CHARLOTTE — For four decades, the members of the Rosary Society at Our Lady of Consolation Church have been welcoming guests with smiles and delicious food at their annual chicken dinner – all part of an effort to beautify the historic parish and give glory to God.
A crowd of more than 300 filled the parish hall again April 29 for the Rosary Society’s 40th annual dinner, a now legendary event in the community. Local residents, Johnson C. Smith University students living near the church, and parishioners arrived with an appetite – some for the very first time, some the 40th. Rosary Society members warmly greeted their guests with smiles as they collected the $10-a-plate tickets. The aroma of tenderly spiced chicken and scratch-made, secret-recipe delicacies wafted out the double doors as parishioners came in after the 11 a.m. Mass.
Shirley Fowler, chairperson of the Rosary Society, cheerfully directed her team in the kitchen, making sure each piece of chicken, whether it be baked or fried, dark meat or white, was perfectly placed next to a generous portion of potato salad and a thick slice of cornbread.
Fowler said preparations for the annual fundraising dinner are detailed and extensive – deftly handled by the experienced members of the Rosary Society. They start promoting the annual event in the parish and at nearby parishes well in advance, and they post flyers around the community, she said – encouraging as many people to attend as possible.
“We start buying for the dinner the prior Monday,” she explained. “We get our orders in, and we start preparing the meal on Thursday. Thursday to Friday, up until Saturday night, we are preparing because everything is cooked from scratch – from the cornbread to the potato salad – and, of course, seasoning the chicken, making sure it is right.”
Parishioners contribute desserts to round out the feast, she noted.
These annual chicken dinners, and the Rosary Society itself, have deep ties to the parish. Rosary Society members don matching blue aprons for the event, but more than that and cooking unifies them. Passion for the Blessed Virgin Mary, historical ties to Our Lady of Consolation Parish, a Catholic faith that spans generations, and a heart for giving have kept this group strongly connected.
“My granddaughter, who is now 21, joined when she was 12. She used to be sitting up in the meeting with me. My son was unable to be here today, but he has come every year just to cook,” Fowler said.
Harry Scott lost his mother back in December. On this 40th annual dinner, he wore her Rosary Society blue apron, standing in for his mother. Scott reminisced, “My mom was a part of the Rosary Society for years and years and years before she passed. I just inherited the apron from her, but the work she did and the willingness to give up her time kind of leaned on me. She is looking down on me right now and she is proud of me.”
“I’ve been at this church for, like, 44 to 46 years, but you know, I am only 30,” joked parishioner Willie Thompson, chicken dinner plate in hand. “But I always support the Rosary Society and everything they ask me to do. They have very good food – home cooked, everything from scratch. It is a great way to raise funds for the church. I am always going to support Her as long as I am standing.”
The Rosary Society is truly foundational at Our Lady of Consolation Parish. Since the parish was founded in the 1940s, the Rosary Society has helped to raise funds for the beautification of the church.
The group was initially known as the Altar and Rosary Society, because back then sacramental wine and flowers were luxuries that could not easily be afforded at a small parish.
“The Altar and Rosary Society – the older ladies who are now gone, most of them – would supply the wine and flowers,” Fowler explained. “Then when the church got on its feet, they took the word ‘altar’ from the name, leaving Rosary Society.”
She continued, “There were small things that the church needed, so we would look around and say: ‘Hmm, if we could take on this project that would be less for the church to spend.’ For example, we needed new doors. So, we put those doors up on the church. We put cushions on the pews, carpet on the floor, new kneelers, new furniture on the altar. We did little things like that to prepare for those to come, to receive the Word of God here.”
This year’s annual dinner raised enough for the Rosary Society to donate funds to cover a brick sign for the front of the church. Fowler and other group members presented their gift at the 11 a.m. Mass May 6. The group, clothed all in white and blue in honor of Mary, gathered for a reception immediately after the Mass to celebrate 40 years of chicken dinners, their close-knit relationships and their love for God and their parish.
Fowler happily told fellow members, “You look at the solid oak doors, chicken. The baby grand piano, chicken. The kneelers, chicken. Now, this new sign, chicken. Chicken, chicken, chicken!”
All the hard work, all the chicken, all the donations – it is all to honor Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother, she continued.
“The Blessed Mother, think of who she is! She gave birth to who? Jesus. That’s a special lady,” she said. “She is our Mother, because Jesus is our Brother, and God is our Father.”
Now that the 40th annual dinner is past them, Rosary Society members do not plan to slow down. On the contrary, they meet every first Sunday of the month to pray the rosary and pray for fellow parishioners in need. They also pray the rosary with people who request a home visit, Fowler noted.
— Lisa Geraci, correspondent