Thursday, October 16, 2008
Pottsville, PA
40-plus gather to recite rosary
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BY JOHN E. USALIS
STAFF WRITER
ashland@newsitem.com
Published: Monday, October 13, 2008 4:14 AM EDT
SHENANDOAH — Because there are some who believe God has abandoned America in recent years, a group of people took a prayerful request to the public square Saturday in downtown Shenandoah to ask God to “Return to America.”
More than 40 people gathered at Main and Oak streets in front of St. Stephen Roman Catholic Parish Hall to pray the rosary and sing Marian hymns as part of the national Public Square Rosary Campaign, which is sponsored by America Needs Fatima, a campaign of The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, to spread the Fatima message in the United States.
The faithful believe the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared six times to three shepherd children near the town of Fatima, Portugal, between May 13 and Oct. 13, 1917.
This was the first rosary event held in Shenandoah. Other rallies were planned in Coaldale, Frackville, Mahanoy City, McAdoo, Pottsville and Tamaqua.
The co-captains in Shenandoah were Charles Calise and William “Bill” Jones, who organized the event, including providing participants with copies of the program that included hymns and prayers, such as the Divine Praises, Fatima prayers and the Consecration to Jesus through Mary by St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort.
Saturday was selected for the rally in recognition of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima in Fatima. That included the Miracle of the Sun, which was reportedly seen by 70,000 people.
The Shenandoah group gathered around a statue of Our Lady of Grace, placed on a pedestal outside the church hall. The statue had originally been located in a prominent spot in St. George Roman Catholic Church, Shenandoah, which is currently closed.
As the rally was held, many people passed by in vehicles on the busy street, curious about what was going on.
After recitation of the rosary, Calise said he was pleased with the turnout for the first such prayer event.
“I was contacted by America Needs Fatima and asked ... if I would be a captain,” said Calise. “We put the notice in all the church bulletins and we distributed fliers in the town. I had 35 programs made and I didn’t have enough to go around.”
Calise added that prayer events like Saturday’s also helps show that Shenandoah is a good town.
“Shenandoah sometimes gets bad publicity, but Shenandoah is a beautiful town with a lot of good people. This shows what Shenandoah is made of,” he said.
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