A rosary group is bringing students closer to Christ at Cristo Rey Columbus High School.
While October is the month on the Church calendar dedicated to the holy rosary, students at Cristo Rey in downtown Columbus have an opportunity to pray the rosary regularly after school.
The group was started earlier this academic year by Chris Carrillo, who serves as the school’s spiritual life coordinator.
Students, faculty and staff are invited to gather after school in the building’s chapel to pray the rosary together. The chapel, located on the fourth floor, features a large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Carrillo said he had interest in starting a rosary group for students since he began in his role at Cristo Rey two years ago. He said he felt now was the time to make it happen.
Carrillo shares a similar background with students at Cristo Rey, which has a large Hispanic population.
He said he prayed the rosary almost daily growing up. He thought the rosary would resonate with students, many of whom pray the centuries-old prayer at home as he did.
“The hope was to be able to get the students who prayed the rosary often to come in and pray here, so they didn’t feel like they had to do it at home alone,” he said.
“What we’re finding is that there are a lot of students who are not Catholic and have never prayed the rosary who want to learn how to pray it. I think that is something that’s really great, that the rosary draws not just Catholics but all people to come in and pray.”
The group meets on Wednesdays and Thursdays every other week.
Juniors and seniors at Cristo Rey participate in a professional work-study program one day during the week. Holding the group on two different days gives more students an opportunity to join.
“We are starting to get a nice flow of people that come and join us, and not just students, but teachers,” Carrillo said. “We have teachers that come in and pray with us all the time, too.”
If more students continue to join, the group might begin meeting weekly rather than every other week.
Eventually, Carrillo said, he hopes students will take over and lead the group. For now, he is working to invite students and spread the word.
Praying the rosary is a tangible way for students to practice the faith that they are learning in class. Carrillo said it is important that students do not simply believe the Catholic faith but practice it.
“If you have faith and you believe in what you believe, but you don’t have a prayer life, the things that you believe in have no practice,” he said.
Carrillo wants students to exercise their faith through praying regularly. He found that prayer might be intimidating to some students, and the rosary is a good way to dive in.
“Maybe prayer is scary because it’s like, ‘Oh, I have to come up with a prayer every time,’ or ‘I have to do it on my own.’ This is an easy way to say, ‘No, I can pray, and it’s easy and repetitive, and I don’t really have to think about it. I just go,’ he said.
“My hope is that, for the students, they develop a stronger prayer life because of it.”
Students appear to enjoy meeting after school to pray.
For junior Kelly Reyes Morales, the rosary has taken on new meaning. She had prayed it before with her family at home.
“We pray the rosary every time we lose a loved one, but praying the rosary now, it’s something I like because it doesn’t have to be always about grieving or sadness,” she said. “It can be about anything really.”
She also appreciates the deeper connections that have resulted with the Lord and her teachers.
“I always felt like I lacked the connection with God, so I definitely wanted to do this,” she said.
“It’s a very close community between us and our teachers praying the rosary. It’s something I enjoy.”
Once students are gathered in the chapel for the rosary, Carrillo welcomes any prayer intentions. For those who would rather offer one privately, a basket with slips of paper is available for students to write down their intentions.
Reyes Morales said she appreciates being able to bring an intention to prayer.
“The intentions that we do, that we write down, it helps me clear my mind of things that may be bugging me,” she said. “Plus, praying and the intentions I hold in my heart are very special to me, and it allows me to express myself in more than one way.”
Lenny Aoba, also a junior, has appreciated praying with other members of the Cristo Rey community.
“What I like about it is that we can just come all together and pray the rosary in one place,” he said.
Aoba added that he feels better connected to his classmates. While he gets to know them during the school year, they get to know each other better through a shared experience like praying the rosary.
“Praying brings us closer,” he said. “It’s like, you get to know them and pray with them and pray for them as well.”
A bit farther east of downtown, Columbus Bishop Hartley High School is in the process of beginning a rosary group for its students.
Theology teacher David England is planning to start an after-school group for students there to gather and pray the rosary as well. More details will be forthcoming.