WA Parishioners gather to pray Rosary on Mother’s Day

Fr Jeffey Casabuena leading the living rosary with prayers standing surrounding the sanctuary, as the Rosary.Photo: Ron Tan.By Theresia Titus

Perth parishioners joined together as a ‘living rosary’ at St Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday May 13 to celebrate the month of Mary and feast of Our Lady of Fatima, as part of a joint initiative nationwide.

Each parishioner who volunteered from varius parishes across the Archdiocese stood around the sanctuary inside the Cathedral, acting as the beads of the Rosary.

Assistant Priest at St Mary’s Cathedral, Father Jeffey Casabuena explained the significance behind the ‘living rosary’.

“We pray the Rosary using the beads, but in this case, the Living Rosary was the Rosary being prayed by people as beads,” he said.

Jane Chifley from OzRosary53, who organised the event in Australia, said more than 180 parishes across the nation took part in the event.

“The Rosary event initially began in Poland and saw over one million Catholics gathered around Poland’s borders to pray the Rosary for the protection of their country,” she said.

Jane added that Pope Francis had given an apostolic blessing to the initiative known as the ‘Coast to Coast Rosary’, of which Bishop Emeritus Devid Cremin of Archdiocese of Sydney was the Australian patron.

In other Western Australian towns such as Esperance, Australian Catholics were praying at their local lookout over the ocean with their local parish priests.

Parishioners in Manjimup gathered at their local church to pray and have a ‘cuppa’ afterwards.