9,077 Rosary Rallies in America

October 13, 2012 was the sixth anniversary of the Public Square Rosary Crusade. This year the goal for the number of rallies was 8,000.

However, beyond our imagination of what would be possible, 9,077 rallies were held all across America. Rallies were also held in over 30 countries.

Our dedicated volunteers

This incredible number of rallies was due to the grace of Our Lady and to dedicated volunteers who travelled to Kansas from July to October and to those who called from their homes, as well as to dedicated staff who enlisted rally captains both by mail and email.

As in every year, rallies were large and small, but all were full of fervor for Our Lady, for reparation, and brave prayers for the conversion of America.

As director of our volunteer office I can let you know that this year, more than any other, a great enthusiasm for the rallies was most palpable. This year it was much easier to enlist rally captains. Catholics in America see that our country is at the edge of a great precipice. Abortions on demand continue. There are serious attempts to impose same-sex marriage on Americans as well as to force Americans to accept the vice of homosexuality, which can be exceeded in its gravity by few other sins.

Even far more seriously, sacrileges and blasphemies are on the increase. Thanks be to God, America Needs Fatima keeps serious Catholics on the alert when these horrific events take place, so that reparation and peaceful and legal protest can take place.

The HHS mandate has become a full frontal assault on our Catholic Faith. While the sins mentioned above are direct offenses against God by the flagrant disobedience to His commandments, they didn’t directly interfere with the Church’s mission. The HHS mandate is a direct challenge to the divine right of the Church to fulfill Her salvific mission, by trying to force Her to either shut down Her institutions or comply with immoral practices.

The HHS mandate: wake-up call for Catholics

Members of America Needs Fatima saw the threat and, when asked to publicly stand up for Our Lord, for Our Lady, and for our Catholic Faith, they rallied around the Holy Roman Catholic Church.The Making Of A Successful Annual Rosary Rally Crusade

This year, besides addressing the rallies that took place, I would like to let our readers know all that goes into making these rallies successful.When do we begin preparations for the next year’s rallies? We work at it all year long. During the 2011 campaign, plans were already being made for 2012. During the 2012 campaign, we were already making plans for 2013. Just think. The first year of this crusade over 2,000 rallies were held. In 2012, 9,077 rallies were held. In order for these rallies to successfully take place much preparation and manpower are needed.

The first and most important tool that we use is prayer. We storm heaven asking Our Lady to bless the Public Square Rosary Crusade. We understand that we are only conduits of Our Lady’s grace. Our Lady calls those whom She wills. Incredible occurrences take place that can only be explained by grace.

For instance, one of our volunteers was making Rally Captain recruitment calls in the New York City area, home to millions of people. The volunteer left an answering machine message to a member of America Needs Fatima. A little later the volunteer called another number of an entirely different person at an entirely different location in New York. The person who answered was the person who had previously received the answering machine message from the earlier call. This person was visiting a friend and when the phone rang, was asked to see who it was. The ANF member picked up the phone and told our volunteer, “I recognize your voice, didn’t you leave me an answering machine message earlier at my home? I guess Our Lady really wants me to be a rally captain.” That example is one of so many that we heard about all throughout the campaign.

Early in the year and springtime, we begin planning our schedule for letters and emails to go out to recruit as many captains as possible before the campaign begins in earnest in early July. While starting out slowly, these strategies have produced increasing results. In addition, website design planning, a painstaking process, is started in order to make the campaign both attractive as well as giving complete information.

We have to establish a budget and, with Our Lady’s guidance, find the means to acquire the donations necessary to fund the crusade. We can’t express sufficient gratitude to all of our donors, both large and small, who help to make the Public Square Rosary Crusade a self-sufficient operation. All rally captains observe what a tremendous difference the beautiful, full color banners make. No one passes by without looking at the beautiful image of Our Lady and reading the serious words on the banner. Imagine if we could not afford those banners? The rallies would still give great glory to Our Lady, but there would be less of an impact on public opinion.

