Davenport, Iowa, USA (Monday, 05-25-2015, Gaudium Press) U.S. Army chaplain Father William Kneemiller has launched a project called Holy Land Military Rosary project. His vision is to see thousands of men and women in the military praying the Rosary.
Joseph Pronechen, form National Catholic Register, reports that Father Kneemiller, who is currently on duty in the Middle East and holds the rank of major, would like to distribute the free rosaries to as many chaplains and servicemen and women as possible.
His project, which he founded while pastor of St. Joseph parish in his home diocese of Davenport, Iowa, has two main goals.
“One is to give these rosaries to military chaplains so that the military [members] have a little piece of the Holy Land, especially those in harm’s way,” Father Kneemiller said in a phone conversation from his current assignment.
As a member of the Army Reserves, this is his third deployment since 2004, the others being Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It [this rosary] is perfect for that because the cord is military-grade parachute,” he said. He often loosely paraphrases Isaiah’s prophecy that swords will be turned into plowshares (2:4) as “Parachute cords will be turned into rosary cords.”
His second main goal is for the family to pray the Rosary for peace. “If we don’t have a conversion of the heart and prayer of the heart,” he explained, “we won’t have any real, substantive change. That’s why the parish mission and praying of the family Rosary is so important. It’s the continuing vision of Father [Patrick] Peyton.” Father Peyton, who is a Servant of God, founded the Family Rosary apostolate (FamilyRosary.org).
Once they heard Father Kneemiller’s aims, members of Sts. Mary and Mathias Church in Muscatine, Iowa, made and gave 650 “Holy Land Military Rosaries” to each child in the parish school and religious-education program, plus to teachers and volunteers.
With information from National Catholic Register
