosary live during the first global event.

Father Fred Jenga, CSC, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries (HCFM), told EWTN News that the first Global Rosary for Peace was created due to several global crises taking place and the need for prayer.

“There is always some kind of global crisis that is going on that really calls us to pray more,” he said. “Last year it was all the conflicts that were everywhere. Some of them have sort of died down a little bit but we still have more going on as well in this very year that we are in. So we are just picking up from where we left off. So that we invite people again to pray more.”

Currently, over 95,000 people have signed up to take part in this year’s live, global rosary.

HCFM was founded by Venerable Patrick Peyton, an Irish-born Catholic priest who was known as the “rosary priest” and for his famous phrase “a family that prays together stays together.”

With this at the core of its ministry, HCFM desires to “bring God back into the life of families because we know when God is at the center of the families, especially through prayer, regular prayer, God changes the chemistry in those families because God is love, God is kindness,” Jenga explained.

“God created our families. And they will be restless and weak and all over the place until they allow [God] to be the center,” he said.

Jenga also spoke about the importance of praying the rosary specifically.

“When we pray the rosary on a family level, the heart of the rosary is the mysteries of the rosary, and those mysteries speak to every human season that you can think about,” he shared. “We go through joy, we go through sorrow, we go through mission, we go through celebration or glory. So there you have a set of mysteries that you can pray with through any season that youʼre talking about.”

The priest also pointed out that when we look at the saints, nearly all of them share two characteristics: a love for the Eucharist and a love for the rosary.

“So, in their path to sanctity, these are the two rails that they ran on. And if we also desire the same kind of sanctity and strength in our families, right there is really a formula for us that we can be able to employ to help ourselves as a family and also to help ourselves as individuals,” Jenga said.

He added: “We’re at a time of need in our world right now. There are too many conflicts that are going on and we need a favor for global peace, and the rosary is one of those prayers that weʼre turning to because even throughout history, every time there was a global crisis, the Church, even our Blessed Mother, if she appeared, she asked us to pray the rosary.”

For those who participate in the Global Rosary for Peace, Jenga said he hopes they are “able to renew their belief in the power of prayer.”

“Secondly, this can be a jumping-off point for them to get started, in smaller ways, praying in their own families and for the needs in their families, but also keep praying for our world at this time.”

To take part and register for the Global Rosary of Peace visit https://hcfm.org/pray-for-peace/.

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/catholics-worldwide-invited-to-join-global-rosary-for-peace