Asher Kaufman, age 18, set out on June 28 for a yearlong trip to help spread the Children's Rosary in Europe and Africa. He has been spending the month of July at La Salette Shrine in the Alps. He grew up helping the Children's Rosary and participating in it. He now is helping to spread the Children's Rosary to more parishes and schools. He is also discerning a vocation to the priesthood. He has been sharing dispatches from the trip.
After about a month of volunteering at La Salette and enjoying the remote location and stunning countryside, it was time to leave on Thursday, July 31.
About a week before my departure, I had met a priest from Lyon at La Salette and asked him if I might stay at his parish for a couple of nights en route to Paris. He told me that was no problem and that I should just send him an email with the exact dates and details. I told him I would do so straight away. However, in the following days, I received no response from him.
The night before my departure, growing a bit worried that perhaps he had not seen my email, I decided to write a follow-up email. When I went to look for the email I had sent him, however, I did not find anything. With a sinking feeling, I realized that I had drafted it in its entirety and neglected to hit the "send" button. Catastrophe! as they say in France.
I sent the email with little to no hope of receiving a response before the next day and the awful feeling that I was sending someone a logistics email for my stay literally the night before arriving on their doorstep. If this priest had any sense that I possessed any great professionalism or polish, I was convinced this email would dissipate it like the summer sun on early morning dew.
The next morning, I still had not received a response. I said goodbye to the other volunteers and priests at La Salette and got on the bus to Grenoble, but by the time I had arrived in Grenoble, I still had not received a response; I tried calling the parish, but they knew nothing more about the pastor's whereabouts than I did.
I boarded the bus for Lyon, now quite worried. I had long since begun praying rosaries asking for protection and guidance. All that stood between me and his doorstep now was a short Uber ride. As we neared the city, I allowed myself to check my email for the hundredth time. Amazingly, I saw a response. The priest had seen my email. He thanked me for my visit to Lyon, came to the bus station to pick me up, and arranged to have me stay with his community of Assumptionists in the city. Present there was also his nephew, who was visiting from Burkina Faso, and a young priest from Madagascar who was most welcoming.
After having dinner and saying compline prayers with them, I went to bed, quite grateful that I had a bed after all. It had been a close call, but despite my ineptitude and disorganization, and thanks to this priest's kindness and flexibility, I was alright. 
The next day, he took me to see his parish, which is that of St. Irenaeus-St. Justin. It is quite a historic church, and like with some of the other places I have visited, I'll give some context.
St. Irenaeus was a Church Father who lived during the second century in Turkey and who came to Lyon late in life and became bishop there. He is quite notable for such texts as "Against Heresies and The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching", the former of which is particularly notable for its refutation of Gnosticism.
There is little documentation surrounding his death, but it has long been a tradition that he was martyred while in Gaul. In 2022, Pope Francis designated him a Doctor of the Church.
The Church of St. Irenaeus was built around the ninth century in his honor, though it was destroyed several times, notably during the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century. Only the crypt remains from that original Church, though I was not able to enter it because it is undergoing restoration and will be for another year. In fact, the crypt has seen some rather exciting developments recently. Further excavations in 2022 revealed a part of the choir area that dated from the seventh century, and archaeological work is ongoing.
After showing me around, the pastor had me show him a short PowerPoint presentation we had prepared about the Children's Rosary, and I give him many materials; he seemed quite interested in starting a group once everyone came back from vacation in September.
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