PUBLIC SQUARE ROSARY TAKES PLACE ACROSS CANADA
October 14, 2017
LAITY AND CLERGY GATHER IN WINNIPEG FOR NATIONAL PRAYER MOVEMENT ON MARIAN FEAST
For a number of years now, Lydia Firman, from Bird’s Hill has been a local organizer of the national prayer effort known as Public Square Rosary Crusade. It is an effort by a campaign organization known as Canada Needs Our Lady. Due partially to the location – always being held in a public park in Bird’s Hill – the number of participants wasn’t always very encouraging. This year Lydia wanted to move the event to the city and she asked her parish priest if it might be held near her parish church in Winnipeg’s 
East Kildonan as it was near an increasingly more major intersection and there was ample parking space. Of course the parish priest, Fr. Michael Kwiatkowski, agreed and the event took place just outside Holy Eucharist Church at the corner of Watt and Munroe. The crowd was larger, but the real inspiration was the many drivers passing by. Some waved, some honked, some were visibly moved when they read the sign and understood what was happening, some crossed themselves or pointed to the Rosary hanging from their rear-view mirror, seemingly as a sign that they too pray the Rosary.
It is not clear why the date of October 14 was chosen this year. Perhaps not to interfere with the many October 13th events that were scheduled for the previous day as the world marked the 100th anniversary of the final Marian apparitions at Fatima and the ‘miracle of the sun’ that took place on that day. However, the date was perfect for the people gathered as it happened to be the Julian-Calendar feast of the Protection of the Mother of God – a major feast in the Ukrainian Catholic Church and all Byzantine Christian Churches
