Diocese of Lansing photo
A Michigan-based rosary-making ministry that crafts more than 20,000 rosaries each year for Catholic missions around the world is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2025.
In recognition of the milestone, the Diocese of Lansing recently spotlighted the story of some of the members of The Hands of Mary Rosary Makers from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. One such member is Laurene Moore, whose journey to the Catholic faith began with a gift she received as a Protestant teen.
At the time, Moore was dating a Catholic boy whose mother gave her a rosary. Moore prayed it on her walk from the school bus to her remote farm and began considering Catholicism, which her family did not welcome. Undeterred, she started secretly taking Catechism classes through a mail-in program from the Knights of Columbus and converted to the faith.
“I never looked back. Becoming Catholic was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said.
Moore and her husband lost their newborn son, and she relied on the rosary to help her cope.
Moore shared that one day, she and her sister-in-law saw an advertisement in a Catholic magazine for a Kentucky-based rosary making group that sent rosaries to missionaries around the world. Moore saw it as an opportunity to share the Blessed Mother’s graces with other Catholics.
She decided to join The Hands of Mary Rosary Makers, a group that sends rosaries to missionaries, priests, and sisters, so they can distribute them to schools, churches, hospitals, military bases, and prisons in dozens of countries.
Every member has responded to God’s call to make rosaries through the organization, she said.
The group meets twice a month to train new members, who then can create rosaries at their own pace at home. Moore noted how the ministry drew volunteers in from various backgrounds and abilities, including two individuals who are blind and a recent amputee.
Moore emphasized the teamwork and community the ministry fosters, noting that everybody has a role.