By Michael Pedro
On September 14, deacon-in-training Emmanuel Pedro held a community Rosary service at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Ludlow. Designed to bring the Catholic parishes of the area together, Pedro, who graduated from Western New England University with his master’s degree in Business Administration in 2003, sent out invitations to members of local parishes. “This event has been planned since around April,” Pedro said. “I’ve always had a devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, and thought that by doing a community Rosary, then that would bring the community parishes of Ludlow and Indian Orchard together in prayer.”
For those who are unaware of what a rosary consists of, it has five sets of prayers, called decades. Each decade consists of an ‘Our Father,’ ten ‘Hail Mary’s, and a ‘Glory Be.’ While rosaries are often viewed as a Catholic-exclusive prayer, it isn’t just for them, and all Christian denominations can pray them. On the day of the event, around 100 people arrived at the church grounds to pray for peace and an end to struggles in these times. While most were laypeople, some priests, including Father Raymond Soltys of Christ the King Parish, Father Piotr Calik of Immaculate Conception Parish, Father Andriy Krip of Saints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church, and Friars Luiz Rangel and Pedro de Oliveira of Our Lady of Fatima Parish were in attendance. The five decades of the Rosary were recited in different languages, with the first and fifth being recited in English, the second in Polish, the third in Portuguese, and the fourth in Ukrainian. Since each of the invited parishes has one of these as their native language, this brought the parish communities in as equals. “The goal was to bring the communities together in prayer,” Pedro said. “Seeing everyone there and praying together made me feel as if I was doing something positive for both my community and the world.”
The success of this event suggests to Pedro that more should be in the future. Pedro said, “the hope is to have more in the future within the community.”
