North, south, east, and west—all around North America—Catholics took to their beads to form a human chain on the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary. “Rosary Coast to Coast” took place on October 7, the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary. Faithful recited this venerable devotion of the Church “from Maine to California, from the northern border of Minnesota to the southern tip of Texas…on Pro-life Sunday to pray for America,” states an October 8 report by Zenit.
According to Rosary Coast to Coast’s website, the event was more than a gathering of the faithful—it was a mobilization of an army to fight for the dignity and inherent value of human life.
“We are at war,” the website said. “A war without borders, where no man is exempt but where most haven’t recognized, let alone been trained, to fight. Casualties often go unseen, but very few are left unwounded. The Enemies encamped against us seek to rob us of our Dignity—the essential Dignity of the Human Person, being made in the Image and Likeness of God.”
Organizers of the countrywide rosary, Zenit said, were inspired by similar national rosary campaigns that took place in Poland and Ireland last year.
“In 2017, the Church in Poland gathered around the borders of their country to light a spiritual flame,” the organizers said in a statement at their website, “a flame that quickly engulfed the nation in prayer and reparation. Shortly after, the sparks from this conflagration of the Holy Spirit spread, to Ireland, the British Isles and now, the United States. This is a worldwide effort to combat the Powers of Darkness—the Powers that seek to stifle the Light.”
The event also takes its lead from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2013 document, “Call to Prayer for Life, Marriage and Religious Liberty.”
“The intent of Call to Prayer is to invite Catholics in their parishes and dioceses to pray and sacrifice for rebuilding a culture favorable to life and marriage and for increased protections of religious liberty,” the organizers said, noting that Rosary Coast to Coast sought to synchronize these efforts under the aegis of the rosary.
The Detroit News reported on the day of the event that about a thousand rallies were planned around the nation, including a rally at the U.S.-Canadian border.
“Catholics on both sides of the Detroit River border with Canada waved flags, sang songs and prayed the Rosary at exactly 4 p.m. Sunday,” the report states. “Participants on both sides of the international border flew the flag of their neighboring country, and waved to each across the river.”
The Detroit News report noted that one of the organizers for the Detroit rally, Michelle St. Pierre of the World Apostolate of Fatima’s Detroit Archdiocese Division, spoke to “several hundred people gathered” for the event.
The Catholics in Canada across the Detroit River are “going to see us, and we’re going to see them, and then we’re going to pray together in unison,” said St. Pierre, quoted by The Detroit News.
