PHOTO BY KAREN A. AVITABILE On the 13th day of each month, a group gathers at noon at St. Paul Church in Kensington to pray the rosary. John Simeone is founder of the rosary group. He is seated with his wife, Catherine, on the right of the stained glass window.
Story by Karen A. Avitabile
Growing up, John Simeone of Kensington remembers how his mother was devoted to the Catholic faith. “My mom would go to 40 hours of devotion, confessions and pray the rosary,” he says.
Simeone has carried on his mother’s devotion to the rosary through a monthly rosary group he began organizing at St. Paul Church in Kensington 30 years ago.
A lifelong parishioner, he has been praying all five decades of the rosary with others on the 13th day of each month at noontime, regardless of the day of the week. On occasion, the group meets in the garden outside across from the church with rosary beads to pray in front of Our Lady.
The rosary is one of the most distinguishable features and significant practices among Catholics, allowing reflection on the mysteries of the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother, Mary.
The title of Our Lady of Fatima was given to the Virgin Mary following her apparitions to the children in Fatima, Portugal, on the 13th day of the month. The Catholic Church designates October as the “Month of the Rosary.”
Now in his early 70s, Simeone says the rosary continues to be relevant today. “In the times we live in, Mary is still leading us in the direction we go,” he says. “The messages of Fatima are still true today.”
His wife, Catherine, accompanies him to rosary. “The Blessed Mother asked us to say the rosary,” she says. “When you pray the rosary, we meditate on the life of Jesus. We pray for peace in the world.”
About a dozen people participated in a recent rosary gathering inside St. Paul Church, in front of a statue of Our Lady. Each participant took turns leading the group. One of the participants, Elise Minor, has been praying the rosary here for more than 16 years. Growing up in the Catholic faith, she says she has been praying the rosary her entire life.
“I saw that the rosary was being offered and I began joining in,” she says of the St. Paul Church rosary group. “The rosary is really the answer to many of today’s problems. It leads the soul into a deeper relationship with Mary who leads us to her son.”
The St. Paul Church rosary group is not membership based, and attendees change from month to month. “But our faithful parishioners continue to keep it going,” Simeone says. “Even during the coronavirus, people were praying the rosary from home on the 13th which is a great testament to faithful support. Over the years, we’ve had many attendees pass away and they have been replaced by newcomers who just show up.”
St. Paul Church is located at 485 Alling St., Kensington. For more information about the rosary group, contact John Simeone at jpshusky@gmail.com.
Sacred Heart Church, which is part of St. Paul Parish, prays the rosary at 6 p.m. on each Wednesday of the month. Also at Sacred Heart Church, a children’s rosary is prayed on the first Saturday of the month, 10 a.m. For details, call the parish office at 860.828.0331. Sacred Heart Church is located at 48 Cottage St., East Berlin.
Don’t know how to pray the rosary? Visit the home page of the parish website, stpaulkensington.org.
PHOTO BY KAREN A. AVITABILE
Elise Minor, center, has been praying the rosary at St. Paul Church for more than 16 years. She says she works in the area and enjoys praying the rosary. “Most of us are supportive of the Blessed Mother,” she adds.
PHOTO BY KAREN A. AVITABILE
The rosary group at St. Paul Church prays in front of the Blessed Mother.