Monthly men’s Rosary initiative takes root in Scotland’s capital

(LifeSiteNews) – A Catholic men’s prayer initiative has spread to Scotland.

Thanks to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children Scotland digital editor William Currie and translator Sam Ho, Catholic men are now gathering once a month to pray at Edinburgh’s Festival Square.

The first rally was on August 31, attracting dozens of men and a few women supporters who stood by as the men knelt on the hard pavement. Father Gerard Hatton was on hand to bless the gathering and display a relic of St. Andrew, Scotland’s patron saint.

“Sam and I were inspired to start a Men’s Rosary Rally here in Edinburgh after seeing inspiring scenes of Catholic men in Ireland, Poland and Australia on their knees in prayer right in the centre of their cities,” Currie told LifeSiteNews.

“There is something particularly powerful about men getting together and asking their Heavenly Mother for Her intercession,” he averred. “Scotland, like any other Western nation, needs help from Heaven.”

Currie volunteered that neither he nor Sam are from Scotland, and videos from the event show that it was quite a multi-national gathering, particularly popular with Polish expats. However, they have all made Scotland their home, the pro-life activist said, and they “want to see it become a nation that recognizes that Christ is its King.”

“Through this public Rosary, we hope to promote fraternity amongst Catholic men, to encourage onlookers to reflect on the faith and to see Scotland converted,” he said.

Meanwhile, Currie does have a familial connection to the Scottish capital.

“My Mum is from Edinburgh and so it’s a city that’s always been dear to me,” he added. “And with her late father being a convert to the Catholic faith, our faith is a gift that we make sure not to take for granted.”

Sam Ho told LifeSiteNews that the inaugural Edinburgh Men’s Rosary Rally was preceded by a witness against the blasphemies at the Paris Olympics.

“I first organized a public rosary with friends and strangers outside the French Consulate in Edinburgh as reparation after the blasphemous Paris Olympics opening ceremony,” he recalled. “Afterwards, some participants and the Catholic journalist Sachin Jose encouraged me to organize a regular Rosary rally for Scotland.”

Sachin put Ho in touch with Owen Gallagher, the organizer of Men’s Rosary Rallies in Ireland. After hearing how the rallies developed in different countries, Ho spoke to Currie and a friend, Marcello, and the three men began to organize one for Scotland based on the Irish model.

Praying the Rosary publicly is never for the faint of heart these days, but it is particularly daunting in a country where only 15 percent of the population is Catholic and sectarianism is not yet a distant memory.

“We were nervous about praying publicly in the historically anti-Catholic Scotland, but at the same time we trusted in Our Lady’s protection and marched on as her soldiers to reclaim Scotland through prayers on our knees,” Ho told LifeSiteNews.

“Thankfully, a lot of men showed interest when we first started, so we knew we also had enough manpower to fend off attack if some anti-Catholic passersby tried to harass our peaceful prayer gathering.”

Happily, the Edinburgh Men’s Rosary Rally has so far sparked graced encounters.

“At the last rally, a non-practicing Protestant lady stopped by and asked what we were praying,” Ho reported.

“One of our participants then went up and explained the Rosary, in which she seems very interested, to her. A lot of men also inquired about our rallies after seeing our posters within the Archdiocese (of St. Andrews and Edinburgh) and are planning to bring more of their friends and family members.

The next Edinburgh Men’s Rosary Rally will be on Saturday, September 28, at 11 a.m. in the same place. As at the August meeting, the men will pray all 15 decades of the traditional Rosary. The intentions of the Rosary will be the conversion of Scotland, the strengthening of marriage and the family, and universal recognition of the sanctity of human life.