The Children's Rosary Movement will hold the 4th Children's Rosary Rally on October 5 (Saturday), with the theme "Children's Rosary Day for Family Unity".Principal participants will be children ages 9 to 13 from various parishes gathered together to pray the rosary from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., to be followed by the Act of Consecration to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Eucharistic Celebration. As in previous years, the rallies will take place simultaneously in various dioceses throughout the country, where children will convene with
their bishops, priests, parents, teachers and other parishioners in designated churches and shrines to simultaneously pray the Rosary.
This year's Rosary Rally will serve as the culminating
event of the Festival of Children, which will be held in preparation for the 4th World Meeting of Families in January 2003. Intentions will be for peace in our country and in the world, for renewal and
conversion, and for Christ to reign in our midst.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), through its president, Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I., has called upon all
Bishops to lead in the simultaneous praying of the Rosary in cathedrals, parishes and shrines nationwide. They will be joined by overseas Filipinos also praying for peace at the same time, from 4:30 to 5:30
p.m. in various countries in their respective time zones.
The CBCP Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI), under the chairmanship of Bishop Ramon
C. Arguelles, has invited its 60 chaplaincies throughout the world to participate. Likewise, the Kids for Christ has been invited to pray the Rosary simultaneously with other children.
In the Archdiocese of Manila, the Rosary Rally will be held at Villa San Miguel (Archbishop's House) and led by Manila Archbishop Jaime L. Cardinal Sin and Auxiliary Bishop Socrates Villegas. The
Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Antonio Franco has been invited to concelebrate at the Mass that will follow the Rosary Rally. The gathering will be covered live by ABS-CBN News Channel 21, followed by a
video presentation produced by the Children's Rosary Movement and Prudentialife at 5 to 6 p.m.
The Children's Rosary Movement was launched by Cardinal Sin October 1998 as a means of preparing
children for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, "to bring Jesus to the children and the children to Jesus". On that occasion, the Cardinal declared, "We will raise a generation of rosary-praying
children through prayer and action. We will bring back the rosary into every Filipino home."
The Children's Rosary Movement has initiated catechism in various areas in the country, which
involves teaching children how to pray the Rosary and telling them about Jesus Christ and Mary through a specially-designed coloring book depicting each mystery of the Rosary. The children are given a
copy of the book together with a prayer and meditation guide for children, with their own rosary during the ongoing Christian Living and Catechesis in schools.
For more information on the Children's Rosary
Rally for Family Unity on October 5, contact the Family Rosary Crusade at tel. nos. 521-6953, 521-8515; Evangelion Foundation at tel. nos. 534-1605 and 534-6193; or Prudential Life Plan Group, Inc. at
816-4157.
