Ireland: Over 15,000 children pray Rosary for peace

Image ACN Ireland

Source: ACN Ireland

Brandon Scott from ACN Ireland writes: Aid to the Church in Need Ireland reached a special milestone this week as for the first time ever more than 15,000 Irish children came together in a prayerful plea for peace in for world. From Belfast to Cork, Derry to Dublin, Irish schools united to pray for peace in a world currently scarred by conflict and bitterness.

In almost every corner of the country, children in Catholic schools and parishes gathered on Tuesday October 7 - World Rosary Day - to pray for peace and unity in the world. Prayers were especially made for peace in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

These prayers were part of the global 'One Million Children Praying the Rosary' campaign, organised by ACN, which supports Gaza through the territory's only Catholic parish, Holy Family. The parish is a vital lifeline feeding thousands of families in Gaza City every week and sheltering hundreds of people within the church itself.

As the Irish coordinator of the initiative, I was truly overwhelmed by the support for the campaign. We had so many schools and parishes come on-board to pray for peace. Although so many people in the world feel so helpless right now, prayer is the one thing that we all can do.

Many of the participating schools asked us for rosary beads, and we were able to get rosary beads blessed and made by Christian families in Bethlehem, so the campaign really benefitted the local Christian community in the Holy Land whose livelihoods have been completely ended by the war.

Children responded so well to the campaign themselves. Even if they don't watch the news, they know that children just like them are suffering in Gaza and this inspires them to pray.

Our campaign aimed to focus attention on parts of the world where young people experience difficulties due to war and conflict. It highlighted the fact that even when the situation feels helpless, we can always pray for those in need - and people appreciate those prayers.

I had the pleasure of attending primary schools in Laois and Belfast during the week and I was amazed at how much respect and reverence the children had for the rosary - they acutely understood its meaning and significance.

We were very blessed to see Pope Leo XIV keep up the tradition of his predecessor, Pope Francis, by promoting the campaign on social media, with a post reading: "As we contemplate with Mary the mysteries of Christ our Saviour, let us deepen our prayer for peace, which should become concrete solidarity with people tormented by war. I thank the many children around the world who are praying the #Holy Rosary for this intention. #1MillionChildrenPraying @ACN_int."

A few hours after our campaign had come to an end, news came filtering in that a tentative but very timely peace deal may well be on the cards between Israel and Hamas. This is exactly the reason why we pray. The rosary's power is infinite.

Please do take in the fabulous pictures of some of the 15,000 Irish children that took part on what was a magical day.

God bless you,

Brandon Scott,

ACN Ireland

LINK

ACN Ireland: www.acnireland.org/