In Boulder, Colorado, a group of volunteers gathers weekly at a nursing home to pray the rosary with those who live there. The residents who join for the prayer don’t have to be Catholic; and for a resident named Warren, the Rosary provided an invaluable space in which he encountered the faith in a new light. He entered the Church just before Easter this year, shortly before his death.
Warren, who was raised Methodist, first heard about Catholicism through a childhood friend, according to a March 17 Denver Catholic article by Teresa Rodriguez, founder of the rosary volunteer group, the Rosary Team.
His journey to Catholicism had been unfolding for decades. He said “the seed was planted when I was very young,” noting that seeing his friend and her Catholic family left an impact on him.
Rodriguez told Zeale News in an email that the ministry “walks with residents like Warren on their spiritual journey by providing consistent prayer visits, companionship, and hope in their final years.”
>> ‘I don’t have to pray alone tonight’: Ministry prays weekly rosary with nursing home residents <<
When Warren began joining Rosary Team meetings at his residency at the senior care facility, Boulder Canyon, he described it as “eye-opening.”
"I have admired the people who make up this group,” he said, according to Rodriguez. “I listen to them, and their care for other people.”
Over the course of several years, he grew in appreciation for the steady community built with those who came — both the Catholic residents and the volunteers.
According to Rodriguez, “Warren found himself moved not just by the prayers, but by the people offering them.”
Warren said that each meeting “made me more appreciative of my own family and being there for them. I wanted to be like them.”
Rodriguez wrote that the Rosary also supported Warren through a difficult season of his life, as he lost his mother and his brother in a short timeframe. The Rosary offered him spiritual refuge amid the grief, as well as an opportunity for interior reconciliation with his brother.
Rodriguez wrote that Warren said quietly, “The Rosary has brought me to a better opinion of my brother,” explaining that their tensions had gone back years.
“I have always hoped to become a better person,” Warren added. “The prayers have led me closer to God.”
After years of walking with the Rosary Team, Warren decided to join the Church.
Rodriguez told Zeale News that Warren was welcomed into the Catholic Church Feb. 22. He received the sacraments for the first time on the first Sunday of Lent, she said.
Just weeks later, during the Easter Octave, Warren passed away.
Rodriguez emphasized the beauty of his journey in his final stage of life, and reflected on how the ministry assisted him.
“Through weekly Rosary visits, volunteers brought the powerful love of Christ to him, and connected him to his Christian faith,” Rodriguez said, “which can often be overlooked when physical needs take priority in a secular care environment.”
“In a season that can often feel isolating, Rosary Team visits offer peace and joy through a rare opportunity for residents to be engaged on a spiritual level,” she added. “Above all, this ministry bears witness to Warren's inherent worth as one made in the image of God.”