The Catholic Review has the story of an Annapolis woman whose campaign to make rosaries for Catholic members of the armed forces has spread in the last six years to 25 parishes nationwide and is nearing its 300,000th set of the prayer beads.

“It’s amazing,” Pat Evans tells reporter George P. Matysek Jr. “This just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

Made from Army green, Navy blue and black beads strung on parachute cords, the plastic Ranger Rosaries don’t reflect light or rattle. Matysek quotes a chaplain stationed in Iraq on their importance to the soldiers in his Army National Guard unit.

“They especially find it a comfort to carry one when they go on missions outside the wire,” Chaplain Jesse Vega wrote to Evans. “They all know that there is a possibility that they won’t be coming back, and I think it helps them to focus on their faith and gives them a spiritual assurance.”

Evans, a parishioner of St. Mary’s Church in Annapolis, says a shortage of Catholic chaplains means many service members never see a priest.

“The rosary is a bridge or link to their Catholicism,” she said. “Mary wants to be with her children – especially those in harm’s way.”

The Sun wrote about Pat Evans' efforts in 2007. Pictured above are two volunteers then, Elsie Ornburn (left) and Caroline Avery both of Annapolis.

(Photo by The Baltimore Sun)