We determine our banner printing schedule. It takes a long time to print such a large number of banners. We have to determine how many English and how many Spanish language banners should be printed. Our goal is to not run out, and this year for the first time we did not run out of banners.

We also have to design and print the rally captain manuals which contain so much helpful information, as well as the rally program.

We have to make sure that our computer and phone systems are in good working order and that any necessary maintenance or updating is performed months ahead of time.

We have to find ways to recruit volunteers both for our volunteer office in Kansas and at home. We understand that for these volunteers, traveling to Kansas for two or more weeks is a great sacrifice. It is also indicative of a tremendous devotion to Our Lady, for the volunteers to place themselves in the care of people whom they have never met, to maybe do something they have never done before. Love for Our Lady and for Her cause overcomes these apprehensions.

We recruit volunteers by mail and by email. We always receive a tremendous response from those interested: young, old, and in between. The first letter goes out during the spring to previous volunteers giving them the opportunity to return if they so desire. We then send out an email, more than once if necessary, to fill any remaining openings.

Why do you want to do this?

The candidates are interviewed over the phone to make sure they fully understand what will be asked of them and to give us a chance to get to know a little bit about them. The most important question we ask is, "Why do you want to do this?"

This year we tried several new things. We asked an excellent volunteer from the previous year if she could come for the entire summer. She readily agreed and called not only from our office during her shift, but continued calling from her apartment on her cell phone. This past summer saw the largest number of returning volunteers from previous years who really wanted to return. See how Our Lady’s grace works? We bring them here to work six days a week and yet they return. This past summer also saw the greatest number of volunteers who asked to extend their stay at our volunteer center. Some returned home and then came back later in the summer. The most common comment that we hear from volunteers about their stay here is that they felt like they were on a retreat. They give unselfishly to Our Lady; She gives back to them with overflowing abundance.

This year we had a very helpful volunteer from Ireland and several dedicated volunteers from Canada. It wasn’t too difficult for them to enlist rally captains. Any time a person hesitated all they had to say was that they weren’t even Americans and that they traveled here because they believe so much in this cause. Who could say no to that?

We also greatly increased the number of home volunteers. Because of age, health, work, or other circumstances they might not be able to travel to our volunteer center for two weeks. Inprevious years we recruited around twenty or more home volunteers. This year we recruited almost seventy! For this we had the most able help of a dedicated volunteer who gently and enthusiastically guided and assisted the home volunteers from her home in Idaho. We have many plans to greatly increase the number of our home volunteers for the 2013 Crusade. We will still continue our in-house volunteers as the experience is so grace-filled for those who are able to be here.

A Volunteers Day

Each day at the shift change, which takes place at 3PM, all of the volunteers of both shifts prayed the Irresistible Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We prayed for the success of the Public Square Rosary Crusade and that we would not only meet, but that with Our Lord’s grace, even exceed our goal. As you can see, Our Lord generously heard our prayer. We also asked Him to grant abundant graces and blessings to the volunteers and that they would inspire all those with whom they would speak. We also prayed for those whom the volunteers called asking Our Divine Lord to open their hearts to be receptive to the words of the volunteers. Finally, we asked that Our Lord remove all of the obstacles that Satan places in our paths and that He would allow Our Lady to crush his head whenever he interferes with Her work.

As a result of praying this novena together, all volunteers felt the presence and sacred protection of Our Lord and Our Lady. One of our volunteers wrote to us that “the most enjoyable time, even more than all of the other moments, was when we all came together as a group to pray the novena at 3PM.”

Volunteer Calls

Before each call is made the volunteers pray to the guardian angel of the person whom they are calling.

For the first time we also produced three very successful tele-town halls, which were similar to a radio talk show. A moderator and guests explained the importance of the Public Square Rosary Crusade and did their very best to inspire those listening in. The opportunity arose for volunteers to submit and even to ask questions live. During the town hall, the listeners had the opportunity to become rally captains at the press of a button on their telephone. We also produced voice broadcasts which were an explanation of what being a rally captain entails and then pressing a button on their phone to certify their enlistment. This was also highly successful.

