Rosary Army: Free Rosary, Catholic Podcasts, and More

2008 has been a tremendous year for Rosary Army.

The beginning of the year was marked with the launch of a brand new website, the continuation of the popular Rosary Army Catholic Podcast, the filming of a brand new episode of That Catholic Show (we’ll release this soon), followed by Rosary Army’s participation in the very first Catholic New Media Celebration, which brought hundreds of Catholics together to focus on evangelization using new media such as blogs, websites, podcasts, video, and other technologies.

Through it all, the core mission of Rosary Army continued to flourish. Thousands of all-twine knotted Rosaries have been distributed throughout 2008, and countless new Rosary Army “soldiers” started making, praying, and giving away all-twine knotted Rosaries and encouraging others to do the same.

Since incorporating in 2003, our family has run Rosary Army completely out of our house. For years, we’ve had employees and volunteers working out of our home, helping us juggle the amazing amount of requests that we receive each year for Rosaries.

With four (going on five) kids, a dog, and the other responsibilities of raising a family, along with the incredible growth of Rosary Army over the years, this past summer it was necessary to procure an office where Rosary Army employees can process mail and handle day to day operations without having to work in the closets of our house next to our dirty laundry! Believe it or not, that’s how we’ve been running Rosary Army for all these years. Nevertheless, it’s been an amazing experience to witness Jesus and Mary start something with a single spool of twine, and turning it into a worldwide apostolate that has touched countless thousands of souls.

But with thousands of Rosaries flooding in and out of the doors each month, and with even more people are learning about the mission of Rosary Army,  the needs of the apostolate continue to grow.  Therefore, all Rosary Army operations are now being handled in a new distribution center that will hopefully make it easier for employees and volunteers to help grow the apostolate and help more people.

Another monumental change happened for Rosary Army in August of 2008 when my wife Jennifer and I were hired by the Archdiocese of New York to host a daily radio program on The Catholic Channel, which the Archdiocese runs for Sirius Satellite and now XM Satellite Radio.

The show, titled The Catholics Next Door, launched on September 3rd and reaches a potential audience of more than 40 million people. The program is available Monday through Friday from 10AM to 1PM EST on Sirius Channel 159 and XM 117.

Part of our agreement with the Archdiocese was that we would still be able to focus on Rosary Army to make sure that people were still encouraged to make, pray, and give away Rosaries.

However, as a result of the time constraints of the new radio show, as well as the time commitment needed for our ever-growing family, on November 20, 2008, after much prayer, heartache, and discernment, we decided to bring the Rosary Army Catholic Podcast to an end so that we can better focus on the original goals of Rosary Army, while also concentrating on the full-time radio show which pays the bills to support our family.

Rest assured, though the podcast has been brought to a close, there are no signs of slowing down for Rosary Army.

Already there are several amazing events in store for the apostolate in 2009. More details on these will be revealed in the next few months, but let’s just say one event in particular already has us working to gather up 30,000 or more Rosaries to give away on a single day. If you can help in this goal, we’d be very appreciative.

Long time Rosary Army soldiers may also have noticed that we did not launch our annual Giving Campaign as we have for the past several years on All Saints Day.

At this time, we are asking that if you already are a monthly donor to Rosary Army, that you prayerfully consider continuing your gift. Our expenses continue to increase with new rent, utilities, and other operational costs, but we felt that given the current economic climate, and with Christmas and the end of the year so close in sight, that for now we’ll just continue to trust Jesus and Mary that we’ll have all that we need to get us through the next few months without asking you to make additional sacrifices to help out.

If you would, though, please be praying for the apostolate in this regard. We are doing everything we can to keep our expenses as low as possible, but we also know additional employees are needed to keep up with the demands of operating the organization. Your prayers for guidance from the Holy Spirit would be appreciated.

And to all of you who discovered Rosary Army as a result of the podcast, thank you for your support over all these years. Again, the podcast may have been brought to a close, but Rosary Army isn’t going anywhere.

Keep checking back and we’ll keep you updated as we continue working toward our original goal of bringing more souls to Christ through the making, praying, and giving away of all-twine knotted Rosaries.

In Jesus Through Mary,
Greg and Jennifer Willits
Co-Founders, Rosary Army