ROSELAND, Neb. (AP) - For more than 20 years, Monica Mousel of Roseland has been counting and stringing prayer beads together.
The 73-year-old is stepping down from the K-6 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) summer program at Assumption Catholic Church, a program she has headed for 15 years whose activities have included making rosaries for missionaries to disperse among the impoverished.
But don’t expect her to stop making rosaries anytime soon. The practice has become part of her identity through the years, she said.
“It’s just time for new blood, new ideas,” she said of her decision to relinquish her post. “We definitely have some young, married ladies interested and it is exciting to see their interest. And so I thought, ’Hey, this is the time.’ “
Her commitment to fashioning rosaries for the less fortunate will likely keep her involved in the summer program in some capacity, though she intends to keep her work station at home as busy as ever regardless of other commitments.
“Oh, you betcha!” she said when asked if her rosary making days would continue. “As long as my fingers work! The way I look at it, it’s God’s work. There’s a purpose behind it.”
A lifelong Catholic, Mousel grew up praying the rosary. The oldest of six children, she remembers gathering with the family to pray the devotional prayers centered around the life of Jesus each Lenten season. The practice was also commonplace during her eight years at Assumption Catholic School in Roseland.
“As Catholics, Mary is really important to us,” she said. “She is an inspiration to us for the life she lived and what she did with Jesus.”
Through the years, her two daughters and two grandchildren have helped her string rosary beads together at home.
She has lost count of how many units she has assembled through the years, though it’s safe to say it numbers somewhere in the tens of thousands at least. Supplies are ordered from an out-of-state supplier and include treated cord, plastic crucifix, and various colored plastic beads.
“Our summer school program made over 423 this year in a week’s time,” she said. “It’s a good pastime for me.”
While most of the rosaries she makes are basic black, white or brown, the multi-colored beads she keeps on hand are quite popular among the youngsters who help string them together.
Comprised of five groups of 10 beads - with additional large beads before each decade - the rosaries are always well received when they are handed out to youngsters by nuns each year at a mission visited by Hastings students in Gallup, New Mexico.
“We’re not just handing them out like candy,” Mousel said. “It’s something the sisters are teaching them to use, and they’re excited about it. That’s the response I get from the high school kids in our mission program who have been there.”
By this point, the stringing process has become as second nature to her as the prayers that accompany each devotion, she said.
“I can make one in eight minutes,” she said. “That tells me that it is easy.”
She keeps several rosaries on hand to accommodate her daily - and sometimes even more frequent - recitation of the prayer - including one in each family vehicle and a few in each pocket. Her designation as “The Rosary Lady” among friends and family is one she embraces with a humble and thankful heart.
“Sometimes I’m called that, yes,” she said. “It’s heartwarming. What better way can you be looked at, you know?”
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Information from: Hastings Tribune, https://www.hastingstribune.com
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