By Gia Myers • Posted March 27, 2025

Five years ago a loving and caring “rosary family” began within the offices of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and grew on the internet amidst the stress and anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, with more than 150 households joining on a weekly basis, they celebrate their  anniversary of lifting one another up in prayer.

“Since 2020 we’ve prayed (together) about 417 nights,” said Michele Meiers, assistant director of marketing strategies and development for the archdiocesan Pontifical Mission Societies.

Over that time she estimates a total of 30,000 households joined online and prayed just over a million prayers.

Stephen Williams, parishioner at St. Isidore Parish in Quakertown, says he joined the rosary family after learning about it in his parish bulletin back in 2023, and he’s been joining weekly ever since.

“I have prayed for peace and perseverance in my life, and those prayers have definitely been answered,” he said. “I seldom miss a chance to say the rosary, especially in a group setting.”

It started with a small group of people who worked in the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center coming together to pray in March 2020, soon after archdiocesan parishes suspended the public celebration of Masses due to the pandemic.

They prayed the rosary for the people who had died from the coronavirus disease and asked for Mary’s intercession in the pandemic.

Gaining comfort and emotional support from their prayers, the group soon decided to invite others throughout the archdiocese to join them.

The archdiocesan Office for the New Evangelization, under Director Meghan Cokeley, created a virtual rosary session using the videoconferencing tool Zoom.

For the first six months, they met daily in the evenings since the need for prayer and consolation was so great during those early days of the pandemic. Many families joined, and a priest often gave a blessing to all at the end.

Later, leadership of the virtual rosary transitioned to the archdiocesan Pontifical Mission Societies. That office supports the Church’s missionary activities outside the United States, encouraging people around the world to join in prayer through the World Mission Rosary, which was first introduced by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in 1951.

Each decade of the World Mission Rosary represents a different area of the world where missionaries continue to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

By praying this rosary, Archbishop Sheen had said would be of service to the Holy Father, supplying him “with practical support, as well as prayers, for the poor mission territories of the world.”

The rosary family in the Philadelphia area has continued meeting virtually on Monday nights from 8 to 8:30 p.m. for the last three and a half years. Decades of the rosary are led by a variety of families or mission representatives.

The missionaries who join often share with the prayer group pictures of their mission work all over the world – including Africa, the Philippines and Peru – so that people can pray for vocations and mission support.

“It’s been a nice balance of meeting new people and seeing the same families pray together the rosary,” said Meiers, who has fond memories of seeing her own grandmother frequently praying the rosary when she was a child.

Now, there are also participants who join outside the archdiocese, such as households in Harrisburg, and those outside the state of Pennsylvania including Delaware and Florida.

“The people talk to one another in the (Zoom) chat box and leave their prayer intentions,” Meiers said. “We take those chat box notes and ask our missionaries to pray for them during the week.”

“The missionaries know how important prayer is, so they love praying for people who are a part of this rosary,” she said.

To celebrate the five-year anniversary, members of the rosary family shared pictures of themselves, which were displayed during the March 17 rosary session.

Reflecting on the weekly sharing and connections built over the last five years, Meiers says, “I think that’s where we get the real feeling of family.”

She believes they’ll keep the rosary family going “as long as there are people on Monday nights who want to pray with us.”

To join the Monday evening rosary hosted by the archdiocesan Pontifical Mission Societies, visit their website at https://phillymissions.org/.

The Pontifical Mission Societies was founded in 1822 by Pauline Jaricot, a young French woman and member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, to promote a universal missionary spirit among Catholics and to gather support for the Church’s missionary work.

Their patron saints are St. Francis Xavier – known for his missionary work in India, Southeast Asia, and Japan – and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, a patron saint of missionaries.