Jim Caviezel: “God Remembers, God NEVER Forgets

The credo of Rosary Priest Fr. Patrick Peyton,“The Family that prays together stays together” was brought back to thousands praying the Rosary at the Rosary Bowl at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in August 2007, in the most incredibly poignant way.

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“The family that prays together stays together”

There was nary a dry eye in the crowd when “The Passion of the Christ” star Jim Caviezel came to the end of his brief but inspiring account of how he had unknowingly met and had his confession heard by Fr. Peyton in 1991. Seeing a sign reading “The family that prays together stays together” while driving in what Caviezel described as a “seedy part of town”, his subsequent knock on the door was answered by an elderly and visibly frail priest.

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As you can hear in the video, the then troubled, “lost in my thoughts” aspiring actor never knew it was Fr. Peyton who had heard his confession in 1991 until after his visit a decade later to Fr. Willy Raymond at Family Theatre in L.A. The Family Theatre Film Production Company and the sign that drew Caviezel in, are there to this day at 7201 Sunset Boulevard. And Rosary Bowls, like the one planned for Ottawa this August, continue to draw thousands, world wide. Canada’s first Rosary Bowl will be held on August 22 at TD Place Stadium in Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. “At its simplest and most obvious, the Rosary Bowl is public recitation of the rosary, and will include a brief address by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa and Bishop Pierre-Olivier Tremblay of Trois-Rivières, Quebec. (LifesiteNews, July 12, 2019)

“But there’s much more to the story than that, says Dennis Girard. “Indeed, the Girards did not include the Rosary Bowl when they put together a five-day pilgrimage from Ottawa to Canada’s preeminent Marian shrine at Cap-de-la-Madeleine, home of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of the Cape, who also bears the title of Our Lady of the Rosary, he told LifeSiteNews. “Rather, they planned only that pilgrims would visit the site of the massive five-day 1947 Marian Congress, when Canada’s bishops consecrated the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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“That site is now the stadium for the Ottawa Redblacks football team, and Girard envisioned pilgrims strolling the grounds and comparing it to a black-and-white image of the historic Congress, which was attended by more than 1.5 million pilgrims, and numerous  prelates, including Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York and Cardinal József Mindszenty of Hungary.

“But then the VP of communications for TD Place suggested the Girards actually use the stadium. “So he emailed the Redblacks, found out when their practice ends, and said, ‘I can give you the field for free between 2 and 3, on the feast of the Queenship of Mary,” Girard said. “Can you imagine? So we’ve got this hour window on the feast of the Queenship of Mary, where we’re coming to pray the rosary,” he told LifeSiteNews. “We are returning to the exact holy ground where our country was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1947 and we’re bringing a Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of the Cape,” Girard said.”

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“But Girard’s essential message, he told LifeSiteNews, is to encourage Catholics to enroll in the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. “After all, it was to these Confraternities that Pope Pius V turned with his urgent plea to pray the rosary as Christian forces fought the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, and “it actually saved Europe,” Girard pointed out.  “We’re building a digital bridge of rosaries across the world...and this very, very much relates to the pro-life movement,” Girard said.  For more information on the Lansdowne Rosary Bowl, go here. For more information or to enrol in the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, go here.

Meanwhile it is more than just comforting to know that God never forgot Fr. Patrick Peyton, CSC; that our Creator won’t forget Jim Caviezel, and not a single one of any of those who believe in Him. As Jim Caviezel tells us: “Be not afraid.” “God remembers”, God NEVER forgets!”

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