Rosary Rally planned Oct. 15 and will start at St. Columba Cathedral


By LINDA M. LINONIS

religion@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Connie Liptak clicked her way to being the captain of the Greater Youngstown Area Public Square Rosary Rally.

A few years ago, Liptak received an email, opened it and learned about America Needs Fatima. The rosary rally promotion on the site intrigued her, and she clicked on how to become a captain. “I read more about it and got excited about having a rally,” Liptak said.

She began organizing an annual rosary rally four years ago. Three previous rallies were on the sidewalk near Boardman Middle School. This year, the rosary rally will start at 11:15 a.m. Oct. 15 and form at St. Columba Cathedral, then process to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica. The banner, America Needs Fatima, will be carried in this rally, which is among some 16,323 planned worldwide.

Liptak noted that October is the month of the rosary in the Catholic Church. That ties to the miracle at Fatima, when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared for the sixth and last time, Oct. 13, 1917, at the Cova da Iria, near Fatima, Portugual. The Blessed Virgin had appeared to three children, Lucia dos Santos, 10, and Francisco, 9, and Jacinta Marto, 7, five times – May 13, June 13, July 13, Aug. 19 and Sept. 13.

“This is the 99th anniversary of Our Lady appearing to the children,” Liptak said.

She continued that the rosary rallies take place in October because that is when the Blessed Virgin revealed to the children that her wish. That focused on the daily offering of prayer, penance and sacrifice in reparation for sin and for the conversion of sinners and praying the rosary daily for reparation for sin and world peace.

Liptak said America Needs Fatima requests that rosary rallies “be in a public place to give witness.”

“This is an all-volunteer project,” she said. Any person can become a rosary rally captain by signing up on the website www.americaneedsfatima.org.

Liptak said rosary rally participants will gather at St. Columba and programs will be distributed. There will be exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, which will be carried in procession with a traveling statue of the Blessed Mother to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica. The rosary will be recited in unison at noon. The group will sing “Immaculate Heart of Mary,” “Immaculata” and “Queen of Heaven.”

Along with representation from diocesan and Orthodox churches, participants will include members of Ursuline High School band, Knights of Columbus and secular Franciscans. There are captains at each church, organizing their groups, Liptak said, adding that each captain was asked to recruit 20 people. Liptak anticipates a couple of hundred people attending the rally.

As for her involvement, Liptak said, “The rosary helps me feel closer to Jesus through Mary. I’ve felt Mary has been with me through happy times and tragedy. ... I feel she truly is a mother.”

Liptak continued that she hopes others who recite the rosary “turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary and feel her presence. I believe she helps us feel closer to God.” Liptak said she attends daily Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady, Comforter of the Afflicted, 517 S. Belle Vista Ave. Her husband, Ron, who helps her with the rally, is a member of Knights of Columbus and attends St. Charles Borromeo Church in Boardman.

Anna Pompeo of Poland is the keeper of the traveling statue of the Blessed Mother that will be carried in the rally’s procession. Liptak said she met Pompeo when she was calling names on a list provided by America Needs Fatima to find rosary rally captains at churches.

When the two women spoke, Liptak said Pompeo told her couldn’t be a rosary captain because she already had an obligation as a statue keeper. Intrigued, Liptak asked her to explain. Pompeo said she became keeper of the statue after attending Italian Fest in Michigan while visiting her daughter. The Men of the Sacred Heart make a statue annually to give to a caretaker, who in turn shares it. Pompeo put her name in, and was picked. The statue is lent out to families, who keep the image for a week, and are obligated to pray the rosary.

“It’s beautiful to be able to do this,” Pompeo said. “It makes me feel happy to share the statue.”

Pompeo, a member of Holy Family Church in Poland, said she recites the rosary daily.

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