By Jeff Peters
Catholic Herald correspondent
'Living Rosary' offered for terrorist victims
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Courtney Scholl, left, Quay Handel, and Kassandra Daniels, stand in front of a hand painted American Flag during a special prayer service at Holy Rosary Church in Medford. (Photo by Jeff Peters) |
MEDFORD -- Students from Holy Rosary School sent their heartfelt prayers to the victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attack during a special "Living Rosary" service on Oct. 24.
Nearly 200 students, faculty and parish members gathered to pray the rosary at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church on a rainy Wednesday morning. "We wanted to let them know we cared about their tragedy," said school principal Barbara Bugar.
Along with prayers for the victims, the school and parish also prayed for the Catholic parishes in the New York City area that lost members in the attack. "We will be sending a video and photos of our service to the Church of St. Patrick in Huntington, N.Y.," she said.
"They lost 22 people from their parish in the attack. The day after the attack, there were people lined up in the streets outside of their church during the service for the victims," Bugar said.
The principal said her school wanted to find "a specific Catholic parish that suffered from the attack and let them know we are praying for them. We wanted to say the rosary because our parish is Holy Rosary."
Bugar said the school's idea to conduct a special prayer service actually started before Pope John Paul II issued his Oct. 14 appeal for the world to pray the rosary for peace.
During the service, each of the school children and school faculty and staff wore a white T-shirt colored in red, white and blue and decorated with the stars and stripes to honor the victims and to show support for America.
"We wanted to show our patriotism and to offer our support for the victims and their families," said Bugar, noting the students under the direction of art teacher Sue Conn decorated the T-shirts for the past three weeks in art class.
Fifth grader Andrianna Leonhard, 10, of Medford, said all of her classmates wanted to help the victims and their families. "We wanted them to know we cared. A lot of the kids at school have prayed for victims. I also pray for them at home before I go to bed."
Prayers were also directed toward the nation's leaders.
"This is a very difficult time for our country's leaders. Pray for them that they will make the wisest, best decisions possible for the people of this country and in foreign nations," she said. "No one has the one best answer to the problems of terrorism. Raise your prayers up for the wisdom for our leaders."
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001