Bishop Barron to Join College to Close Global Rosary Relay for Priests 2020

The Most Rev. Robert E. Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, will join the community of Thomas Aquinas College as its members pray the Holy Rosary for the sanctification of priests on Friday, June 19, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The gathering will mark the conclusion of WorldPriest’s eleventh annual Global Rosary Relay, an international prayer chain in which members of the faithful across the world take turns praying a designated set of mysteries, thereby encircling the planet in prayer for 24 hours. Thomas Aquinas College is blessed this year to serve as the last leg of the relay, spiritually delivering the world’s prayers to the Blessed Mother from its chapels in California and New England.

“We are delighted to play such an important role in the 2020 Relay, which provides prayerful support to priests throughout the world,” says Head Chaplain Rev. Paul Raftery, O.P. “We are especially grateful that His Excellency, our local bishop in California and the world’s preeminent Internet evangelist, will help us to include as many friends of the College as possible by way of social media.”

In honor of the occasion, Bishop Barron will offer a Mass from Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel on the California campus, immediately before the recitation of the Rosary on both coasts. Although the College is as yet unable to re-open its campuses to visitors, the Mass and Rosary will be livestreamed from California via the TAC website and YouTube channel.

This is the second year that Thomas Aquinas College has participated in the Relay, and the first time on both campuses. “We will necessarily have a small gathering here in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel,” says New England Chaplain Rev. Greg Markey. “But we are happy to pray the Rosary with our fellow Catholics everywhere. We will not let a mere pandemic keep us from uniting in prayer!”

The livestreamed event will begin at 5:45 PT / 8:45 ET on the evening of June 19, when Bishop Barron offers Mass in the California Chapel. At 6:45 PT / 9:45 ET, Fr. Raftery in California and Fr. Markey in New England will then accept the spiritual baton from Cathedral Parish in Fargo, North Dakota, and lead the recitation of the Joyful Mysteries on their respective coasts.

In total, more than 300 congregations in more than 85 countries will continuously pray the mysteries of the Rosary over the course of 24 hours. The prayers will be offered to God in thanksgiving for all priests, as well as to seek the loving care of Our Lady for her priestly sons. The Relay has the support of prelates world over, including the Holy Father, who has offered his apostolic blessing to all involved.

“His Holiness Pope Francis was pleased to learn of the Annual Global Rosary Relay for Priests to take place on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin recently wrote in a letter to Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam, Ireland. “He joins all taking part in praying that priests everywhere will be confirmed in their ministry of proclaiming and celebrating the merciful love of Christ the Redeemer, and become ever more fully shepherds after his own Heart.”

Livestream Video of the Mass and Rosary: