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October 2023: Rosary Rally Report
Oct 16, 2023 / Written by: America Needs Fatima
How 22,045 Rosary Rallies Changed the Face of America on October 14
On Saturday, October 14, 2023, America Needs Fatima held 22,045 Public Square Rosary Rallies nationwide to beseech Our Lady’s intervention for the nation and the world. These events can range from two to hundreds of participants. They are held where members of the public can join them, which happens with greater frequency with each passing year.
For a moment, let us take a closer look at just one of these rallies:
A small elderly figure carried some umbrellas to the central park surrounded by a large traffic circle in New Oxford, a small town in central Pennsylvania. It could only be Grace, the rally captain, who, with grit and determination, was making her way through the rain.
The site was ideal; everyone from four directions could see the rally as they navigated to their exit. Any foot traffic in the central business district could also pass by. However, the incessantly pouring rain ruined everything. No foot traffic. Diminished visibility. And with only twenty minutes before the start of the event, no one was there to pray.
Then Grace appeared. The arrival of the captain guaranteed there would indeed be a rally. She was not concerned at all about the weather or the fact that she was met by only two other participants. As the noon deadline approached, another lady appeared. Across the street, some people made their way toward them with a large America Needs Fatima banner that would tell the passersby what they were doing in the rain.
The whole scene was reminiscent of the Gospel parable of Our Lord, who invited everyone to the wedding feast, but no one came. On this day, people started filtering in from the highways and byways, each carrying a rosary as their “wedding garment.” They now numbered seven, and the rally was beginning to take shape.
Two men held the large banner with a message declaring to all who would read it that they were praying to Our Lady for America and the world. Given the headlines of war in the Middle East, it seemed so appropriate that they should seek out Our Lady—who gave birth to the Savior of the world in that war-torn place. In New Oxford, Pennsylvania and 22,044 other locations, Americans gathered to wipe Our Lady’s tears that poured down spiritually like so much rain.
These are indeed dark days where the force of evil has so much power. The Holy Rosary is our hope, which we must hold on to with confidence, regardless of the circumstances. The important thing is that we unite behind Our Lady: She will do the rest. We must pray and act, confident in the promised triumph of her Immaculate Heart.
Testimonials from Rally Captains Across America
Rally Captains from all over the nation and beyond are flooding America Needs Fatima’s website, email inbox and Facebook page with their reports. These testimonies demonstrate the workings of grace in souls and the rallies’ impact upon communities and the nation.
Here are just a few of these reports:
“I wish that I could have sent some photos because we had 25 people standing in front of our church at Mary’s statue in the very windy and pouring rain. Between fighting the wind and rain as we gripped our umbrellas, it made it impossible to take any photos. I wish that we could have because it was great to see so many people despite the awful weather! We even had a 90-year-old woman attend this event!”
“Our 2023 Rosary Rally Crusade at St. Eloi Parish in Theriot, Louisiana, was a beautiful event. I’m sure Our Lady was most pleased! We were blessed with a beautiful cool day! We are a very small parish, so I was very pleased with the turnout! Someone even asked when we could do it again! Thanks for allowing me the privilege to be the rally captain.”
“We were glad to add our prayers with the countless others across this great nation [of] ours. We all understand that the lack of prayer and reverence for our God is what has [led] to this ‘world gone bonkers,’ as Father Mark Goring would say. It didn’t happen overnight; therefore, if it is us lukewarm Catholics who have allowed this to happen, it is up to us to listen to God calling us back and help turn things around. We need to revere our God again. We have to take Him at His word and do things, ‘in memory of Him.’ If there are only 30% of us that believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we must help bring others to that same conclusion. These prayer rallies are part of the solution.”
“We did the public Rosary in Rosenberg, TX. We were almost 25 people, it was beautiful! We could experience so much peace and devotion to our Lady of Fatima.”
“Our Rosary Rally was led by our Parish Priest, Fr. Vidrine, over the loudspeaker from the bell tower. The whole town square could hear it. About 65 people attended.”
“It was a beautiful prayer at our rally in Sunbury, Ohio. Cold and rainy weather that broke just before the Rosary. The sun shined upon us during the Rosary just as it did in Fatima. Great turn out considering the weather. Thank you for our resources!”
“It was a great success with about 30+ people in attendance and good weather. We were blessed to have one of our parish priests join us and lead us in prayer. Thank you for the opportunity to honor Our Lady of Fatima by praying the Rosary publicly. Our banner was prominently displayed on the front lawn of our parish, Saint Aloysius Church in Caldwell, New Jersey, which is located on the busiest road in town.”
“Beeville, Texas, is a small community of 13,000. We have been part of America Needs Fatima since 2008. We are so privileged to have three Catholic churches. So, what we have done is we have involved all three churches, and we take turns each year. We have a procession each year from Our Lady of Victory Church and process to our local county courthouse square. This year we were not able to use the courthouse, so we did it at a city park. We are fortunate to have all three priests involved and participating in our annual event. This year we had approximately 130 individuals in attendance.”
