Father Ronald S. Escalante, pastor of St. Francis de Sales
Church in Purcellville, came up with a creative program to
encourage his parishioners to pray the rosary. Beginning the
weekend of Sept. 13, Father Escalante issued a “rosary challenge” to his
parishioners.
The program is set up in the form of a challenge, where
parishioners can track certain levels of accomplishment if
they commit to and complete their pledge to say the rosary.
Parishioners who pledge to say the rosary just once a week,
for instance, are automatically enrolled in” Cloud 1 Level:
Order of the Guardian Angels.” Different levels of pledge
fulfillment qualify parishioners to participate in various
parish clubs. The ultimate goal is for parishioners to pledge
100,000 rosaries before the 100th anniversary of the
apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima in 2017.
A website, rosarygraces.com, has been set up to help
coordinate the challenge and assist parishioners in
fulfilling their rosary pledges. The website showcases
valuable resources for participants, including instructions
on how to pray the rosary, audio recordings of the mysteries
of the rosary, lists of the club activities available, as
well as a detailed explanation of the mission and purpose of
the rosary challenge.
There are many diverse options – the adventurers’ clubs, for
instance, which includes the bike riders club and the
outdoorsmen club, or the health clubs, which include the
cancer survivors club; or the travelers club, or the
firefighters club. The group of special interests clubs
include everything from a club for people who brew their own
beer, to a club for video gamers, and a club for those with
an interest in magic tricks.
Father Escalante hopes the clubs will help parishioners with
similar interests connect.
“All this got started because I’ve been running into so many
issues with people getting in trouble, marriages failing and
families breaking up,” said Father Escalante. “You know, you
can only do so much, but I thought: (maybe you) can’t do
anything about those issues, but you can make yourself
spiritually ready to handle these things.”
Father Escalante said that he’s seen people receive
incredible graces and blessings from praying the rosary,
helping them “develop a closer relationship with God and the
church.”
“This has been a great tool for centuries,” he said.
The inspiration for the rosary challenge came to him after he
asked the cloistered Dominican nuns in Linden to pray for him
as he thought of ways to encourage the parish to pray the
rosary. He said he modeled the program after some capital
campaigns he’s seen where certain challenges and goals are
set for donors.
“I was watching the way they make it palatable for people to
donate and set goals for them. So I said, ‘Why can’t I do
this with the rosary?'”
The first weekend of the rosary pledge drive met with
resounding success, with more than 600 written-in-the-pew
pledges submitted. By Sept. 28, Father Escalante reported
more than 1,400 signed pledges. The challenge also is open to
non-parishioners.
Affirming the intercessory power of Our Lady, the rosary
challenge appeals to participants to avail themselves of her
help, especially in light of the troubles that afflict
families in the modern world.
“To pray the rosary is to hand over our burdens to the
merciful hearts of Christ and His Mother,” proclaims a banner
on the website, with a quote from St. John Paul II to
encourage parishioners to pray the rosary.
Mann is a freelance writer from Northern Virginia.
