Catholic business owners and Catholic business professionals at all levels—including the Catholic Medical Association, Legatus International, Catholics@Work (Oakland), Catholic business owners and Catholic business professionals at all levels—including the members of Catholics@Work (Oakland), Catholics at Work OC (Orange County), Catholic Professional & Business Club (Reno, NV), many Catholic lawyers and judges nationwide at St. Thomas More Societies,the Knights at worldwide Knights of Columbus chapters, Knights and Dames of the Order of the Holy Sepluchur and Knights and Dames of Malta, and more are getting on their knees in a special way this October to collectively pray the Rosary for the preservation of religious freedom, freedom of conscience, and a renewed protection of human life at its most frail.
Spearheaded by the Catholic Business JournalTM in response to several requests by Catholic business professionals for a prayer initiative before the elections, and announced on its popular Saturday morning radio show, The Catholic Business HourTM with Dick Lyles, the 2012 October Rosary Campaign echoes against-all-odds victories for Christendom throughout the centuries.
“On October 7, The Battle of Lepanto turned the tide of the devastating and rapid advance of the Ottoman Empire against Christendom,,” says Karen Walker, founder and managing member of Catholic Business JournalTM, and a seasoned journalist who has researched and written several published articles on the topic.
“The Rosary has been the secret weapon of Christian victory for centuries,” Walker continues. “Today’s attack on religious freedom by the federal government and the HHS mandate, in addition to ongoing, needless attacks on human life, and the family; these are the battles we face today in increasing intensity.
“Who could have imagined even a year ago that we would not be allowed to practice our Christian ethics and beliefs in this country; that all employers and medical personnel would be forced to support the death of unborn children? Who would have imagined that Massachusetts is facing the same physician-assisted suicide ballot initiative as has afflicted Oregon and Washington—stripping the infirm and elderly of their God-given human dignity and destroying the medical profession’s mission as expressed in its Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm’? We need Mary’s help desperately. This is not a battle we can win without the Rosary.”
Dick Lyles, host of The Catholic Business Hour, a prolific business author, and CEO of Origin Entertainment, Inc., emphatically agrees.
“I vividly remember when we began praying the Rosary in elementary school for the conversion of Russia,” says Mr. Lyles. “In those days Russia appeared to be strong and threatening. People were even talking about building bomb shelters to prepare for possible nuclear attack. Later, when things collapsed in Russia and churches began to be built there again, I remembered thinking those prayers really paid off!
“We’re in another one of those situations today,” Mr. Lyles continues. “We seem to be at a point in history when today’s secularist forces are every bit as threatening as any invading army of the past ever was. This secularist assault is as serious as any the world has ever seen and I can think of no better strategy than to pray the Rosary to protect our religious freedoms.”
“We’ve certainly talked about the importance of these freedoms on our radio program, ever since the HHS mandate denying us the right to religious liberty was handed down,” Mr. Lyles adds. That’s why we’re asking everybody to pray the Rosary every day during the month of October. We’re praying for victory in preserving our religious freedoms, our religious liberty, in this country, the right to life for all, and a return to our true moral compass as a nation.”
The Rosary and the month of October were chosen in recognition of the powerful, against-all-odds, public, spiritual victories achieved through the Rosary from the time of St. Dominic in the 13th century down to today; a feat particularly noted in the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which is celebrated worldwide on October 7. It is also a fitting way to prepare for the Year of Faith, which begins October 11.
History concurs.
- In 1208, through preaching and praying the Rosary, St. Dominic converted many who had embraced the Albegensian heresy. This completely changed the course of history in southern France and beyond. But for three years prior, he had little effect. It was the Rosary that made the difference.
- On September 12, 1213, the Rosary was prayed before and during the Battle of Muret, near Toulouse, France—in which a mere 870 Christian forces defeated more than 30,000 aggressors and 4,000 calvary. English Dominican historian Nicolas Trivet wrote that in gratitude for this victory, the commander of the Christian forces built the first chapel in honor of the Rosary in Muret.
- In 1646, public and relentless praying of the Rosary are attributed to preventing larger, well-outfitted Dutch naval forces from conquering the Philippines. Survivors walked in thanksgiving, barefoot, to the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Manila.
- In 1945, in Hiroshima, Japan, to the amazement of many scientists, one priest and seven laity survived—without harm of any kind—the devastating nuclear bomb that was dropped in WWII, even though they lived near ground zero. For over 30 years, nearly 200 scientists examined these eight men yet found no human reason they survived unharmed. One survivor explained, “in that house, we were living the message of Fatima.” The Rosary again.
- In the 1950’s, Irish-born Fr. Patrick Peyton used the Rosary to convince media moguls to broadcast national Catholic family and religious programming, and he organized world-renown Rosary Crusades that drew from tens of thousands up to five million around the world. Years earlier, as a young seminarian, after doctors had given up, the Rosary proved his hope in obtaining a cure from a deadly lung disease.
- On May 13, 1955, after 700,000 agreed to pray the Rosary in Austria the Soviets mysteriously departed from the country, stopping the Soviet’s decade-long attempt to occupy the country. This was the culmination of a Rosary crusade of reparation nurtured over several years by Fr. Petrus Pavlicek with the encouragement of Pope XII.
- In 1960, one million Fatima pilgrims held an all-night prayer and Rosary vigil before the Blessed Sacrament in response to Pope John XXIII’s call for prayer. The next day, October 13, an accident destroyed a new Soviet missile, killing many top scientists and setting back Soviet nuclear arms program by at least 20 years, sparing many countries.
- In the early 1960s, Brazil won a stunning victory over communism when its citizens turned to the Rosary. Reader’s Digest reported the story in 1964, in “The Country that Saved Itself.”
- In 1973, Chile won a similar victory in their country through praying the Rosary.
- In 1986, in Manila, encouraged by Cardinal Jaime Sin, tens of thousands—many accounts report up to a million—people took to the streets with their Rosaries in hand to prevent a military take-over. The next day, front page international news headlines featured a photo of thousands of Filipinos—Rosaries in hand—boldly kneeling down in front of the military tanks, refusing to budge as they prayed the Rosary. A peaceful victory was won.
St. Padre Pio called the Rosary a weapon of extraordinary power against Satan. Popes throughout history have recommended that it be prayed devoutly, especially in times of trouble and unrest. John Paul II wrote his Apostolic Letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” on October 16, 2002. Pope Benedict XVI has exhorted the faithful countless times to pray the Rosary. Catholic business professionals are responding “yes, we will pray the Rosary!”