Testimony of 2007 Rosary Rally

Fatima rally gathers 600 from Kahuku to Kalihi

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

A public rosary crusade by America Needs Fatima was a remarkable success in Hawaii thanks to an energetic organizer who would rather shun the limelight.

Valerie Elefante, a parishioner at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea, took it upon herself to organize a cadre of 26 rally captains in 15 parishes and communities across Oahu, who gathered people to pray 20 decades of the rosary at noon at outside locations on Oct. 13, the 90th anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal.

As the sun blazed above that day, more than 600 people showed up in groups of up to 50 each, in front of churches and houses and in parks from Nanakuli to Punahou, from Kahuku to Kalihi. A number of people who could not get out because of disability or illness, participated at home.

The gatherings lasted about two hours and, in addition to the rosary, included Marian prayers, hymns and the litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The participants also held signs carrying portions of the Blessed Mother’s message.

In organizing and promoting the event, Elefante visited 29 parishes, wrote letters to the bishop and pastors. The bishop gave her encouragement. So did most priests, though some preferred that their parishes not be involved. She gained as the event’s spiritual advisor, Sister Rosario Tuvida, a Dominican Sister of the Most Holy Rosary from St. Elizabeth School in Aiea.

Elefante also printed up the prayer sheets, paid for advertising and ordered rosaries.

Other unrelated rosary events were organized on Oahu to mark the anniversary. Bishop Larry Silva led the Marian prayer at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace the evening before. Later in the afternoon on Oct. 13, a couple hundred people prayed the beads at Thomas Square in Honolulu.

Maui also had about 40 people, organized by Jacob Taguchi and Norm Franco, praying the rosary in front of the War Memorial Gym in Wailuku. The Maui Portuguese Cultural Club got together the next day, Oct. 14, to say the rosary at Iao Valley’s Portuguese Heritage Pavilion.

Mary’s message of Fatima is one urging penance, conversion and prayer — particularly the rosary.

America Needs Fatima organized the national event to have the rosary prayed at 1,000 public sites. The organization also planned to place a rose with the name of each rally captain at the Fatima site itself.

At a dinner meeting at Sizzler’s Pearlridge, the day after the rosary rally, enthusiastic rally captains renewed their commitment to the message of Fatima and their eagerness to continue the public event yearly, every October, the month of the rosary.

Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 (Archive on Friday, November 30, 2007)