“I prayed the Rosary at the parking lot of Missión San Andres Church in Wheaton at noon… Right before we started, a young lady and her baby girl Kayla passed by and stayed praying with me. Thank you for the opportunity to pray a Holy Rosary.”
“We had excellent weather because our dear Mother protected us… The weather report [predicted] thunderstorms and a lot of rain. (We have been having very bad weather for the past 2 weeks.) So we were prepared for our Rosary, and we had a good turnout!”
“Once again, we had the opportunity to do a Rosary Rally here in McAllen, Texas. This time, I partnered with a friend, Raquel, who said yes to the call to be a Rosary Rally captain for the first time. It was an honor to assist and support Raquel since I had been doing Rosary rallies since 2011. We had a good turnout and beautiful weather! Thumbs up and honks were heard from the passersby. We felt our Blessed Mother's presence as we prayed. Public prayer is powerful. The world is in great need of public prayer, repentance and conversion.”
“A group from St. Joan of Arc in San Antonio, Texas prayed the Rosary publicly at noon today. Thank you ANF for helping and encouraging us to ask GOD for help in our disordered world.”
To see more Rosary Rally images from across America, please click here and scroll down below the map!
A Personal “Thank you” from Robert Ritchie
+JMJ+
Dear Friends,
On streets and intersections, parks and sidewalks, small towns and big cities, your rallies represented the culmination of the efforts of members and volunteers of America Needs Fatima over an entire year. Because of your hard work, hundreds of thousands prayed and millions witnessed this extraordinary demonstration of Faith and devotion to the Blessed Mother.
America Needs Fatima’s flagship rally took place on Fifth Avenue in front of New York City’s Rockefeller Center. Sister organizations in Ireland, Canada, Australia, South Africa and many other countries have held hundreds of similar Rosary Rallies, which take place every year on the Saturday closest to Fatima’s Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917.
After 106 years, the Fatima message is more relevant than ever. Our Lady warned that persistence in sin will bring about famine, pestilence and war. So many of Our Lady’s prophecies are coming true. That’s why it is important to heed her message.
One way this can be done is by being part of a crusade of prayers in the public square to ask for divine solutions to problems that are becoming impossible to solve and to offer reparation for all the outrages against Our Lady and Our Lord. This massive appeal to prayer and repentance can change the face of America.
When feeling overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness at the crumbling of the institutions that once made America so strong, remember Our Lady’s promise of victory to the three Fatima children: “Finally, My Immaculate Heart will triumph."
It takes tremendous courage to affirm the Faith in public. Thus, each Rosary Rally Captain follows in the footsteps of Saints Jacinta and Francisco. They give themselves over to Our Lady’s cause in the face of ridicule, bad weather and opposition. They offer everything for the conversion of sinners and America.
Your courage and sacrifice, and that of all rally participants, will pave the way for the Reign of Mary. For this, I and every member of America Needs Fatima will remain eternally grateful.
Yours in Jesus and Mary,
Robert Ritchie
New York City Rally
Fatima Candlelight Procession
Observations while at the candlelight Procession
October 12th: The eve of the anniversary of the 6th apparition of Our Lady in Fatima
Our Lady of Fatima granted ANF a special grace this year. The official organizers at the shrine asked us to deliver the roses a day early so that they could be used to surround Our Lady's litter on which her statue is carried on the night of the vigil rosary procession.
The photo of us delivering the flowers also ended up on the official Fatima shrine Facebook page.
I spoke with people from the U.S. as well as Canada who had heard of ANF as we were delivering the flowers. There were many people who asked to take a photo of us delivering the flowers as well.
The candlelit procession was absolutely beautiful. It was like Our Lady was floating over a sea of candles with Catholics from around the world devoutly venerating and praying before her as she passed by them. The flowers delivered on behalf of the rally captains looked beautiful surrounding the statue in the procession.
During the procession, while carrying the American flag, many people were taking photos of the flag as well as the ANF banner. They kept waving for my attention so that I could have Mr. William Gossett position the ANF banner so that they could take a picture of it.
Flowers Are Delivered and Graces Flow
OBSERVATIONS WHILE DELIVERING FLOWERS AT FATIMA
October 13th: 106th Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun
As we were taking a photo of the flowers in front of the shrine, a lady from Virginia came up asking what was going on. I told her that we represented America Needs Fatima, and she started smiling, saying she was on our mailing list! She asked if she could help in any way. Her mother, aunt and brother walked up and were extremely happy to see us. We then asked if they could help us deliver the flowers to Our Lady in the chapel. They were elated!
Afterwards, the brother told me, “I just want to say that for my family, it was truly an honor to help carry the flowers for Our Lady. I really mean it!”
We also prayed for our donors extensively at the shrine, as well as in Aljustrel at the home of the Marto family, the sight of the apparition of the Angel of Portugal and the house of Lucia.
To see more Rosary Rally images from across America, please click here and scroll down below the map!