The Diocese of Wichita held its first Family Rosary Rally on Sunday, October 19, at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Wichita. The event featured testimonies from several participants who shared personal stories about the impact of praying the rosary.

Fr. Edmond Kline, who organized the rally and serves at Holy Trinity Parish in Little River, spoke about his own experience with the rosary. He credited it with bringing him back to confession after two decades away from the sacrament. “When we meditate on these eternal mysteries, our souls are flooded with grace,” he said. “We come into contact with the truth. We receive inspiration from God. We grow in virtue.”

Bishop Carl Kemme also addressed attendees and cited St. Bartolo Longo as an example of someone whose life was transformed by devotion to the rosary.

Attendees recounted various experiences they attributed to praying the rosary: a family member returning to faith late in life, a child recovering health after illness, a couple able to expand their family, and an individual overcoming alcoholism.

Fr. Kline acknowledged that maintaining focus during prayer can be difficult but emphasized that efforts to redirect attention are valuable.

St. Catherine’s pastor, Fr. Dan Lorimer, hosted the event and led a Marian crowning and procession along with Eucharistic exposition, adoration, and benediction.

Joe Spexarth, a parishioner from Sacred Heart in Colwich who attended with his wife Carolyn, expressed hope that the rally would become an annual tradition: “I definitely hope this continues every year,” he said. “What a blessing, having our bishop here and hearing words of wisdom about the power of the rosary in our lives.” Carolyn added encouragement for continued daily prayer: “And be faithful,” she said. “Remain faithful to the rosary day in, day out.”

The rally drew enough people to nearly fill St. Catherine’s central pews on what organizers described as a sunny afternoon.

“We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima,” Fr. Hubert Schiffer said repeatedly before his death in 1982. “We lived and prayed the rosary daily in that home.”