A worldwide movement encouraging children to pray the rosary in parishes has reached South Africa. The Children’s Rosary movement is active in 51 countries and growing. Günther Simmermacher spoke to the organisers.
What began as a small parish initiative in the US state of Connecticut has grown into one of the Catholic Church’s most widespread children’s prayer movements — and has now reached South Africa.
The Children’s Rosary, founded in 2011 in Hartford, Connecticut, by Dr Blyth Kaufman, encourages children between the ages of 4 and 14 to gather in parish groups to pray the rosary with simplicity, reverence and a missionary spirit. Today, groups meet regularly in more than 51 countries, from the United States and the Philippines to Nigeria and Madagascar — and now South Africa — forming a global network of children praying for peace, families and the Church.
Children’s Rosary representative Asher Kaufman, the youngest of Blyth’s three children, toured South Africa to introduce the concept in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Oudtshoorn, Aliwal North and De Aar.
The movement’s aim is simple, he said: to help children develop a deep love for prayer and Our Lady, and to renew parish life by placing children at the heart of communal intercession. Groups meet monthly or weekly, depending on local circumstances, and all follow the same structure: children lead the decades, adults may accompany them, and every group is spiritually connected through a shared intention that “all children come to know the peace and joy of friendship with Christ”.
The apostolate’s resources — free materials, instructional videos, newsletters and a global directory — are coordinated from its base in Connecticut, but the movement spreads largely through word of mouth, parish invitation and grassroots enthusiasm.
A missionary journey
Asher is on a year-long missionary trip around the world to promote the Children’s Rosary in Europe and Africa, including the DRC, Angola, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Madagascar. As part of his mission, he has distributed over 64000 handmade rosaries to children and met with Church leaders. In May and June, he is scheduled to be in Rome and Assisi, Italy.
His journey is part of a discernment process as he prepares to enter the seminary in Providence, Rhode Island, in September for the Archdiocese of Hartford.
Asher was impressed with the diversity of the Church in South Africa. “In each diocese I visited, I got a different slice of what it means to be a South African Catholic. I became aware of the great richness of this wonderful country,” he said.
“This mission of helping children to pray the rosary is something that everyone can be a part of and delight in,” he said. “As Catholics, we all share the profound desire to see our children become holy. Being able to share our experience in South Africa was something I will not forget.”
The Children’s Rosary was “born out of a call for help”, said Blyth Kaufman. Her parish was suffering an existential financial crisis and the priest was appealing for help. “In prayerful reflection on this call for help, I felt an inspiration to bring our children before Our Lady and Our Lord in the prayer of the rosary, because we know how strong and dear the prayers of children are, and how all heaven delights in them.”
The first meeting of the Children’s Rosary was on April 10, 2011. “The children knelt before a statue of Our Lady and prayed as a group for our parish and the intentions of Our Lady. That weekend a record collection was taken, surpassed only by Easter and Christmas for the remainder of the year,” Blyth recalled.
“In discussion with the parents, we decided to continue meeting as a prayer group, and thus the Children’s Rosary was born. The focus shifted from praying for our specific parish to supporting the prayer lives of the children and helping them to grow in holiness through the rosary.”
International breakthrough
An interview on EWTN in 2013 gave the Children’s Rosary wider exposure, and the first international group was formed in Kenya on June 8, 2013, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Shortly afterwards, another group was established in Timor-Leste.
Blyth’s three children were key to that initial success. “As a disabled mother who needs help with many everyday functions, due to a genetic condition affecting my joints, my ability to accomplish things myself is small. So my own weakness gives greater glory to God for all that has unfolded,” she said.
As the apostolate grew, “we’ve had to make a conscious effort to keep our family life in balance and also carefully protect prayer time”, Blyth said.
In the beginning, her children chipped in by packing and dispatching handmade rosaries around the world. “More people have stepped forward over the years to help both locally and internationally, and it is through their ‘yes’ that we have been able to reach more and more children. Last year, we sent out 97078 handmade rosaries to new and existing Children’s Rosary groups,” Blyth said.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life is also promoting the Children’s Rosary.
Rosary against social ills
Johannesburg-based Gail Walters has been appointed to represent the Children’s Rosary in South Africa. The parishioner of Victory Park is working across all nine provinces and soon in sub-Saharan Africa.
“In South Africa, we have a divided society facing major societal, economic and moral challenges, with many young people making wrong choices,” Gail said. “Choosing to pray the rosary at a very young age is keeping healthy roots alive. Blessed children build greater societies.”
She noted that “prayer is a perfect avenue to impart Christian values such as love, compassion, forgiveness, humanness, kindness and service. Children should learn at a young age that the rosary is a good weapon in life, not knives and guns.”
The benefit can be intergenerational, Asher said. “Rosary groups not only strengthen children’s prayer lives but also draw parents and grandparents back into active parish engagement. Many priests have noted that the presence of children praying together has a transformative effect on parish culture, fostering reverence, unity and a renewed Marian devotion.”
Gail said interest in South Africa has spread rapidly, even into neighbouring countries such as Botswana and Lesotho.
Through Gail, parishes, schools and orphanages that start a Children’s Rosary will receive handmade rosaries and two booklets on how to set up groups and how to pray the rosary. There is no cost involved. The booklets are available in English, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Italian, Swahili, Arabic, French and Spanish, with Zulu, Sotho and Tswana versions expected around August 2026.
“We have ongoing online communication tools that can be implemented at local levels,” Gail added.
Additional resources for starting a Children’s Rosary group are available at www.childrensrosary.org/resources-to-start-a-childrens-rosary/, including media and a rosary song.
Gail Walters can be reached on 060 464-0320 or
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