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The Rosary Apostolate is a non-profit association of volunteers in the community that freely give of
their time and talents to lead children, youth and families into a deeper relationship with our Triune God through
prayer. Thus, the Rosary Apostolate is an apostolate of prayer. The Rosary apostolate seeks to lead people to Jesus
our Savior and Redeemer through Mary by teaching others how to pray with the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
There are three basic sectors where we seek to lead people in the recitation of the Holy Rosary:
- The Catholic Schools
- The Homes of Families
- The Catholic Churches
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Each volunteer under the direction and guidelines of the Rosary Apostolate, prays the Rosary with children and youth
and families, to encourage them to return to the practice of praying daily the Rosary. The Rosary Apostolate
organization shall be carried on without purpose of gain for its members and any profits or other gains to the Rosary
Apostolate organization shall be used in promoting its objectives.
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Aims and Objectives
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The Rosary Apostolate seeks to bring about a spiritual renewal in future generations through the intercession of
Mary, the Mother of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Apostolate with the help of volunteers wishes to respond to the initiatives requested by the Pope and the
Magisterium. It is the intention of the Rosary Apostolate with the assistance of volunteers to do this by
making the children and youth feel that they are part of the Church through the increased awareness of suggested
themes that the Pope has asked to be reflected on as the volunteers of the Apostolate pray the Rosary. The
Apostolate through its volunteers, wants to help the children and youth to feel that they belong to a greater family
of God, namely, the Roman Catholic Church.
The Apostolate also wishes to promote devotion to Mary through the Rosary and the Act of Consecration to Mary.
It is the wish of the Apostolate to inspire children and youth to love God with the love of Mary's heart by giving
them the opportunity to experience God's presence in prayer and establishing a relationship with God and Mary.
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How did it start?
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The Rosary Apostolate is an apostolate of evangelization through prayer which began on the schools and later extended
to the Families and the forming of Parish Prayer groups.
It all began in 1997 with a humble request to pray the rosary with children in our Catholic Schools. At that
time, no one imagined there would be a great demand for this type of service. We were all pleasantly surprised.
Rapidly, we became a Volunteer Organization. Thus, the need to recruit and to quickly put into place structure,
rules and screening measures.
It was in 1997 that Pope John Paul II launched a three year preparation program for the Jubilee Year 2000. This
is what inspired us to make our school visits a jubilee project. We went into the classrooms, beginning with a
five minute presentation of one of the themes proposed by our Holy Father the Pope (simplifying them for children)
and followed by praying the rosary with meditations connected to the theme of the day (when possible). The
children were attentive when presentations began by saying, "The Pope says..." From the beginning we felt
we wanted to place all the children we meet under the protection of the Mother of God. As Pope John Paul II so
often concluded his visits to many nations by entrusting it's people to the Mother of God by an act of Consecration;
we decided to conclude these visits with a short act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary fitting for
children.
It is in this way that the Rosary Apostolate embraced a spirituality of its own. Since the first group of
volunteers were consecrated to Mary, (at that time we called ourselves children of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,)
because by our witness and our example, we hoped to transmit to the children and youth the great love Mary had for
Jesus!
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Looking back, we accidentally found that there was a need for more prayer in our schools and in our
society - a need which was expressed by Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte: "Is it
not one of the 'signs of our times' that in today's world, despite widespread secularization, there is a widespread
demand for spirituality, a demand which expresses itself in large part as a renewed need for prayer?... It is
therefore essential that education in prayer should become in some way a key-point..." no. 34 of our plans as we
enter the Third Millennium.
Since then we have developed a 4 Year program of Themes we implement in the schools. We were happy to
write Special Themes to transmit to children the messages of "The Year of the Rosary" and the "Year of the
Eucharist." Every Year we also like to present the last World Youth Day message (simplified) in one of
the monthly Themes presented to children/youth.
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The Mother of God is actively working in Ontario...
leading children and youth to Jesus through the Rosary Apostolate Volunteers!
At present there are about 1000 trained volunteers in Ontario reaching out to about 100,000 children and youth in our
catholic schools. The Rosary Apostolate has received written approval in the Archdiocese of Toronto, in the
Diocese of London, Diocese of Peterborough and Diocese of Ottawa. As volunteers step forward we hope to expand
throughout the nation. There is a great need for many more volunteers... take the time to consider being an
Apostle of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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Many Volunteers Needed !!!
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Many More Volunteers Needed !!!
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