Welcome message
Benvenuti—welcome to La Chiesa del Santo Rosario, Holy Rosary Parish! Founded in 1909 as a “national parish” to serve the city’s Italian immigrants, “the Italian Parish of Indianapolis” has no designated geographic boundaries.
Our founding pastor, Msgr. Marino Priori, wrote: “Venite, dopo una settimana di cure terrene…rigenerate il vostro spirito alle fonti della grazia.” Msgr. Priori invited all to come to Holy Rosary “after a week of earthly cares to regenerate one’s spirit at the sources of grace.” Today, as then, our Italian Parish serves the needs of people from all over the city and beyond. It is a source of grace through the sacraments for all who come.
If people don’t know where our church is located, they all seem to know the Italian Street Festival. To me, our parish festival is a symbol for all that Holy Rosary is. The street festival is a display of Italian heritage and Faith. Our parishioners cannot be outdone in their generosity and service to the parish. There are people from all over the city and beyond at the festival; there is a warm spirit of community. And the heart of the festival is the religious Marian Procession and Mass. The street festival, like the parish, is rooted in and is an expression of our Catholic Faith.
Holy Rosary is also a very unique place and, in my opinion, could serve as a model for every parish in the United States and beyond in time. Along with the very traditional and reverent celebration of Mass in the Ordinary Form – often celebrated “ad orientem,” Holy Rosary is also the home of the Extraordinary Form, aka the “Traditional Latin Mass.” But all who are registered parishioners at Holy Rosary, regardless of the Mass Form they might predominantly attend, are united into one parish. There is no special, separate “community” for those who attend the Extraordinary Form. Both forms exist side by side, and this arrangement works very well. Many who might usually attend one form quite frequently attend the other. Just at the Church is One, so Holy Rosary Parish is one.
Because Holy Rosary is not a “territorial” parish, one can become a parishioner regardless of where one lives. It is also possible to have dual membership, i.e., membership at Holy Rosary and membership at, for example, one’s home town parish. Just as many come great distances once a year to attend the festival, many also come from great distances for a much better reason – the Mass, regardless of form. Holy Rosary is a vibrant parish with some 450 entities. Yes, there are many organizations and activities, among them a terrific Knights of Columbus Council and a top notch religious education program. But the most important things at Holy Rosary, those things around which everything else is in orbit, are Christ, the Mass and Our Blessed Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary.
In the words of my immediate predecessor, Monsignor Joseph Schaedel, “Providence continues to bless and prosper Holy Rosary. To me and to all of us, that comes as no surprise. Of one thing I am convinced; of one thing I am certain: Providence never fails!”
Faithfully and gratefully yours in God’s Providence,
Rev. Michael W. Magiera, Administrator