To the Editor,
Ss. Mary & Mathias Parish in Muscatine is hosting an auction for the Holy Land Military Rosary Project May 17. The auction day includes a spaghetti dinner and a series of surprises .
I am currently in the midst of my third deployment to the Middle East. A few months ago, my call came; I was told there was a need for a Catholic chaplain team to travel extensively around the Middle East to provide Catholic coverage. I spent several weeks in Kuwait, south of Iraq, and am serving in some areas where the U.S. is keeping an important, but low-key military presence.
As I consider an auction that will help our rosary “factory,” I believe that this is part of a larger spiritual battle. I recall this St. Padre Pio quote: “The rosary is a weapon for our times.” The Holy Land Military Rosary has an olive-wood crucifix made in Bethlehem, and when we carry this “little piece of the Holy Land” with us, we are connected with the life and redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Regarding the Muscatine auction, there is still time to donate! Little funds go a long way — first by buying crucifixes from Catholic Christian families in Bethlehem, then also helping extremely needy families in Haiti who will assemble the rosaries (supplies are delivered by the ServeHaiti Medical group). The produce from this “rosary factory” is sent around the world to military chaplains, and also to Catholic parishes to help promote the daily recitation of the holy rosary.
For this purpose, I wanted to encourage farmers and towns folk to consider donating something that might be gathering dust in a barn or attic. Turn that rusty machinery or a dusty painting in an attic into rosary gold! To make a donation call Michelle Schaapveld at (563) 554-9539.
Father Bill Kneemiller
