Rosary-A-Thon Aims to Help the Pope, and Charities

COLD SPRING, New York, SEPT. 4, 2003 (Zenit.org).- U.S. Catholics can celebrate the 25th anniversary of John Paul II's papacy -- and raise funds for the poor and families at the same time.

Participants in the Pope Day Rosary-A-Thon plan to collect tax-deductible financial contributions for this Web-based event (www.popeday.info) scheduled for Oct. 16. On that day the participants will pray the new luminous mysteries for the Pope and for the intentions of their sponsors.

"Pope Day began as a grass-roots celebration of the Pope," said Peter McFadden, president of the Love and Responsibility Foundation, which is organizing the Rosary-A-Thon with Catholic World Mission.

"Local celebrations always include Mass and other prayer for the Pope, but this year for the 25th anniversary celebration, we wanted to involve more families and schools, as well as find a way that all the local celebrations could be somehow 'joined together' in spirit," said McFadden, who group is based in Cold Spring. "The Rosary-A-Thon is the great way to do that."

Ken Davison, executive director of Connecticut-based Catholic World Mission, said, "We want to give the Holy Father a gift of love -- at least 1 million people praying the rosary for him on Pope Day this year."

Funds raised will be given to two nonprofit programs: Catholic World Mission, which works to house the poor in Latin America; and the Love and Responsibility Foundation, which conducts marriage preparation and training programs based on the teachings of John Paul II. Registration is open to individuals, families and school classes.