On October 12, the archdiocese of San Francisco, joined by the archdiocesan Hispanic Ministry, the Legion of Mary, Immaculate Heart Radio, Ignatius Press, and the Knights of Columbus will host San Francisco’s third Annual Rosary Rally. This year’s keynote speaker will be San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

The San Francisco Rosary Rally was reborn in 2011 in observation of the 50th anniversary of Father Patrick Peyton’s 1961 Rosary Crusade in Golden Gate Park, which drew half a million of the faithful. That event is still the largest gathering in San Francisco’s history.  While the 2011 Rosary Rally drew an estimated 2,000 Catholics, a far cry from Father Peyton’s crowd, the significant number of devoted Catholics in attendance provoked a correspondingly greater involvement by the archdiocese in the 2012 Rally.

By a lucky coincidence, the 2012 second annual Rosary Rally happened to be scheduled on the same day as the archdiocese’s annual Hispanic Day Mass, which is always celebrated at St. Mary’s Cathedral.  Following the Mass, a large number of Hispanic faithful joined the march and rally, and shouts of “Viva Cristo Rey!” filled UN Plaza. The 2012 keynote speakers were Father Mark Mary, of EWTN’s “Life on the Rock” (in English) and Father Moisés Agudo, the vicar for Spanish-speaking of the archdiocese of San Francisco (in Spanish).

This year the day will also begin with the 9:30 a.m. Hispanic Day Mass at the cathedral. Mass will be followed by will be a mile-long procession to UN Plaza, located by the intersections of Market and Seventh Streets. The faithful will bear images and statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Rosary, and the Immaculate Conception. An additional crowd of the faithful will already be at U.N. Plaza, praying the joyful mysteries of the Rosary and awaiting the arrival of the pilgrims from the Cathedral. At 12 noon the pilgrims will be welcomed, then there will be exposition of the Blessed Sacrament (O Salutaris); the luminous mysteries of the Rosary; Benediction (Tantum Ergo); and the keynote addresses  in Spanish and English by Archbishop Cordileone. The faithful will then recite the Nicene Creed, followed by the concluding blessing and a closing song.

This year’s master of ceremonies will be Monsignor James Tarantino, who closed last year’s rally with a fiery call to the New Evangelization: “Heaven demands that WE do it! Heaven demands a voice! You are that voice!” And, taking a page from World Youth Day, for the first time at the Rosary Rally there will be priests on hand to hear confession.

To learn more about the Rosary Rally, visit https://www.rosaryrallysf.com/