St. Charles Borromeo Launches ‘Operation Christian’ To Blanket Military Men And Women In Prayer

Story and Photos By Beth Donze
Kids Clarion

Two events converged over the Christmas break to grab the attention of St. Charles Borromeo religion teacher Lisa Benoit.

First, the New Year’s Eve attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad reminded Benoit – and the entire nation – of the continuing  vulnerability of U.S. service men and women deployed in the Middle East.

Secondly, Jan. 5 marked the nine-year anniversary of the death of U.S. Army soldier Christian Romig of Kenner, a relative of one of Benoit’s seventh graders.

So, on Epiphany – Jan. 6 – Benoit and her students launched “Operation Christian” in Romig’s name. The prayer effort has St. Charles Borromeo’s middle school students praying 100 rosaries every schoolday for the protection of active American troops, and for any military family in need of prayerful support.

To pull off their mission, the young people pray half the rosary with Benoit at the beginning of their daily religion class, and then divide up the remainder of the rosary to pray at the start of each of their other classes.

Reciting half the rosary – or 2 1/2 decades – takes about 10 minutes of class time, Benoit said.

“We decided that we could cover our military in a blanket of prayers, and by doing that, we could go to the Blessed Mother, and in her intercession she could keep our troops safe,” said Benoit, noting that her students sent out a call on Facebook to collect names of deployed military so they can be personally covered in a “blanket” of prayerful protection.

“We’ve got names from our parishioners, our parents and (from) people all over the country – and from as far away as Germany,” Benoit said.

By mid-January, the students had said a whopping 900 rosaries, with a plan to continue their campaign through the Mardi Gras break. To remind themselves of their pledge, they have donned army-green ankle bracelets for the duration of the drive.

“Our prayer is for (our military’s) protection, but our prayer is also that they see God working in their lives, so when they are in these difficult situations, these stressful situations, they can call on God and they can see God,” Benoit said. “They’re not alone. God is walking through this with them.”

The rosary – and prayer in general – is at the heart of St. Charles Borromeo’s Catholic identity, Benoit notes. Students and faculty pray regularly, openly and sometimes publicly.

“We are so in tune with our prayer life, because as a private, Catholic school, prayer is one gift that we have that other (schools) unfortunately don’t have. So we use that (gift),” she said.

Signs are placed along River Road inviting travelers to stop and pray during the school’s outdoor rosaries and prayer services, which include a walking rosary along the levee on Holy Thursday, for which students still dressed in their Passion Play costumes lead the procession, watch a movie about Christ and attend the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper together.

“It’s just such a powerful tool to use the rosary. The Blessed Mother gave us that, and it’s such a tool against the evils of the world,” Benoit said. “The devil doesn’t just work through red horns and a cape. He works through apathy – ‘I’m gonna give you this iPhone to play with instead of spending time with your family,’ (or) ‘I’m gonna give you YouTube to look at Sunday morning instead of going to church.’”

“We just need our kids to reconnect to God without having to have some tragedy come about in their life, and that’s what the rosary does: it helps to remind us that we have a physical connection to heaven.”

Seventh grader Carter Ory, St. Charles Borromeo’s student chaplain, has a special connection to the rosary effort through his mother, the first cousin of the late Christian Romig. A few months ago, Carter started saying one decade of the rosary at night, which he says suits his late bedtime.

“One rosary can do a lot. It reminds you how close you can be to God and how close you should be to God,” Carter said. “And it just helps people who need help, and people who aren’t close to God, who don’t know God.”

Seventh grader Mary Agate said the project is an ideal way kids in her age group, who have limited funds, can help others in need.

“(Young people) can’t really do anything physically, but they can do a lot spiritually,” Mary said. “Praying the rosary makes us feel useful, that we can do something that can really help and make a big difference.”

To enroll a loved one in the rosary effort, email Lisa Benoit at [email protected].