Posted July 26, 2022

St. William Parish (6200 Rising Sun Avenue, Philadelphia) will host a rosary for the people of Ukraine on Wednesday, July 27 at 6:30 p.m.

The rosary will be prayed in both English and Spanish at the parish’s outdoor shrine to Our Lady of Fatima, located between the church and the convent. Some seating is available; participants are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

Light refreshments will follow. In case of rain, the rosary will be moved to the inside of the church or to the convent porch.

Since Feb. 24, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced at least 12 million. Atrocities against civilians — including summary executions, torture, rape and forced deportations — have numbered in the thousands, prompting international calls for war crime tribunals and investigation of genocide.

With Ukraine as a major global supplier of wheat and vegetable oils, the war has also placed an estimated 44 million at risk of famine.

Now in its fifth month, the current war in Ukraine continues assaults initially launched by Russia in 2014 with the attempted annexation of Crimea and the backing of separatist factions in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.