More than 50 nations in prayer as one

Hundreds gathered around the lakefront in multi-faith solidarity Sunday for the inaugural Rosary Around the Lake.

The local observance was hosted by The Ruth Institute and featured Bishop Glen John Provost and Mayor Nic Hunter.

The Lake Charles event was held simultaneously with Rosary Coast to Coast rallies happening across North America and in 50 countries.

The gathering — open to those of all faiths — was intended as a “worldwide effort to combat the powers of darkness,” the Rosary Coast to Coast website states.

Participants prayed “for divine protection, pardon for sin, salvation of souls, and the reunion of all Christians,” said Dr. Jennifer Morse, founder of The Ruth Institute.

The gathering along the lakefront spanned nearly the full length of the Civic Center sewall.

Nationwide the rallies took place in front of state capitols and other public buildings, in parks, on beaches, along busy streets as well as inside and outside churches and shrines.

The initiative started in 2017, when Catholics in Poland gathered around the borders of their country “to light a spiritual flame, a flame that quickly engulfed the nation in prayer and reparation,” the Rosary Coast to Coast site states.

“We, in the United States, share the conviction, now seen and acted upon in the international community, to enter fully into the spiritual warfare we are facing and to pray for our respective nations at this watershed moment in history,” according to the website.