10,000 rosaries and counting
Our Lady’s Rosary Makers at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Waynesville is a group of volunteers that makes rosaries that are distributed to people worldwide. Group members recently celebrated the milestone of crafting 10,000 rosaries. (Photos provided) WAYNESVILLE — With simple beads and cord in hand, their thoughts focused on Mary’s intercession, members of St. John the Evangelist Parish craft rosaries that reach praying hands across the globe.
They are Our Lady’s Rosary Makers. Founded and led by parishioner Carol Kielb, the group recently celebrated making its 10,000th rosary.
Members commemorated the achievement in June at Kielb’s Waynesville home with their pastor, Father Paul McNulty.
“It was absolutely exhilarating to reach this milestone – I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Kielb said. “It’s fantastic to have achieved this in three and a half years.”
Kielb got the idea to start the group in 2021 while visiting her son and daughter-in-law in Florida. After Sunday Mass at a church there, she was invited to sit in with a rosary making group and learn the prayerful craft. The experience was so moving that Kielb decided she wanted to bring it to members of her own parish.
Research led her to Our Lady’s Rosary Makers, a lay apostolate based in the Archdiocese of Louisville. Founded in 1949 by Xaverian Brother Sylvan Mattingly, the nonprofit organization offers instruction and supplies for volunteers to make rosaries that are then distributed all over the world – from mission churches to hospitals to military bases.
The organization’s website states its mission is to provide rosaries to anyone who wants one because Brother Mattingly “envisioned a world in which all God’s children, possessing an instrument of peace and comfort, would work to fulfill Our Lady’s requests at Fatima to pray the rosary daily.”
The Waynesville group relies on donations and fundraisers to raise money to purchase the basic supplies from Louisville. Kielb said the group buys simple beads called mission beads and cord to make cord rosaries, which are the simplest to make.
“We have one knotting tool that we use and there are only four knots used in each rosary,” Kielb said. It takes about two hours of instruction for her to teach new members.
She distributes supplies to members from her home. They return the completed rosaries for her to send off to Louisville, where they are then sent all over the world.
“They bring them back to me in bags of 10, and when I have 150 rosaries completed, I send them off,” she said.
Group members also make specialty rosaries out of materials like amethyst, black onyx, jade and olive wood that they sell at their fundraisers.
The Rosary Makers first met to work together in the church’s basement but that was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, so the 10 members now work out of their homes.
Members often combine the work of their hands with spiritual work as well.
“A lot of our members pray the rosary as they’re making them,” Kielb said. “I have a deep devotion to Our Lady and I pray for the intervention of Our Lady of Fatima when I’m making my rosaries.”
Member Lynn Jefferys said she can complete a rosary in about half an hour and uses the time for prayer and meditation.
“I just do some spontaneous prayer and ask the Blessed Mother to rain blessings down on the rosaries and the people who receive them,” Jefferys said. “You just feel so good when you’re doing this because you know you’re doing something wonderful: providing rosaries for those that need them.”
— Christina Lee Knauss
CHARLOTTE — Fourteen parishes and ministries have received grants totaling $48,000 thanks to the Foundation of the Diocese of Charlotte.
The annual awards, which range from $2,000 to $5,000, are based on need and the impact the money is expected to have on local communities. They are fueled by endowments that people have made to the foundation in their wills or estate planning over the years.
“It is because of the forward planning of the parishioners in the Diocese of Charlotte that the foundation is blessed to award these grants on an annual basis,” said Gina Rhodes, diocesan director of planned giving.
The grants go toward a variety of projects around the diocese, ranging from ministries and outreach programs to repairs and additions to church facilities.
St. Elizabeth Parish in Boone received a $3,000 grant to build an outdoor fellowship site.
“It will be an area where the youth group can meet and other activities can be held,” said Father Brendan Buckler, pastor. “Also, it will have a fire pit where we can build the fire for the Easter
Vigil Mass as well, because basically we have to build the Easter fire on the ground right now. We have someone who is matching the grant, so we’ll be able to go ahead and start designing the site and building it.”
At St. Mary Mother of God Parish in Sylva, a $3,000 grant will go toward construction of a new cry room, according to Father Paul Asoh, pastor.
“Our old cry room has no direct view of the altar, so when a lot of parents take their children there, they feel they can’t participate in the Mass as fully because they can’t see what’s happening,” Father Asoh said. “We felt that it would be best to have a new cry room with a direct line of sight to the altar. That way we can accommodate both our young families with children and some of our older parishioners who get distracted when children are crying loudly at Mass. Parishioners had mentioned the need to me since I arrived here about four years ago, and I felt this was a good time to go ahead with it.”
Father Asoh said he hopes to present building plans for approval to the diocese in the next few weeks and schedule work to begin by this fall.
“Foundation endowments provide a permanent and secure source of income which will safeguard the future of Catholic entities across western North Carolina,” Rhodes said. “We are so thankful and encourage more people to consider an endowment as part of their estate planning.”
Since 2001, the foundation has awarded 426 grants totaling $1,212,000. These grants are distributed from four of the foundation’s 350-plus endowments.
The 2024 grants and the foundation’s work over the decades reflect a passage in the Gospel of John (4:37): “For here the saying is verified that ‘one sows and another reaps,’” according to Joe Gigler, who chairs the foundation’s board.
“The foundation is a vehicle for individuals and organizations to really be able to offer support to the diocese and its ministries,” Gigler said. “I love what we do because it’s an exciting time to be a Catholic in western North Carolina. With both the grants we give out and the endowments that the foundation has, we can prepare for the future along with the things we’re doing today.”
— Christina Lee Knauss
2024 Foundation Grant recipients
Our Lady of the Mountains Mission Parish, website evangelization: $5,000
St. Joseph of the Hills Church, Outreach Program, refresh religious gardens: $3,000
Holy Redeemer Church, Seal the parking lot: $3,000
St. Francis of Assisi Church, Replace church signs that were destroyed: $4,000
St. Elizabeth Church Outdoor fellowship site: $3,000
St. Mary, Mother of God Church, Construct a new cry room: $4,000
Catholic Charities, Optimizing Client Choice – Food Pantry: $3,000
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Casa Marillac Social Ministry – Food Pantry: $4,000
St. Charles Borromeo, Church United Food Relief: $3,000
Charlotte Vicariate Hispanic Ministry, Training for parish health promoters: $2,000
St. Jude Church, United Christian Ministries – Extended Roof Project: $2,000
St. Margaret Mary Church, St. Joseph Society and Barn Improvement Project: $2,000
St. Benedict the Moor Churc,h Replace basement door: $5,000
Good Shepherd, Mission Replace church air conditioner: $5,000
TOTAL: $48,000