As I hastily write this website in an afternoon when I have access to technology, I do take joy in reflecting on this section as I write it. (For those unfamiliar with the Propaedeutic year of seminary-- seminarians are limited to technology / media for a few hours once a week on Saturdays.)

I started the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA, now-called OCIA) in October of 2021 during my freshman year of college. Halfway through my RCIA class, I joined the St. Lawrence Newman Center Men's Group. We'd close out our weekly Men's Group meetings with prayer, ending with the Hail Mary prayer. I remember feeling embarrassed during this because I was the only guy reading from the prayer card. 

Throughout time I eventually learned the full Hail Mary prayer. I later received a rosary as a confirmation gift and it became the first prayer I had begun to pray daily. Over time I fell in love with the Rosary and its impact on me and I wanted to share it with others. One day, I approached my pastor and asked him if St. Lawrence could start a weekly Rosary. His reply was, "I had the same thought this morning!" (Come Holy Spirit!) So, less than a year after my confirmation, I began to lead a weekly parish Rosary at St. Lawrence! 

That summer I moved into a rectory and had begun discerning priesthood. It was during this time that I interacted with many parishioners and realized not many of them had rosaries (or knew how to pray the Rosary!) (N.B. My father instilled many lessons on my siblings and I during our upbringing, one of them being this: "There are those who see needs, those who can't see needs, and those who see needs and fill the needs; be the last!" You might be able to pick up from this lesson that my father has been managing people for most of his career.) So, striving to be someone who fill needs, I thought "How do I fix this?" and I thought there's no better way to get someone to pray the Rosary than to make them a rosary! I had begun making rosaries and giving them to friends and family with the goal of getting them to pray the Rosary. Since then, my mission has changed.

The mission of my rosary ministry changed for two reasons: (1) Many years ago when I told my father that I was going to become Catholic, I remember him turning around and grabbing a rosary from his recently-deceased mother. He picked it up and said, "You know I should really start going back to Mass again, and I should starting praying this [rosary] again too." (2) During the blessing of rosaries, there is a part in the blessing that goes like this: "... may all who look upon this rosary conform to the will of Christ..." 

Seeing the expression on my father's face when he picked up that rosary, along with the words of the blessing, led me to a new mission statement: that all who look upon these rosaries may turn to Christ. While I hope all these rosaries are prayed consistently, my mission now is that they may in some way help all who look at them turn to Christ. So if I give someone a rosary and they never pray it, but decades later come across the rosary and think to themselves "You know I should start going to Mass again..." -- I consider that a win.

My rosary ministry has pivoted once more, and I now make them in part to help support myself throughout seminary. If you'd like to receive a rosary, please keep reading!