Sept. 02, 2011: The Family Rosary Crusade in the Philippines is spearheading a campaign
to get 1 million Filipinos to pray 1 million rosaries in 200 days for all nations
in the world. Dubbed "A million roses for the world: Filipinos at Prayer: Peace
for All Nations," the campaign aims to rally Filipinos to offer one rosary each day
for a particular country in the world in 200 days. The nationwide activity will begin
on Oct. 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and end on May 31, 2012, the Feast
of Our Lady of All Nations. Bishop Nereo Odchimar, president of the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of the Philippines, lauded the campaign, saying that with 1 million peace-loving
Filipinos praying together, "we can claim peace for the world from the hands of the
good Lord and his mother." Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, director
of the Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education, which partners with
the Family Rosary Crusade, also encouraged the faithful to join a similar rosary campaign
for schools nationwide dubbed "1.1 on 11/11." This initiative will bring students
of Catholic schools, colleges and universities to pray simultaneously 1 million and
100 rosaries at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 2011. "This campaign aims to teach our youth that
prayer can change the world and people who pray can change the destinies of peoples,"
the archbishop said. "Indeed there can be no world peace without prayer."