St. Jude Uses Living Rosaries To Honor Mary

Published: October 30, 2003

ATLANTA—The St. Jude the Apostle Church and School community held a candlelight living rosary on Oct. 8, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, to honor Mary and pray for their parish and school families.

Students and parishioners were “bead participants,” where they said the prayers for the corresponding beads. Tribute was paid to Doris Garvey, whose love for the Blessed Mother prompted her to begin this annual celebration 20 years ago and whose work and dedication have enabled it to continue ever since. Joan Butte has also helped to coordinate this event for many years, and Christy Moran assisted in coordinating this year’s service.

Schoolchildren served as either Hail Mary beads, chorus members or as altar angels, participating in prayer and song. Father Dan McCormick, parochial vicar at All Saints Church, Dunwoody, led the service, and former St. Jude pastor Msgr. Daniel O’Connor led the Benediction. Several school and parish children participated as altar servers.

An all-school living rosary was held on Oct. 14 in which students and teachers served as the beads of prayer, and the third decade was led in Spanish by teacher Amy Bloom. Father Andrew Schoenfield, parochial vicar at St. Jude, explained the luminous mysteries to students before the recitation of each decade. Joe Krygiel, a parent of alumni, spoke on the rosary and its history.

“It was just a beautiful time for the community to come together and be able to pray it,” said school religious education coordinator Carol Cuviello.