Oct 9, 2009 2 min read

The Public Square Rosary Crusade is scheduled to take place at noon on Saturday in Connellsville as part of a national campaign. “It’s going on all over the United States and everybody has it at noon,” said Julia Goretsky, who is serving her third year as rosary captain in Connellsville. “There were 3,500 rosaries last year. They’re trying to get 4,000 for this year.”

Goretsky is asking people to gather at St. John Roman Catholic Church, located at West Crawford Avenue and Route 119 in Connellsville.

They will meet in the Route 119 parking area.

“We’ll say the rosary and the litany to the Blessed Mother and a consecration of America to Our Lady of Fatima,” said Goretsky.

The rosary crusade is sponsored by America Needs Fatima, a nonprofit campaign of Catholic citizens that hopes to spread the message of Our Lady of Fatima across the United States, and to open eyes “to the gravity of today’s moral corruption,” according to the American Needs Fatima Web site.

Our Lady of Fatima is a title given to Mary for her appearances to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, for six consecutive months in 1917.

According to www.Catholic.net, in 1982, Pope John Paul II said the message of Fatima is a call to conversion and repentance.

He re-consecrated Mary’s Immaculate Heat and called all to prayer, especially the rosary.

Goretsky said about 75 people participated in the crusade in her first year as captain and 20 people last year.

“We’re hoping to get more people involved,” she said.

For more information, contact Goretsky at 724-628-7384.