‘My first Hail Mary in 45 years’

‘Rosary Team’ brings prayer to memory care residents

Rosary Team volunteers pray with residents at a memory care facility. (Courtesy photo/The Rosary Team)

By Francesca Pollio Fenton

Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Colorado--Teresa Rodriguez was working as a hospice nurse in Boulder, Colorado, where she saw patients at a memory care facility, when she realized her patients were not being offered any spiritual services. While speaking with a patient and the patient’s husband one day, the idea was proposed of organizing a time to pray the Rosary. Rodriguez immediately decided to make that happen.

“That day I talked to the activities director … and she was thrilled. [She was] so excited that we would even consider coming in and praying with the residents,” Rodriguez told CNA in an interview. 

At the time, Rodriguez was leading a Bible study at her parish, Sacred Heart of Mary in Boulder. She asked the women in her Bible study if anyone would be willing to volunteer to pray the Rosary with patients at a memory care facility. Two of them volunteered to go with her. 

The event was quickly a success. What started as a once-a-week event quickly became twice a week, and then three times. Rodriguez placed bulletin announcements in the surrounding Colorado parishes and was able to gather more volunteers.

Melanie McClanahan, a Rosary Team volunteer, with a resident. (Photo/Mike Jensen)

This marked the beginning of what is now known as the Rosary Team (therosaryteam.org), which was established in 2019 and currently comprises over 500 volunteers in 18 states.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rosary Team held Zoom rosaries that were broadcast throughout the facilities. Once they began to reopen, Rodriguez reached back out to facilities to see if they could hold in-person rosaries again, and, much to her surprise, there was even more excitement about having individuals come in to pray the rosary with the residents. 

Over the years, Rodriguez has had many moving experiences with residents at the memory care facilities. 

“One that really got to me was I was praying with one resident and she said to me after we were done praying, ‘That’s the first Hail Mary I’ve prayed in 45 years,’” Rodriguez recalled. 

She added that at times, they encounter residents who cannot speak or can only say a few words. “Then, all of a sudden, we start praying the rosary with them, and they say the prayers of the rosary out loud.”

Teresa Rodriguez, founder of the Rosary Team, with her mom, Marian Buchheit. (Courtesy photo/Paul Buchheit)

Melanie McClanahan, a Rosary Team volunteer, said her time volunteering with the ministry “has been a miracle in my life, and I see how it is a miracle in the lives of others. I have watched people heal, including myself; I have seen family members come together, and I have watched people who weren’t sure about their beliefs grow in their love of Jesus and their devotion to our Blessed Mother.”

When asked why it’s so important to work with the elderly and those with memory impairments, Rodriguez said, “The elderly are quiet, and we don’t see them often — due to their health issues and limited mobility — and they can be easily forgotten, especially when they’re in facilities, not out at our parishes, not in our neighborhoods, or not in the grocery stores. They’re such an easy group to forget, and we don’t want to forget them.”

“This is a pro-life issue in pro-life ministry, that we need to take care of people from conception to natural death, and this is a part of caring for them and, you know, acknowledging them, and giving them love,” she added.

Rodriguez said she hopes that this ministry is impacting both volunteers and residents, and that “the faith and love for God grows through the Rosary Team, and through the volunteers and the residents praying together.”