A craft and a calling

The humble beginnings of the rosary makers of Bismarck’s Church of Saint Anne are traced back to just four people with the same idea—to make rosaries. 

With luck, one person in the original group, Marcella Streiffel, knew how and taught others. During that first year in 2005, two members made 75 rosaries and were elated. By the second year, and every day since, a rosary table sits in the gathering space of the Church of Saint Anne, inviting anyone interested to join the rosary making efforts.

During the first eight years, large groups of rosary makers assembled. At times the group numbered 25 or more. Today, there are a fraction of that number of active rosary makers, and more are always welcome to help create the beautiful rosaries that have become so depended upon by those who receive them.

During the first seven years, the group distributed 8,000 rosaries. Yet, in recent years, that number has climbed to 40,000 rosaries and they are working toward yet another banner year. This time with just eight people and a pandemic. 

“Six years ago, we began using couriers whenever possible to reduce shipping costs,” explained Don Lucas, group member. “That allowed sending rosaries overseas. In the last three-year, non-pandemic period, we shipped to 20 different countries…many countries more than once. When the pandemic is finally controlled, we will do all that again. Because what we found in sending rosaries to other countries is that they have rosary needs far greater than ours.”

The group’s primary rosary is the World Mission rosary designed and initiated by Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, Archbishop of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. Each decade is made using a different color, with each color representing a different part of the world. Each decade calls to mind an area where the Church continues its evangelizing mission: green for the forests and grasslands of Africa; blue for the ocean surrounding the Islands of the Pacific; white symbolizing Europe, the seat of the Holy Father; red calling to mind the fire of faith that brought missionaries to the Americas, and yellow for the morning light of the East, for Asia. It was Archbishop Sheen’s belief that peace would come to our world only when we prayed for each part of it.

“We believe that praying this rosary provides special grace because it was designed and initiated by a priest en route to becoming a saint,” Don added. “We send this rosary to students being confirmed anywhere, but always in their spoken language, meaning that we have shipped them overseas as well.”

Since the start, the group has sent rosaries to places too many to mention. Destinations and recipients of the rosaries include students at Saint Anne’s School, to motherhouses, penitentiaries, groups of seminarians, to the bishop for vocation days, the diocesan Thirst conference, Indian Missions, the University of Mary, St Mary’s Central High School, Ministry on the Margins, to a visiting church couple traveling to Columbia, to sisters leaving for Suriname (in South America) or Rome, to hospitals near and far, to nursing students heading to Guatemala.

“We are particularly grateful to members of the McCabe United Methodist Church in Bismarck who, for the past 10 years, have taken our rosaries along with their sun ovens and other supplies to people in Haiti and Santo Domingo,” Don said. “We have also made special rosaries for the annual carnival at St Mary’s. Once, we gave rosaries to a priest who was on a cruise ship. He took our rosaries, passed them out to those attending Mass, and ran out when he was in Singapore. Imagine! Saint Anne’s rosaries in Singapore! For everyone who has ever made a rosary for another, that act becomes a special event always remembered, when they realize the significance of what they have just done.”
    
While the list of places the group has sent rosaries has grown over the years, members would sincerely love to continue expanding that list. They never lose sight of how many lives could be affected by receiving the gift of the rosary. The notion is not lost on them of how many people could come to know and grow in their love of Jesus through praying the rosary. 

However, they know that for more people and places to receive this beautiful gift, they need help. How can you help? First, they are asking for prayers for their ministry and its members to be blessed by the grace of God.

Next, there are other tangible ways to help further the mission. Are you able to be a courier and take rosaries with you on your travels to help defer shipping costs? Are you able to help make rosaries? The greatest need right now is for more active rosary makers.

One of the appealing things about joining the group is the flexibility afforded to anyone willing to pitch in. The amount of time spent making rosaries is a personal choice. There are no scheduled meetings, so you are free to put into it the time that you can and when you are able.

After attending an introductory rosary making class, volunteers are given materials to take home to make more at their own pace in the comfort of their own home. Assistance in fine-tuning the skills can be arranged. All are invited to prayerfully consider joining the group and attending an upcoming class scheduled for Monday, April 25 and Monday, May 2, each evening from 7-8:30 p.m. All rosary lessons will be given in the parish hall at the Church of Saint Anne in Bismarck. Those interested should call Don at 223-8526.

“We owe a great deal to Fr. Ed Wehner and Fr. Wayne Sattler for their encouragement and support,” Don added. “Nothing succeeds without support of a parish priest!”

— Staff report