When I visit our parishes to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to our young people, I normally celebrate the sacrament within the context of holy Mass, and afterwards take photographs with the candidates and their families. Before Mass, I always spend some time meeting with the young people to speak with them about their lives and about the importance of the sacrament they are about to receive. Then, once the photographs after Mass are completed, everything usually comes to an end and I return home together with my faithful secretary, Father Brian King.
Last Sunday, May 17, however, things did not unfold exactly that way. On that day, I was scheduled to celebrate Confirmations at St. Bernadette Parish. Around 40 young people and three adults received the Sacrament of Confirmation that evening amid the beauty and splendor of that wonderful church.
As I was making my way toward the sacristy after the photographs, convinced that the day’s events had concluded, I was approached by a teenage boy, Joshua Brewer, whom I had just confirmed. He came up to me and said: “Now I am going to take you to the rosary garden I just completed so that you can bless it.”
At first, I assumed he was referring to a small corner of landscaping with a few flowers. Yet, when this young man — only 15 years old — led me to the front left side of the church and presented his “garden,” I could hardly believe my eyes. It was not simply a garden at all, but rather a true park.
Earlier that day, before Mass and Confirmation, during my conversation with Joshua and his classmates, he had told me that he loved football and hoped to pursue it in college. Not once, however, did he mention the garden in front of the others. So, when I finally arrived there with him after Mass, I was truly astonished.
What Joshua created, with the support of his parents, Jason and Jessica, was a remarkable plaza in which every bead of the holy rosary is represented through carefully carved circular stones embedded into a granite pathway. Each mystery and each decade of the rosary is identified through beautifully designed metal markers that are both elegant and easy to read. The entire park is laid out in the form of an open rosary, allowing visitors to pray the rosary prayerfully as they walk along the path and symbolically step upon the beads of the sacred mysteries.
At the center of the park stands a formidable image of Our Lady of Grace, a statue acquired by Joshua and his family in California and brought all the way to Florida specifically to crown this beautiful place of Marian devotion and peace.
Through his determination, hard work, and extraordinary spirit of faith, Joshua reminded me so very much of Carlo Acutis. Like Joshua, young Carlo also persuaded his parents to help him put together the huge undertaking of creating a website dedicated to collect and display, in orderly and beautiful fashion, all Eucharistic miracles known to the Church and still retrievable. It fills me with joy and hope to see a young member of one of our parishes accomplish something so meaningful and inspiring. Is there any better way to honor the memory of another young saint, Bernadette Soubirous, to whom the parish is dedicated and to whom the Blessed Mother spoke, than building on these grounds a Rosary Park?
I would like to invite all the young people of our parishes and schools, together with their families, to visit St. Bernadette Parish and experience this beautiful Rosary Park for themselves. I assure you that you will not regret it. Once there, pray the holy rosary together and offer it for the young people in your own families, that they too, like Joshua, may grow into faithful, hardworking, and determined young men and women.
I wholeheartedly congratulate Joshua for this wonderful accomplishment and, as I told him that very day, I encourage him to continue moving forward with many new projects for the good of his family, his faith, his Church, and the common good. I also warmly congratulate Jason and Jessica for the beautiful family they have built and for the values they are instilling in Joshua and in their two daughters.
Finally, I also wish to congratulate the pastor of St. Bernadette Parish, Rev. Antony López, for supporting Joshua and his family in this extraordinary project. A true shepherd knows how to inspire, encourage, and accompany his flock — even its youngest members — and when that happens, the flock can bear extraordinary fruit … even a Rosary Park.
Bishop Manuel welcomes comments and reflections from readers: bishopofpalmbeach@diocesepb.org
