20,000 Strong: A Family United Through the Rosary
By Ashley Ebben
Twenty thousand members. Twenty thousand people united in a family of prayer. Twenty thousand unique stories of Catholics turning to the mysteries of Christ through one of the Church’s most cherished devotions to Our Blessed Mother: the Rosary.
Five years ago, on October 7, 2021, on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion established a sodality of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. This year The Shrine recently reached a significant milestone as its chapter of the Confraternity welcomed its 20,000th member.
The milestone represents much more than a number. Each enrollment represents another person joining a worldwide spiritual family committed to praying the Rosary and lifting up the intentions of fellow members.
The Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary is an international association of Catholics devoted to honoring Our Lady through the Rosary. Members strive to pray three Rosaries a week and include the intentions of fellow Confraternity members in their prayers. Through this family of prayer, members share in the prayers and good works of fellow members around the world and of the Dominican Order.
For Grace Kuehl of North Dakota, becoming The Shrine chapter’s 20,000th member was a chance to dive deeper into her lifelong relationship with the Rosary.
Grace grew up praying the Rosary and today rarely goes anywhere without one. She said the prayer has become a source of peace, especially during moments of anxiety.
“It calms me down when I pray it.”
For her, the Rosary is not simply a devotion reserved for a certain time of day. It has become something she carries with her through everyday life.
Her devotion also extends to praying for others. Following the death of a loved one, Grace prays the Rosary for nine days for the repose of that person’s soul. She views the Rosary as a powerful spiritual weapon and as a prayer desperately needed in the world today.
“If this is the answer for a peaceful world,” Grace said, “then why not pray the Rosary?”
A Journey to Champion
Grace’s connection to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion began years before she became its 20,000th Confraternity member.
In 2018, she made what she described as a bold decision to join a pilgrimage, rooming with a woman she had only just met. During that trip, her roommate told her about a Wisconsin pilgrimage that included a visit to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. It was the first time Grace had heard about Our Lady of Champion.
This year, Grace finally made a solo journey from North Dakota to Champion for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15th.
Throughout the long drive, she prayed the Rosary for a safe trip and successful pilgrimage. When she arrived at The Shrine and saw the opportunity to enroll in a Rosary Confraternity and decided to join saying, “I wanted to join to have something to be a part of.”
Part of what drew her was simple: she wanted something to belong to, a community united by a prayer that had already become such an important part of her life.
That enrollment happened to make Grace the 20,000th person enrolled in The Shrine’s chapter.
Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
On Oct. 7, we will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary with an enrollment in the Rosary Confraternity, a Rosary procession, and more. It will be a day of gratitude, prayer, and joyful celebration not only of a number, but a reminder that the Rosary is powerful.
Membership requires no dues or meetings. Instead, its foundation is prayer: members strive to pray three rosaries each week while remembering the intentions of their fellow members. The commitment does not bind under pain of sin, but rather invites members into a deeper and more consistent life of prayer.
That means just like Grace you could join and be connected in prayer with thousands of men and women whose names you may never know but whose intentions you can carry each time you pray the Rosary.
And Grace has already seen how that devotion can spread from one person to another.
Reaching 20,000 members is therefore both a reason to celebrate and an invitation to continue.
There is room for member 20,001 and 20,002.
Whether you have prayed the Rosary your entire life or have not picked up your beads in years, Grace’s advice is moving: If it is a prayer the world needs, pray it.
Join thousands of Catholics united in prayer through the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, and allow Our Lady to lead you closer to Her Son.
Learn more and join the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary