On the last Thursday of each month, Marion Mulhall, founder of Worldpriest Global Apostolate, organizes “Rosary Thursday” online and invites Catholics from throughout the world to pray the Luminous Mysteries for the sanctification of priests.

On a summer Thursday, Valerie Parzyck of the Diocese of Burlington’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis was one of those leading the prayers.

“I was extremely honored that Marion thought of me to help with this,” said Parzyck, who met her about a year ago through Parzyck’s rosary apostolate in the Diocese of Burlington. Mulhall asked Parzyck if the Diocese would participate in the Rosary Relay in June, which Vermonters did. “It was so cool that the founder of an international rosary ministry in Dublin, Ireland, discovered our little videos all the way in Burlington, Vermont. It makes our Catholic world so small,” Parzyck said.

In 2002 Pope John Paul II invited Catholics to pray the Mysteries of Light on Thursdays. These mysteries focus on the public life of Jesus – the Light of the world. Included are Jesus’s baptism, the wedding feast of Cana, His revealing of God’s Kingdom, His Transfiguration and the Institution of the Eucharist.

A special guest for the Global Rosary Thursday in which Parzyck participated was Father Michael Ruddy, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the order to which St. Damien of Molokai belonged. St. Damien worked with Joseph Dutton, a Stowe native. He “was excited when I said I was from Vermont and knew all about Joseph Dutton” and others associated with the Green Mountain State, said Parzyck, a parishioner of St. Francis Xavier Church in Winooski.

“Another person who was praying that day with me was Bishop Robert Muhiirawa who is the Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Portal in Uganda. Like I said, it was just really cool how small the world became and amazing how we were joined together in prayer with miles and miles between us,” she added.

WorldPriest was established by a group of lay people who are experts in advertising, communications and social media to provide for the advancement of the Catholic faith by developing and maintaining a central resource website to support the various aspects of the priestly ministry, facilitate the renewal and strengthening of the Catholic faith worldwide especially with the Annual Global Rosary Relay for priests.

“I am a strong believer in the rosary and its healing power and strengthening of faith and want to encourage more people to recite it often or to learn how to pray it,” Parzyck said.

For more information go to worldpriest.com/every-thursday-rosary-Thursday.