Rosary at Rose Bowl set for May 19, 2007
Source: Tidings Online, December 8, 2006

The largest outdoor celebration of the Rosary in Southern California in nearly 50 years will take place at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, on May 19, 2007, Holy Cross Family Ministries announced this week.

"A World at Prayer Is a World at Peace: A Rosary Celebration, The Rosary Bowl" will take place between 6-9 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Holy Cross Family Ministries, Easton, Mass., and its Hollywood-based member ministry, Family Theater Productions, are presenting the event in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Solis, archdiocesan Vicar for Ethnic (Multi-Cultural) Ministry, is the archdiocesan director of The Rosary Bowl.

"The faithful of the archdiocese have long maintained a special intimacy with our Blessed Mother Mary, particularly under the title of Our Lady of the Angels," wrote Cardinal Roger Mahony, in a September letter to priests, deacons, religious and lay leaders. "I strongly urge all our pastors, the leaders of our parishes and schools, and individuals to unite in prayer, labor and sacrifice in helping organize our communities' participation in this Rosary celebration."

The Eucharistic celebration, which will combine prayer, music and cultural exhibitions, is expected to draw the many ethnic populations which comprise the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the country's largest, and serve as a dynamic display of unity of the Catholic faithful. The religious service will culminate in a public recitation of the Rosary with people of different cultures and languages leading some of the prayers.

Cardinal Mahony, who was the papal envoy to the 50th Anniversary Mass for the Family Rosary in 1992 in Manila, the Philippines, that attracted 2 million people, will lead the procession and address participants of "The Rosary Bowl." The Family Rosary, a member of Holy Cross Family Ministries, was founded in 1942 in Albany, N.Y., by the late Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton, the famous "Rosary Priest," Catholic media pioneer and now sainthood candidate with the title "Servant of God."

"The Rosary Bowl carries forward the tradition and mission of Servant of God Father Peyton to foster world peace and support the spiritual well-being of the family by encouraging daily family prayer, specifically the Rosary," stated Holy Cross Father John Phalen, who leads the international organization furthering Father Peyton's mission. "As 'Mystical Rose' is one of Mary's many special titles, the Rose Bowl is the perfect family environment to unite Catholics and other people of faith and goodwill in prayer to ask Mary's intercession for world peace."

"The Blessed Mother is the special patroness of the City of Los Angeles and the object of special veneration by the Southland's many ethnic communities," said Bishop Solis. "This Rosary celebration in Mary's honor will enhance the prayer lives of our families, strengthen family unity and rely on Mary as an intercessor for world peace."

Holy Cross Father Wilfred Raymond, co-facilitator of the event and national director of Family Theater Productions (founded by Father Peyton in 1947), noted that The Rosary Bowl is the first celebration of this magnitude since Father Peyton's death in June 1992.

"I think all the faithful will be eager to participate in this kind of a large public gathering celebrating the Catholic faith and the power of prayer," he said.

In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, large outdoor Rosary celebrations--Mary's Hour, sponsored by the Holy Name Union--date back to 1948 and 1949 at the Hollywood Bowl. They continued in the 1950s with some 90,000 people annually in the Los Angeles Coliseum, and continued at the Coliseum until 1968. In 1969 it was moved to Dodger Stadium. In 1988, the archdiocese sponsored a Rosary event at the Hollywood Bowl. The last Mary's Hour was held in 1989 at the Hollywood Bowl.

The May 19, 2007, event follows the Eucharistic Family Rosary Crusade held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on May 13, 2005, co-sponsored by Holy Cross Family Ministries.