‘Spirit of St. John Vianney’ coming to Rosary Sunday

During Rosary Sunday’s past 34 years, the annual celebration has brought a number of well known keynote speakers to Phoenix. But during this Year for Priests, organizers wanted to do something a little bit different.

“It’s good to bring in a priest that not everybody knows,” said Dorothy Westfall, founder of Rosary Sunday. “There are lots of priests out there who have a good message for us.”

She said that this year’s speaker, Fr. Jim Parker, has a “real spirit of St. John Vianney,” the patron saint for priests and patron of the Year for Priests.

Fr. Parker is a priest with the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., who serves as pastor for two parishes with schools. The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Black Canyon City suggested Fr. Parker to Westfall. He knew one of the sisters from Illinois and has spent time in retreat at the nuns’ monastery.

“I grew up in a family that prayed the rosary,” Fr. Parker said. “Different things have happened in my life and in the lives of other people that show how Our Lady has protected us.”

When he was named pastor of his two parishes, Fr. Parker began praying the rosary before every Mass. It caught on and the priest saw a large boost in the spiritual practices of his parishioners.

“With daily recitation of the rosary, Mass attendance goes up, the amount of people going to confession goes us, the number of people asking for spiritual direction goes up, and the thirst and hunger for spiritual reading goes up,” he said. “These are time-tested things.”

Like every year, Rosary Sunday will feature a blessing procession in front of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, a talk from the keynote speaker, the public recitation of the rosary and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Reconciliation and prayer

During the past few years, the event also offered confessions throughout the day. This year, confessions will be heard at 12:30 p.m., a half hour after doors open at the Phoenix Convention Center.

“The response to confessions has been overwhelming,” Westfall said. “At one point last year there were 17 priests all hearing confessions. People who had not gone for many years took advantage of it. That’s what it’s all about.”

Bishop Olmsted said the praying the rosary daily has helped lead him through his life.

“When I was in grade school, I was encouraged to pray the rosary every day, asking the Blessed Virgin Mary to help me know my vocation in life,” he said. “That seemed like a good suggestion, so I began the practice and indeed she led me to the seminary and on to the priesthood.”

At the bishop’s ordination Mass, he chose a picture of the Pieta by Michelangelo as a holy card remembrance of the day. Of the famous statue, Bishop Olmsted said, “One sees the strong hope of Mary in the Resurrection of her Son, even as she holds His dead body.”

Many families with young children attend Rosary Sunday and participate in the blessing procession each year. The event can be a good way to help these children grow in their faith, Fr. Parker said.

“If you truly love your children, you want them to be in heaven. If you instill in them a love for the rosary, they will make it there because Our Lady will guide them and they will be close to her,” he said.

“They may go a little off to the right or a little off to the left, but Our Lady is never going to let them drown or go off into the ditch,” Fr. Parker said. “She’ll protect them.”

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