CV NEWS FEED // Inspired by the Irish priest who coined the phrase “the family who prays together, stays together,” Irish dioceses are set to hold their annual All Ireland Rosary Rally to encourage prayer.
According to Catholic News, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference news service, the Rosary Rally will be held at 1 p.m. on June 1 at the Marian apparition site and shrine in Knock. This year’s Rally is hosted by Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, who also serves as the chair of the Council for Vocations of the Bishops’ Conference.
“I am delighted to be part of the All Ireland Rosary Rally,” Bishop Cullinan said, according to Catholic News. “Our filial devotion to Mary always brings peace and joy.”
He added:
As we gather together in Knock where she appeared, we bring the intentions of the whole country for a greater sense of the need for the grace to follow God’s plan for us; a profound respect for human life from conception to natural death; a greater respect for marriage; a greater reaching out to the poor and marginalised, and a greater sense of our need for personal responsibility in living the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Rally is inspired by Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton, an Irish priest who immigrated to the United States in 1927. Always a devout Catholic, his devotion to Mary grew in 1939 when he was miraculously cured of tuberculosis after praying to her. According to his official website, Fr. Peyton shortly began dreaming of ways to convince families to pray the Rosary together.
His goal was to organize a campaign, or Rosary crusade, and obtain pledges from 10 million families to pray a family Rosary every day. He enlisted the help of American bishops, and, in 1945, he appeared on a national radio program to pray the Rosary with an archbishop, President Harry Truman, singer Bing Crosby, and members of an Iowan family.
The program was a huge success, according to the website. Fr. Peyton went on to establish Family Theater Productions, which released several Catholic television programs featuring well-known Hollywood stars.
He also began a nationwide billboard campaign, putting up signs reading “The family that prays together, stays together.” He additionally coined the phrase “A world at prayer is a world at peace.”
Fr. Peyton later hosted Rosary Rallies around the world with millions of attendees. He died in 1992. His cause for canonization was opened in 2001. Pope Francis declared him “Venerable” in 2017.
In 1998, the Father Patrick Peyton Memorial Centre was opened in Ireland. The center continues Fr. Peyton’s Rosary ministry.
