ASHEBORO — Rosary maker Joe McGinty admits he went through a dark period in his life after he left the U.S. Marine Corps seven years ago. He was deployed six times during the eight years he served, and like many veterans, he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and alcoholism after his return.
But the Blessed Mother did not abandon him – thanks to the devotion of McGinty’s mother Eileen.
Pictured: Mother and son, Eileen and Joe McGinty, make thousands of rosaries each year to share with people near and far. Joe, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, finds rosary making therapeutic since coming home from active duty. (SueAnn Howell | Catholic News Herald)
A retired nurse and a parishioner of Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro, she is a devoted Catholic who over the years has made at least 10,000 rosaries that have been sent around the world to help others grow in faith, hope and love.
“A couple years ago, my mom got me to start praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day at 3 o’clock,” McGinty explains. “I started doing that and then I felt the desire to start praying the rosary. At the time I started praying the rosary, I got a fire in me to start making rosaries.
“I started learning how to make them and I found it to be extremely therapeutic. I couldn’t put them down. I learned how to make the cord rosaries. Then I got my mom to teach me how to make the metal ones. It just went from there. I got hooked on it.”
Now he focuses on making Seven Sorrows rosaries in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Seven Sorrows devotion dates back to as early as the 13th century and is attributed in part to writings of St. Brigid of Sweden. The devotion was brought into the spotlight more recently in the 1990s due to the genocide in Rwanda, where Our Lady of Kibeho appeared to young Catholics urging them to pray the Seven Sorrows rosary to ward off impending violence.
Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who prayed the rosary repeatedly throughout the 91 days she spent in hiding, now travels the world speaking about her experiences and the power of the rosary and the Seven Sorrows rosary devotion.
McGinty was moved by Ilibagiza’s story when his mother took him to see her when she visited the Diocese of Charlotte.
“I heard her story and brought one of her Seven Sorrows rosaries. It sat around the house (at first) and I didn’t pray it. Something in my head kept saying, ‘pray it,’ and one day I asked my parents where the rosary was and I started praying it.”
He felt the urge to start making Seven Sorrows rosaries. He leaves baskets full of 40 rosaries each in local churches for parishioners to take. In each rosary bag he places a pamphlet in English or Spanish explaining the history of the rosary, the devotion to the Seven Sorrows rosary and Our Lady’s promises to those who pray it.
McGinty quickly realized that many Catholics have never heard of the Seven Sorrows rosary. He has been met with skepticism but he keeps making and distributing them.
“We make these rosaries because of our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Eileen says. “We make them and send them to missionaries for free and would eventually like to teach other churches how to produce and disseminate these rosaries, so everyone can be a spiritual bladesmith. In these times, everyone needs to be armed with the most powerful and effective spiritual sword against evil – that is, the rosary.”
She and her son also credit the Holy Spirit for their devotion to the rosary.
“When prayed devoutly, it can combat many of today’s immoralities and injustices,” McGinty says. “The Blessed Virgin appeared twice in apparitions requesting this specific devotion to be prayed for a reason: it’s powerful and effective.”
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter