May 17, 2008
Youth rosary bowl: Prayer, praise and rock-n-roll
By Christine Vovakes
Herald correspondent
Participants join in a procession with a statue of Mary prior to Coadjutor Bishop Jaime Soto leading north state youth groups and their families in the living rosary. The event was held May 3 at Bishop Quinn High School in Palo Cedro. Christine Vovakes/Herald photo
A band played loud praise and worship songs and children danced barefoot in the grass while the Knights of Columbus from Sacred Heart Parish in Anderson served sizzling burgers at Bishop Quinn High School in Palo Cedro May 3.
Amid the picnic atmosphere, teen-agers who were part of Shasta Deanery Catholic Youth Ministry’s first annual Rosary Bowl brought bouquets to place around a makeshift shrine.
Anna Palmer adjusted delicate roses in a wreath to be used later in the evening during the crowning of a statue of Mary. A parishioner at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Redding and a youth group volunteer, she was excited about participating in a living rosary led by Coadjutor Bishop Jaime Soto.
“A lot of people think the rosary is boring. This is bringing it back to life and sparking interest in the month of May,” she said.
During the procession around the athletic field, Bishop Soto, priests of the deanery, a Knights of Columbus honor guard and the statue of Mary carried on a platform were followed by a contingent of the faithful that the bishop called “all Mary’s children.”
Among them were grandparents — one of whom carried a rosary made of birthstones for each of her children and grandchildren — young mothers and fathers with babes in backpacks, teen-agers waving brightly hued banners, and a thicket of young children including one little girl dressed in pink skipping beside a small black and white puppy.
“It’s wonderful to see all the different parishes join together,” enthused Our Lady of Mercy parishioner Leslea LaGro as the procession ended and the “beads” took their places on the grassy infield.
Amanda Przybyla, a member of the youth group at St. Joseph Parish in Redding, was responsible for gathering enough volunteers from the Redding, Anderson and Red Bluff parishes to form five decades. Each bead sat in a large circle and stood only when his or her “Our Father” or “Hail Mary” was prayed.
After the prayer beads settled on the lawn Bishop Soto began the rosary by telling the gathering, “We’re here in joy...and we ask Mary to lead us to her son Jesus.”
Based on Scripture, the five joyous mysteries (the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth of Our Lord, the presentation of the infant Jesus in the temple, and the finding of the child Jesus in the temple) are the focus of rosary meditations on Saturdays. Discussing them, Bishop Soto said, “These mysteries are not problems to be solved but mysteries to be lived...that bring us to a deeper understanding of who God is.”
Members of different youth ministry groups within the Shasta Deanery led each decade. With the crowd joining, the band sang a meditative verse between decades.
“The Thirsting” calls itself a Catholic rock band. The innovative combo from Vancouver, Wash., is traveling to Texas, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming and Kentucky, as well as making several stops to play for youth ministry groups in California.
They’re one of the reasons Marina Thompson drove with her youth group from St. Isidore Parish in Yuba City to Redding. The first time she heard the band on a CD she said that she was amazed by the way their music expressed their faith.
“They were Catholic and singing about our sacraments,” she said.
They play a range of their own work and those of other songwriters, mixing slower spiritual music like “Amazing Grace” and “Holy is His Name,” with jazzed-up versions of generational favorites.
Thompson and other members of her parish group often drive from Yuba City to join Shasta Deanery youth events.
“I love the feeling I get here, the sense of welcome and openness,” she said. “It’s definitely worth the trip.”
One break with tradition that the youth groups introduced was giving a young man the honor of crowning Mary. At the end of the rosary, Max Baker, a member of St. Joseph’s youth group, placed the floral wreath on top of the statue of Mary. By that time the sun had set, and votive candles flickered amid the shrine’s bouquets. The band struck up a rock version of an old hymn. The patient “beads” rose from the lawn, sang loudly and joined in spontaneous dancing.
Mary D’Acquisto, regional coordinator for Shasta Deanery Catholic Youth Ministry, was delighted with the multi-generational turnout for the group’s first Rosary Bowl.
“What I’ve heard the most is that it was casual but beautiful. It was a casual, but still prayerful, and laid-back approach to praying the rosary...not real formal and stiff,” she said.
“The procession was wonderful and all of it was something that rekindled traditions that most of our parents haven’t celebrated since they were children. It was a great opportunity to encourage our youth to honor our Blessed Mother in a fun way through rockin’ music, good food, and getting them involved in the readings, crowning and being the ‘beads’ of the living rosary.”
