New Friends in Rome

One evening in St. Peter's Square, we met a group of priests. They are originally from India, but one of the priests, Fr. Sheejan Kallarakkal, works as a missionary in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He was very interested in initiating Children's Rosary groups in the thirteen schools his religious order runs in Tanzania. To help these efforts we met him before our departure from Rome and gave him more than four hundred handmade rosaries we had brought with us to Rome. We plan to also coordinate a larger shipment of handmade rosaries in a barrel to Tanzania. 

Papal Mass for the WMOF Rome 2022

 

Dear Friends,

We just returned from the Papal Mass tonight in St. Peter's Square for the World Meeting of Families. Our whole Children's Rosary delegation attended, which included five of us. 

As we had attended the meeting as delegates, we were allowed to be very close to the Holy Father during the Mass. 

Please know that in a special way I included all of you who are part of the Children's Rosary in my prayers. As the Holy Father was moving through the Square prior to the Mass, tears began to come and I felt a tremendous amount of grace. This being the Feast of the Immaculate Heart, it was a special day to celebrate Mass at the seat of the Church and with priests, religious, and the faithful from around the world. 

The sentiment that kept welling up in my heart was an appreciation for the beauty of our Church. Not the physical structure but the living Church and the beauty of our liturgy, which is a tender gift from Our Lord. At the conclusion of the Mass, it was announced that the next meeting will be in 2028. However, in 2025, a "Jubilee of Families" will take place in Rome. We look forward to returning to this city in three years. It has been a grace filled three weeks. Thank you all who have prayed for us. We look forward to Sunday Mass tomorrow at St. Peter's Square and the Angelus.

God Bless You.

Your Friend in Christ,

Blythe

Children's Rosary Featured in WMOF Digital Expo

The World Meeting of Families created a Digital Expo to allow those unable to attend the meeting in Rome to see some of the featured apostolates that support the family. The Children's Rosary was chosen to be featured. The complete Digital Expo can be seen HERE.

Our Featured video can be seen below:

It can also be viewed by clicking on this LINK.

EWTN Nightly News Interviews the Founder of the Children's Rosary

 

Founder of Children's Rosary At The World Meeting of Families 2022 | EWTN News Nightly

Among the many attending the World Meeting of Families 2022 in Rome, there is one family from Connecticut that we had the opportunity to speak to. Blythe Kaufman is the founder of Children's Rosary, an international prayer group movement for kids. EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief Andreas Thonhuaser had the opportunity to interview Blythe and her son ...

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World Meeting of Families Begins in Rome

 There is tremendous excitement here in Rome as the delegates from around the world have arrived. The World Meeting of Families kicked off with the Festival of Families and the Holy Father, Pope Francis was there (see above). 

Even in the line to get into the event we found blessing as we met some tremendous people. We met Archbishop Pettipas of Canada, shown above. He was very excited to hear about the Children's Rosary. Within the Paul VI Hall we were seated next to two bishops from Mexico and a large Mexican delegation. 

It was a tremendous evening of sharing and meeting new people. We were able to share with Archbishop Eamon Martin (shown below) the wonderful news that at least fifteen new Children's Rosary groups have formed in Ireland since last October. 

The Mass that was held today in St. Peter's Basilica was beautiful and started another full day at the Meeting. We hope to continue to share dispatches as the days continue.

Greetings from Rome

Dear Friends,

On Pentecost June 5, my son, Asher (age 15) and I set out for Rome. We left Newark airport (see photo above) for a 3 week pilgrimage. From the moment we got in line for security check in Newark, we could see the fruits of our prayers asking Our Blessed Mother to be our guide. The person in front of us in the security line was a priest who is in charge of evangelization for the Diocese of Newark, New Jersey. Indeed this trip so far has been peppered with a multitude of providential meetings. 

The travel was difficult, but we arrived on Monday, June 6, in time to make our way to St. Peter's Basilica for their last daily Mass of the day. The sun was streaming through the stained glass window above the altar. It has indeed been a great blessing to spend the Octave of Pentecost in Rome. 

Our daily uniform has been the Children's Rosary T-shirts. Asher and I wear these each day. It is amazing to see the smiles we get from total strangers as we wear the image of Our Blessed Mother of the Children's Rosary across our shirt. We also carry the Children's Rosary book with us as we want always to be prepared
to share these as gifts. We see these little books as seeds that we share during our travels. We put our hope and trust in God that they can bring fruit.

Please know that our time in Rome has also been one of prayer. We have brought you here with us to St. Peter's Basilica where we attend Mass most days and also have the opportunity for Adoration. When we have not attended Mass on a particular day at St. Peter's Basilica it is because we attended Mass at another location, such as the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the Basilica St. John Lateran, or at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi in the village of Assisi.  We usually end our evenings with a walk when it is cooler in St. Peter's Square, which makes a lovely place to pray the Rosary. We had a providential meeting with the Archbishop of Lahore Pakistan (see photo below) in St. Peter's Square. It was a great blessing to meet Archbishop Shaw since we have many Children's Rosary groups in his Archdiocese. 

We were able to visit the Church with the original Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which appears on the back of our Children's Rosary book. See below the original icon is over the altar.

We will cap our trip to Rome by attending the World Meeting of Families at the Vatican beginning on June 22. From Rome, we will travel to Austria to stay at the Cistercian monastery, Heiligenkreuz, until July 1. We will then complete our pilgrimage by visiting Scotland for a special prayer event with Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, Scotland. 

We hope to continue with dispatches from the journey. 

United in prayer.

Your Friend in Christ,

Blythe

"Our End of May Devotion"

 Fr. Paul Miapkwap from Shendam Diocese in Nigeria sent us pictures entitled, "Our End of May Devotion." 

Fr. Paul went on to describe:

"I am happy to inform you that the Children's Rosary group of the Sacred Heart Cathedral Shendam lead the Rosary procession at the Catechetical Training Institute together with the student Catechists to mark the end of May Devotion. It was a spirit filled spiritual journey as we move round the school praying the Rosary and ended in the church."