‘Armchair Apostles’ Reach Out With Rosaries

The men and women who work in the modern, spacious building consider themselves “armchair apostles.” Their product reaches around the world, facilitating prayer.

They start each day with a prayer of their own and then begin sorting, packing and shipping kits for making rosaries.

“We’re just like a mail-order house, with one exception. We never show a profit, but are self-maintaining,” said Tom Young, president of Our Lady’s Rosary Makers.

It was started here by a Xaverian brother in 1949 and the club now has 13,000 members scattered across the United States and other countries. Dues are $2 a year.

“After purchasing their supplies from us, the members assemble the rosaries in their homes or in groups and send out about 4 million a year,” Young said.

Most go to missionaries who have requested them in the club’s monthly bulletin. Others are mailed to hospitals or to prisons.

“Naturally, there is no charge. Our people do this to help spread the faith and as an act of love,” Young said. “It’s a passport into almost every area of life.”

The kits cost $10.25 and contain an instruction book, enough material for 10 rosaries, plus special pliers with pointed ends.

“We obtain the pliers from a factory in Germany because we couldn’t get anyone in this country to furnish them. I guess our orders aren’t large enough.”

After serving with the Air Force during the Korean War, Young was a manufacturer’s representative and was transferred to Louisville in 1952.

“I was in town two years before learning about the club. The idea fascinated me, partly because it became something for me to do while on road trips. Pretty soon, I was completing a rosary a day in my motel room.”

Young retired in 1980 and began spending most of his free time at the club, which is open five days a week. There are 18 full-time employees, and three or four volunteers usually drop by to lend a hand.

“Like everyone else, we have had our ups and downs,” Young said. During the late 1960s, the number of rosaries sent to missionaries fell nearly 300,000. “Things have turned around since then and demand is getting stronger.”

Catholics pray the Rosary to Mary, asking her to intercede for them with Jesus.

“That’s the reason the membership is getting more and more appeals for rosaries from Third World countries. The families there feel close to Mary because they have a close relationship with their own mothers,” he said.