The Rosary and Eucharistic Revival
Archbishop Cordileone to lead Rosary Rally and Eucharistic Procession
By Gibbons Cooney
In 2022, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops inaugurated a three-year campaign to increase devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist: the Eucharistic Revival.
On June 11, 2023, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Eucharistic Revival moved from the Year of the Diocesan Revival into the Year of the Parish Revival. As the Eucharistic revival webpage states: “Every parish in the country will experience profound renewal while participating in grassroots efforts inspired by the four pillars of the Revival: Reinvigorated Worship, Personal Encounters, Robust Formation, and Send Missionaries.”
As part of the Eucharistic Revival in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and living the consecration that was made in 2017 to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Archdiocese will hold its 12th annual Rosary Rally on Oct. 7, 2023, on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
The events of the day begin at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption with the Sacrament of Reconciliation at 9:30 a.m. and Mass at 10 a.m. celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and priests of the Archdiocese. Mass will be followed by a Eucharistic procession from the Cathedral to St. Boniface Church at 11:30 a.m., where high school students will lead the faithful in the rosary, followed by the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Benediction and closing prayers.
Father Joseph Illo, archdiocesan Rosary Rally coordinator and pastor of Star of the Sea Parish in San Francisco, said: “St. John Paul II called the rosary a quintessentially ‘family prayer’ in his 2002 letter ‘Rosarium Virginis Mariae’. In 2017, the Archbishop of San Francisco urged every family within the Archdiocese to pray the rosary together at least weekly. But where will families learn to pray the rosary together? They will learn it in their parishes and schools if the priests lead their people in this prayer. From the parish and schools, they take this practice home. Praying the rosary after Mass also forms people in the essential connection between the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady. Our response after receiving the Holy Eucharist, our act of gratitude after Mass, is to pray with Our Lady with one voice in glory to God.”
In his homily for the 2022 Rosary Rally, Archbishop Cordileone reminded us of the maternal love and care of Our Lady: “We turn to her. She is there to hear us, to embrace us, to take us to her Son. She is always there to protect us in our moments of trial and desperation. What great comfort we have in her! What great comfort we have in praying the rosary, meditating on those saving mysteries in her life and in the life of her Son.”
The Rosary Rally is sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Knights of Columbus and supported by a host of Catholic groups including the Missionaries of Charity, the Legion of Mary, Cruzada Guadalupaña and Ignatius Press.
Visit sfarch.org/event/rosary-rally/ for more information.
Gibbons Cooney is a native San Franciscan who has served as parish secretary at Sts. Peter and Paul Church since 2000, and as a volunteer with the Rosary Rally since 2011.
Photo: Francisco Valdez