Locals rally to pray for America

CLOVIS — About 35 people gathered outside of the Pregnancy Center on Main Street Saturday afternoon for the 2017 Rosary Rally.

Sponsored here in Clovis by members of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the event is part of a nationwide gathering organized by America Needs Fatima to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the appearance of the Lady of Fatima in Portugal.

Danielle Orozco, who helped her mother Rosemary Jimenez organize the event, said the purpose of the rally was to pray for America.

"It's a big thing for our church because this happens all across the country," Orozco said. "America definitely needs it right now."

The rally consisted of a few songs and prayers in addition to the praying of the rosary, and lasted for about an hour.

"We pray for the conversion of America so that it may fulfill it's historic mission to stop the ways of blasphemy, sacrilege and anti-religious hatred within our society," Jimenez said during the opening prayer.

Members of the community came out to the event in order to spread the word of the Lady of Fatima and come together and pray for not just America, but the whole world.

"Our family tries to be as faithful as we can and participate in the good things that are here to offer and I think our community needs much prayer as well as the whole world, so we came to support in prayer as a community," Julie Ford said.

Participants also hoped that the rally would change some misconceptions about the rosary.

"The rosary is the meditation of the life of Christ," Orozco said.