Starting a Rosary Group
This resource is to help guide you through starting and facilitating a small Rosary Group. The first section gives you ideas and best practices; the second section is a planner.
1. INVITING
• Personal Invitations:
- Who has God placed in your life that might benefit from friendship, good conversation, and the Rosary?
- Call or send personal invitations to show intentionality and make people feel valued.
• Starting Small:
- An ideal group is between 8 and 10 members.
- Start with someone who will say yes. Invite 1 person!
- Don't worry about the size of the group.
- The goal is to build meaningful friendships and to identify those you can personally invest in.
• The Reason for meeting:
- Clearly communicate that the purpose of the group is:
▪ to provide accountability and encouragement for each other through friendship, good conversation, and the Rosary.
▪ to delight in each other and grow in holiness together.
2. HOSTING
• Creating a Welcoming Atmosphere:
- Keep it simple and make your home or place you are meeting welcoming.
- You can offer drinks, snacks or a meal.
- Arrange the seating to encourage conversation.
- Don’t overthink, over clean, or over prepare.
• Consistency:
- Consistency with the day, time, and place of meetings is essential.
- Consistency helps your group members integrate the meetings into their routine and builds a sense of reliability and stability.
• Have a Plan:
- Your job as a host will be easier and your group members will appreciate it if they know how long the meetings will be and what is expected of them.
- Keep your meetings on time and keep it simple.
3. FACILITATING
• Encouraging Participation:
- As a group leader, encourage participation from all members. Some people will be slow to share so do not require everyone to share.
- It is not your role to teach or give advice but rather to encourage the sharing of experiences.
-Facilitate the conversation by asking open-ended questions and allow space for everyone to share their thoughts.
-Be comfortable with silence.
• Flexibility:
-While consistency is important, be flexible with the group’s format based on the members’ needs, interests and mood/energy on a particular day.
-If a Rosary or discussion topic isn’t resonating, be willing to shift gears and have some alternative discussion questions and topics ready to keep the conversation going.
• Maintaining Focus:
-While it's important to be flexible, as a group leader you need to maintain the group's focus on its core purpose, which is sharing what caught their attention in the Rosary meditation and why.
-Keeping the group on topic, not devolving into group gossip or discussion about current events or the news, helps ensure that meetings are productive, meaningful, and that members will want to come back.
4. FORMAT & MEETING LOGISTICS (1.5hrs – 2hrs depending on if you serve a meal)
• Dinner and social time: 1Hour
-Or just snacks/ drinks – 30 minutes
• Rosary Meditation: 30 Minutes
-Or if you have conversation in between the decades – 1 Hour (Will you play the audio of the podcast or print the transcript to read?)
• Conversation:
-Use the SoF Resources to create a short list of open-ended questions to facilitate conversation.
▪ E.g. What struck you? What were you reflecting on?
▪ Use the AIR Toolbox item for additional questions: AIR – Attractions, Instructions and Recognitions
