The life and legacy of Pope St. John Paul II was palpable during the all-diocesan school rosary on the late pontiff’s feast day.
For the second consecutive year, Bishop Earl Fernandes led the recitation of the holy rosary from the ambo (pulpit) at St. Joseph Cathedral in front of more than 200 students, teachers, administrators and parents representing 47 schools around the diocese.
At the same time, students and staff watched and prayed along with Bishop Fernandes in school chapels and classrooms via a livestream from the Cathedral.
“It was profoundly beautiful to have all of our schools pause together in prayer today,” said Dr. Adam Dufault, superintendent of diocesan schools. “From the students gathered here at the cathedral to those praying via livestream in classrooms, gymnasiums, and auditoriums across the diocese, praying the Rosary together reminds us that we are deeply connected as one Church, one mission, and one family in faith. We are grateful to Bishop Fernandes for leading our 50 schools in prayer this morning.”
Not only does the Church designate October as the Month of the Rosary, the commemoration of St. John Paul II is observed on Oct. 22, the date for the 2025 all-school rosary.
Bishop Fernandes mentioned in his remarks before praying the rosary its special significance in the life of John Paul II, who was shot on Oct. 13, 1981, and survived the assassination attempt in Rome. Oct. 13 was the date of Our Lady of Fatima’s final appearance to the three children in 1917 in Portugal, where the bullet from the gunshot was placed in the crown of her statue.
The bishop revealed that the diocese recently received a relic of St. John Paul II that was displayed in the Cathedral next to a statue of Our Lady. He also said he would be praying with a rosary given to him by Pope Leo XIV in October during a visit to Assisi and Rome with pilgrims from the diocese.
St. John Paul II served as pope from 1978 to 2005. None of the students in high school or parish schools were alive during his pontificate.
“During my formative years as a school student, we were asked to pray the rosary because Our Lady had appeared at Fatima in Portugal,” said Bishop Fernandes “She asked for everyone to pray the rosary and do penance and pray for the conversion of Russia.”
In addition to great spiritual gifts, St. John Paul possessed the ability to be a peacemaker. He is credited with helping to free Eastern European countries from the grips of Communism – symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
“When I went to Fatima for World Youth Day two years ago, I was able to see a piece of the Berlin Wall and I thought to myself, ‘Everything that she asked us to do we did, and everything she said would happen happened,’ Bishop Fernandes said. “And so there’s something beautiful about praying the rosary.”
St. John Paul’s devotion to Our Lady and love for the rosary are well known.
In his apostolic letter On the Rosary of the Virgin Mary, John Paul reminded the world that the rosary “is a prayer loved by countless saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple, yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness.”
Sister John Paul, OP, the diocese’s assistant superintendent for Catholic culture, noted that John Paul II called the rosary Marian in character but at its heart a Christocentric prayer.
“In our mission of forming young people in the faith, our Catholic schools are conscious of our responsibility to provide opportunities for encountering Christ,” she said. “By teaching young people about the mysteries of the rosary, we are introducing them to the life of Christ and scenes from the Gospel.”
As St. John Paul went on to say in his apostolic letter, “Imagining the Gospel in action through the mysteries of the rosary is a profound way to learn from the ‘school of Mary’ and to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love.”
“It is our hope that students will grow in their awareness of and wonder of Christ and experience the help of a loving mother in Our Lady through their experience of the rosary,” Sister John Paul said.
“In addition, this event is not just about praying the rosary, which can certainly be done at any time and individually. Today’s gathering to pray is especially intended to be a powerful experience of gathering together in prayer as a community within our school and also as a diocese, led by our bishop.
“By design, this all-diocesan school rosary connects the entirety of our school communities within the local church to their local Shepherd, Bishop Fernandes. The connection is not just spiritual but also physical in the student representatives sent to the cathedral of the diocese, where the bishop resides and from where, as a fountain of grace, blessings and chrism oils are sent forth to reach the faithful.”
She mentioned that for many students the livestream was the first time they saw the cathedral and experienced it.
“It is important to provide our Catholic young people with an opportunity to know our bishop, the cathedral, and to experience being part of a larger community and that they have a home in the broader Church beyond and including their local parish,” she said.
“More importantly, educating and forming our young people with the prayer of the rosary helps to empower them with a time-tested spiritual weapon that is always accessible and bears great fruit in their lives.”
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