Global Rosary

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — What is popularly known as Royals Stadium is going to get a whole lot more regal in 2008 when it will host the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

A year from now, Catholics from throughout the region will gather for what might be the largest Catholic event in the history of the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area.

An “Evening of Eucharistic Adoration and Global Living Rosary” will take place in May 2008 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. An exact date will be set after the Kansas City Royals complete their own scheduling.

The event will be co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

An executive committee of 25 influential Catholics from both dioceses has been formed to organize and promote the event. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann and Bishop Robert W. Finn, prelate of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, wrote a joint letter approving the event and sent it to pastors in their respective dioceses.

The committee, at the suggestion of Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Finn, will organize a series of smaller evenings of eucharistic adoration and global living rosaries at parishes on either side of the state line in the metro area. These smaller events are intended to prepare people for the May 2008 Kaufman Stadium rally.

The first will be held at 7 p.m. on April 30 at St. Thomas More Parish, 118th and Holmes, in south Kansas City, Mo. The second is scheduled for 6 p.m. on May 12 at Cur é of Ars Parish in Leawood. A third is planned for St. Patrick Parish in Kansas City, Kan., on Sept. 15, and a fourth at 7 p.m. on Oct. 11 at St. Therese Parish in Parkville, Mo.

In addition to attending these events, Catholics will be encouraged to pray the rosary with their families daily and to participate in eucharistic adoration. To build up awareness, the Miraculous Medal will be distributed next fall to children in Catholic schools, parish religious education programs, and those being home-schooled. Beginning in January 2008, teams of people will speak at every parish and visit every Catholic family in the archdiocese to promote the global family rosary, eucharistic adoration and family rosaries.

The format for the parish-based events are smaller versions of the May 2008 event. At St. Thomas More Parish, for example, Bishop Finn will process with the Blessed Sacrament from the church to a specially prepared platform in a soccer field, where a time of adoration will follow. After that, the congregation will pray the global living rosary.

The rosary will be followed by a Gospel reading, a homily, and a short talk. Those who attend will be encouraged to sign up for the Kauffman Stadium rally in 2008 and to pray a daily family rosary whenever possible in the meantime.

Older Catholics might remember participating in events similar to the one planned for Kauffman Stadium years ago.

“The vision comes from Father Patrick Payton, the great rosary priest, who lived from 1909 to 1992, ” said Father James Kelleher, director of mission development for the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, from Albuquerque, N.M. “From 1945 to 1990, he led huge rosary crusades around the United States and the world. ”

Father Payton used to draw tens of thousands of Catholics to his rosary crusades, filling places like the Polo Grounds in New York City, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and soccer stadiums in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He became famous for these rallies and the slogan he invented: The family that prays together, stays together.

Father James read Father Payton’s autobiography and was so impressed that he decided to do something similar.

“That vision that was in [Father Payton’s] heart got burned into my heart,” said Father James. “In October 2004 I shared the vision of doing something like that in the Cotton Bowl to about 10 good friends, prominent Catholics in Dallas. They said, ‘Let’s do it, Father.’”

Father James then shared his idea with Father John Phalen, CSC, president of the Family Rosary Crusade in Boston.

“When I told him what we were going to do in Dallas, he said, ‘Father, if you get the bishop’s permission, I’ll help you. I’ll put my organization behind your effort. I’ll send you 50,000 rosaries, and my top assistant to train your people,’” said Father James. “He came through on that promise.”

The May 13, 2005, event in Dallas was successful. And now Father James has secured the permission of Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Finn to hold a similar event at Kauffman.

“I just leave this in the hands of the Holy Spirit, and whatever the Holy Spirit wants to do, ” said Father James. “The Holy Spirit decided he wants to do it in Kansas City because Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Finn gave permission on Feb. 25 . . . approving the event.”

Father James said that the organizing committee is not only reaching out to all the parishes in the archdiocese and Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, but to 10 surrounding dioceses as well.

“We hope that when they come to join us, they’ll take this vision back to their own dioceses,” he said.

People who want to become involved in this yearlong effort and the May 2008 event may contact Ken Sittenauer at: cursilloconnection@ juno.com.