My name is Sam Shadle, and I have been involved with the national Rosary Congress USA organization since 2020 as a website/technology intern.  I’m a rising senior at Franciscan University of Steubenville; my two majors of Software Engineering/Mathematical Science Minor and Sacred Music/Voice Concentration pretty well express my main interest areas, but I also enjoy running and spending time with family and friends.

I first learned about the Rosary Congress around 2017, when the Pittsburgh Coordinator, a family friend, asked for my help on the regional website.  Recognizing my need for an internship for my IT degree, she referred me to the national organization.  Having seen the Pittsburgh Congress in action, I felt then what I am even more sure of now: something like this is exactly what the Church needs right now.

While the internship began with my redesigning and updating the website, it rapidly expanded in scope starting in March 2020 with the worldwide onset of COVID-19.  The rapid cessation of all in-person activities, including the Sacraments, the closure of churches, and the increasing uncertainty surrounding how long it would last and the long-term ramifications, were obviously highly destabilizing to the spiritual lives of everyone throughout the world, including myself.  Within a few weeks, almost no laypeople in the United States had access to the Eucharist, nor communal prayer of any kind.  During this time, I worked with the Rosary Congress leadership to host two Virtual Rosary Congresses, which were weeklong livestreams, broadcast online, that featured live Eucharistic Adoration with the Holy Rosary prayed every hour (just like a regular, in-person Congress), with talks and special presentations interspersed throughout.

This was by far the most meaningful thing I have yet been a part of with the Rosary Congresses, and I think it represents the best of what this organization is about.  Guided by the Holy Spirit, agile, and able to adapt to any situation, the Rosary Congress leadership delivered exactly what people needed then, and continues to make its mission exactly what the faithful need right now.  There are countless apostolates out there that talk in theory or emphasize community, but this one is lean and focused on what truly matters: getting people to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary via the greatest gifts the Church has given us: the Eucharist and the Rosary.

We currently find ourselves in a nationwide Eucharistic Revival.  The crisis of faith within the Church and the crisis of culture outside the Church make the pressing need for this Revival self-evident.  I believe that a Eucharistic Rosary Congress is an important part of effectuating this Revival in a diocese, for a couple of specific reasons:

• it brings the faithful together in a concentrated one-week “burst” of prayer, strengthening the community, and calls upon the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
• it can serve as a blueprint or proof-of-concept for starting Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in the parish(es) in which the Congress takes place, because the logistics and personnel required are similar;
• it is an opportunity for the faithful of the diocese to attend Eucharistic Adoration where there would otherwise be none, and an “event” which makes them more likely to attend.

The power of the Eucharistic Rosary Congresses lies in the purposeful simplicity of its pointed mission, which itself is exactly aligned with what is so needed in the Church today. The Eucharistic Rosary Congresses group has had an impact on me, and I’ve seen its impact on so many others.  I firmly believe every diocese should host a Rosary Congress and everyone should be involved!  I hope to stay involved myself and will continue to pray for the success of the ERC, and for everyone reading this, and ask for your prayers in exchange.  Thank you for reading, and, if you aren’t already involved, see what you can do to help with a Eucharistic Rosary Congress in your area!

In Christ,