You May Ask Yourself, How Did I Get Here?

My hope for this blog is to encourage praying the Rosary for world missions. The idea first came to me after a series of talks and Eucharistic Adoration given at my parish church by a seminarian friend of mine, Vince Druding. While the basis of the talks were Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life”, I think the inspiration had less to do with the book than Vince’s take on it. In the talks he had managed to bring a Catholic viewpoint to it. The discussion groups that followed helped me see a need for deeper teaching and prayer in the parish. I also felt a desire to help meet this need.


The idea for Rosary Around the World came to me soon after. I remembered Patrick Johnson’s book “Operation World” which I had once used. It gives basic demographic information and lists prayer needs for every country in the world. I thought how helpful it would be to have something similar for Catholics to use in prayer, which immediately led me to the Rosary. I thought of a set of Rosary beads encircling the globe as if in an embrace. It seemed that combining the Rosary with information about specific countries or mission needs would be a great way to encourage prayer for “the New Evangelization.”


Of course, it didn’t take long for me to completely forget about this idea! That is until thinking about the Olympics in China this year and of another (Baptist!) friend of mine who has a great love for missions in China reminded me of Rosary Around the World. I also realized the need to keep the blog ecumenical. So while praying the Rosary is greatly encouraged, any prayer for bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations and peoples of the world is welcome!

Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us.