Holy Name Society’s Radio Rosary: 75 years and counting

Back in 1946 – in response to the Blessed Mother’s request at Fatima to pray the rosary for world peace – New Orleans Archbishop Joseph Rummel asked the local Holy Name Society to launch a daily radio rosary broadcast.

For more than 75 years, the longest-tenured radio rosary apostolate in the U.S. has been filling the airwaves with the mysteries of the rosary, said Anthony Smith, former president of the archdiocesan Holy Name Society and a member of Christ the King Parish in Terrytown.

The local radio rosary ministry has been so resolute that the National Association of the Holy Name Society honored the archdiocesan Union of Holy Name Societies for its longevity. A commemorative plaque will be installed at St. Dominic Church in the National Shrine of Blessed John of Vercelli, the Dominican master general who founded the Holy Name Society in 1274.

14 church parishes rotate

Fourteen Holy Name chapters – 13 in the archdiocese and one in the Baton Rouge Diocese – rotate reciting the rosary every weekday at 6 p.m. on WVOG (600 AM). A pre-recorded rosary recited by local Catholics is used on the evenings when a local Holy Name group is not available, meaning the rosary is broadcast seven days a week.

And, Smith said, the radio rosary has participants from across the world who access the prayers on WVOG’s website (www.600WVOG.com).

“To our knowledge, we’re the only city that has done this for more than 75 years,” Smith said. “We might be the oldest in the world.”

The local radio rosary started in 1946 when Holy Name members drove to a downtown radio station and recited the rosary in the studio. WSMB (1350 AM), with headquarters in the Maison Blanche Building on Canal Street, took over the rosary broadcasts a few years later.

The rosary moved to WVOG in 1982. The rosary now is recited each evening at the respective parish, using a speaker phone.

“My dad used to bring me to the radio station (WSMB), and I actually studied to be a priest for four years,” said Bob Rauch, a former Holy Name president and a member of St. Christopher the Martyr Parish in Metairie. “It affected everything about the Catholic faith for me, and it remained with me my entire life, especially with a special dedication to the Blessed Mother. We used to say the rosary as a family. For years and years, we did that every night.”

Rauch said the rosary resonates with him through its structure of silence and meditation. “The scriptural rosary tells us the life of Jesus,” he said.

Father’s love for the rosary

Vince Petreikis, the current Holy Name president, started the Holy Name Society at Most Holy Trinity Parish in Covington. He was born to a Lithuanian immigrant in Massachusetts and recalled how his father, who was hard-working but never rich, was stopped one day by a police officer when he was standing at a bus stop waiting for transportation to a work site.

His father had one hand in his pocket and one hand out, thumbing for a ride to save the bus fare.

“A cop thought my father looked suspicious and asked him what he was holding in his hand in his pocket,” Petreikis recalled. “He removed his hand, and in it he had the rosary beads that he was praying on. The cop felt bad and went on his way.”

Petreikis’ father would always take his son to Holy Name meetings and to the  wake services for Holy Name members.

“I remember kneeling in front of a casket with the deceased person inside, who I didn’t even know, saying a prayer for their soul to rest in peace,” Petreikis said. “I was just a child, but this stands out in my mind. When I hear my neighbors saying the rosary on the radio, I feel a part of their life and know that this is a universal church. I get a feeling of community.”

The 13 parishes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans that recite the rosary are St. Maria Goretti, St. Katharine Drexel, Our Lady of the Rosary, Blessed Sacrament and St. Dominic in New Orleans; St. Christopher the Martyr, St. Benilde and St. Clement of Rome in Metairie; St. Matthew the Apostle in River Ridge; Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Kenner; Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Westwego; Most Holy Trinity in Covington; and Christ the King in Terrytown.

The Holy Name Society of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Baton Rouge also prays the rosary. The Holy Name Society, which now is open to female members, hopes to strengthen its numbers.

A spiritual booster shot

“The rosary helps broaden your spiritual life,” Smith said. “Actually, the Holy Name Society is what got me participating in the church, other than just going to Mass on Sundays,” Smith said. “I started becoming a more active part of everything. I’ve made a personal vow to myself that I will do everything in my power to keep this on the radio.”

For more information on the radio rosary or on how to join the Holy Name Society, contact Smith at (504) 481-3407 or Rauch at (504) 831-3488 or go to www.noauhns.org.

pfinney@clarionherald.org