Between the great expansion of home volunteers and the tele-town halls and voice broadcasts, around 2,000 rally captains were enlisted. These two new strategies have tremendous potential for the ever needed increase in the number of rally captains who will answer Our Lady’s call. The in-office volunteers do a tremendous job, but as the goals and numbers of rally captains increase, new techniques will need to be developed and used in order to augment their invaluable assistance.

Volunteers begin arriving during early July. They are at our volunteer center twelve at a time. We provide them with comfortable and attractive lodging, meals, transportation, and outings.

This year the crusade was begun on the Fourth of July by making a pilgrimage of over two hours to Conception Benedictine Abbey in Conception, Missouri, and to The Monastery of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in nearby Clyde, Missouri. We traveled as pilgrims to plead with Our Lady to assist us and to grant that we would reach our goal. On October 14th, the day after the 9,077 Rosary Rallies took place, a return pilgrimage of thanksgiving was made.

During the campaign, charts are printed of our daily progress. The blue line reflects the current year, the red line the previous year. The daily goal was to always have the blue line move farther away from the red line.

In early July, the hundreds of banners and rally captain manuals already ordered by rally captains who signed up via mail, email, or on our website are shipped. Shipments of banners and manuals continue daily. One week before the rallies the shipments end.

The last several weeks find phone calls and emails requesting assistance and information. Many call in to find the locations of local rallies. Those calls, of course, provide our volunteers with the perfect opportunity to ask the question, “Have you considered being a rally captain?” We like to explain that our goal is to have Rosary Rallies on every street corner in America.

The day of the Rosary Rallies

Finally, the big day of the rallies takes place. The staff and volunteers who remain organize rallies or attend rallies of those who might need help. The phones are silent due to the intense focus on the individual rallies so carefully organized by each rally captain.

Then the photos begin uploading on the website. It never fails that on Monday morning after the rally, there is already mail. This year there were three rally reports from Saturday already in the Monday morning mail, and they were not from nearby. We believe it is an affirmation from Our Lady of how pleased She is with the rallies. Then, every day after, for weeks, the reports come pouring in. Last year it took until spring to enter all of the information from the rally reports. This year we have added a full time person just to enter the mail tubs loaded with rally captain reports. Our hope this year is to have them completed by Christmas. Of course this will be a recurring and increasing and a nice problem to have…more and more faithful Catholics who seek the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in America!

There are so many stories of rallies and the incredible happenings that took place all across America. While the crusade has always had the support of clergy, this year the support was greater than ever. One veteran rally captain told me that in past years her pastor was not that interested in the rosary crusade. However, he saw how beneficial it was for his parishioners to proclaim their Catholic faith in the public square. As a result, this year he was an enthusiastic supporter and promoter of the rallies. One priest who attended a rally boldly held out a crucifix right next to the curb so that all passersby could see Our Lord crucified for the sins of our nation.

We received many reports of an increased enthusiasm in the reaction of passersby. At one location, where they usually count the number of honks in support, they reported that they stopped counting since the number of honks was so rapid and so great in number.

One rally captain commented to a staff member that she was very happy for the large number of rallies but that there are so many millions of people in America and do they really care?

The staff member answered that the important thing is that it mattered to Our Lord and to Our Lady and it is They who will send the graces that will move souls to repentance and to conversion. The staff member also reminded the person that someday those who repent and take advantage of God’s mercy will be eternally grateful for all of the Rosary Rallies that took place earning for them the graces of their return to God and to His Holy Church.

May God and Our Lady especially bless the rally captains, young, old, healthy, ill, outgoing or shy and may They also bless all of those who participated in the rallies. May these participants be moved by grace to hold their own rallies in 2013.

May They also bless the incredibly dedicated volunteers whose small reward is our gratitude, but also, and more importantly, the immeasurable gratitude of Our Lady.