Stone rosary leads to peace

Stepping stones allows students, staff, visitors to pray with their bodies

By D.B. STEWART
Special to the WCR
Manning

"It's a quiet area at our school and it emphasizes the power of prayer," says Rosary School's Principal Sheila Dillman.

It certainly does . . . all 250 feet of it. Although it has not yet received confirmation of its status as the world's largest rosary, it definitely looms large in the hearts of Rosary School's principal, staff and over 200 students who access the park site in Manning every day.

Situated next to the school's gymnasium, the park features a gazebo in the centre surrounded by stepping stones arranged in a rose formation.

Each stepping stone represents a bead in the rosary and thus it allows students, staff and visitors to pray the rosary in a new and meaningful way.

"Not only can they pray with their hands, but they can also pray with their bodies as they follow the stepping stone rosary path," Dillman said.

The project was initiated by George Taylor, a Rosary staff member who thought it could be a meaningful way to get in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Taylor was also the cameraman when a parent volunteer, who happens to be a helicopter pilot, flew him over the site to take a photograph.

The photo features every educator in the Holy Family Catholic Regional School Division on the rosary as one of the activities held at a back-to-school religion institute hosted by Rosary School.

Dillman explained that the activity was meant to demonstrate the awesome power of prayer and symbolize how working together in God's name is something all teachers do.

Constructed and funded by volunteers from the school, parish and community, stepping stones were purchased by families and some are dedicated to loved ones.

One special granite stone features Rosary School's historic Latin inscription: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. Due to its sheer size, the amount of love that went into this project and the opportunity it provides for prayer, this rosary certainly is intended "for the greater glory of God."

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