Purpose:

This ministry's purpose is --
To pray

• for peace in our world, and

• for the safety and protection of our nation's service men and women and their families--especially for those who have been placed on our Parish Military Prayer List by their loved ones and for the men and women who will received the rosaries we make; and

To make rosaries for our troops

• serving in harm's way,

• preparing to be deployed, or

• being treated in military or VA hospitals.

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Short History

 

The Ranger Rosary Ministry originated in February 2003 at St. Mary's parish in Annapolis at the start of the Iraqi War. It soon spread to nearby parishes in the Baltimore Archdiocese. In June 2004, a group formed at Resurrection. Today, in Maryland, more than a dozen parish groups that began as satellites of either St. Mary's or Resurrection have now advanced to freestanding member status. Another dozen + groups have cropped up across the country, making our network truly national. More information is available at www.rangerrosary.org

 

The 25+ network churches have collectively sent over two million rosaries to our troops through over 2000 chaplains of all faiths-- Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant and even at least one Jewish Rabbi--in all branches of the services. For its share of the total effort, Resurrection coordinates all chaplains' orders and shipments for the entire network. It has also supplied around 220,000 rosaries in the past 17 years (nearly 15,000 a year since 2009).  New orders and reorders from chaplains continue to arrive almost daily. We are happy to continue supplying these chaplains because we hear from them all the time that our rosaries provide hope and remind the servicemen and women that God and His Mother, the Queen of Peace, are watching over them and their families.

    

Volunteer Opportunities

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This is a wonderful opportunity for every member of the parish, old and young, families, the homebound, to be involved in working for peace. There is a job for everyone: counting crucifixes, bundling parachute cord, bagging kits, actually making the rosaries, and above all praying for peace.
 

A daytime group meets the first and third Wednesday mornings of the month at 9:30am until 11:30 in Multi-Purpose Rooms 3 and 4 on the ground floor below the gym.  An evening group meets from 7:30 to 9:00 pm in Multi-Purpose Room 3 on the Tuesday evening before each of the Wednesday morning meetings (i.e., the evening meetings occur back-to-back with the Wednesday morning meetings so that we only have to set up and pack up once per set of meetings and the morning shift can simply pick up wherever the evening shift left off). A few times a year the first day of the month is a Wednesday. The Tuesday evening meeting occurs on the last day of the preceding month.

 

Financial support to buy supplies (including cord, beads, crucifixes, prayer cards, scapulars) and to mail shipments comes solely from private donations. Making and shipping a rosary made of parachute cord and opaque plastic beads, along with a Rosary Guide and Divine Mercy prayer card + whatever additional devotional materials we are able to provide, cost approximately $1.00 per set. If you would like to help fund this ministry, donations designated for Ranger Rosaries may be sent to or left at the church office. One poor box a year, generally held in July on a Sunday close to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (July 16), is devoted to the support of this ministry.

 

The group also maintains a prayer list of those on active duty in the military, safely returned, injured, or killed in service to our country as well as a picture board in the link to the church for family members to have pictures posted of their loved ones who are serving in the military.  To arrange for inclusion of a loved one on either the prayer list or the picture boards, contact Agnes Nicholas at 410-465-1602 or williamnicholas1@verizon.net. 

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COORDINATOR: Julie Walton, 410-461-4603 or juliehwalton@comcast.net

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