Participants gathered at Hamby Park in Hanceville at noon Saturday for the third annual Rosary Rally.
HANCEVILLE – Concerned citizens gathered for a rally Saturday in Hanceville, but there were no banners with elephants or donkeys, no yard signs with candidates' names, no T-shirts with slogans. There were no speeches and no soapboxes. They did not call names or sling mud; they gathered to pray for the nation and their community. These dedicated Catholics were clear about their political views in one-on-one conversation, but as a group they were just as clear that their tool of activism is the rosary.
This was the third annual Hanceville Rosary Rally, one of thousands held across the country today in a growing Catholic prayer movement associated with the organization America Needs Fatima. The movement, which calls for renewed commitment to prayer, started in 2014 with more than 12,000 rallies nationwide, and in 2015 the number was more than 14,000. The organization had a goal of 15,000 rallies this year; while the exact number is not yet known, more than 16,300 individual event organizers registered in preparation for rallies (76 in Alabama alone). Hanceville's event organizer was Charlene Chapman.
Prayer leader Joan Chapman pointed out that the timing is not random; annual rallies take place on the Saturday closest to Oct. 13. This date is the anniversary, according to Catholic teaching, of the last of a series of miraculous appearances of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal.
Joan Chapman expressed the need for people to gather and "pray for our country that has forgotten God." Reflecting on the past two years' rallies, she added, "This year seems more urgent." Subjects of prayer included the nation and its leaders, a desired end to social evils and multiple requests for peace "throughout the world and in our streets," and "in our homes and in our families."
More information about rallies and the movement can be found at the organization’s website, www.americaneedsfatima.org.
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