The Rosary Leads a Boulder Nursing Home Resident to the Catholic Church at 73

Thanks to the faithful witness and presence of volunteers from The Rosary Team, one man decided to become Catholic, the culmination of a seven-decade-long journey.

From left to right in the back row, Rosary Team volunteers Judy Demarest, Sean Wynne, Diane Dallin, Dorothy Bustamente. In the front row, Warren and Miguel, two Boulder Canyon residents. (Photo provided)

By Teresa Rodriguez

Founder & President

The Rosary Team

"After all of the excitement yesterday, I couldn't fall asleep," Warren said with a smile, just one day after being received into the Catholic Church at 73 years old. For Warren, this was a long time coming.

His path to becoming Catholic was not a sudden conversion; it was a journey decades in the making, one paved by the faithful witness of The Rosary Team, who began visiting Boulder Canyon, a senior care facility in Boulder, five years ago, showing up weekly to pray and care for souls. It was there that Warren began to join them, and his faith began to grow.

Warren was received into the Catholic Church by Father Chris Considine, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Boulder, a moment that had been quietly unfolding for nearly seven decades.

"I was six years old," Warren recalled, "when family friends, Janet and her family, first introduced me to the Catholic faith. They were farmers like us. Janet was in my class."

He was raised Methodist, but something about that Catholic family stayed with him all his life.

"The seed was planted when I was very young," he says simply.

"It was embracing. Eye-opening," he said of those early rosaries. "I have admired the people who make up this group. I listen to them, and their care for other people."

Over the years, both The Rosary Team and the Legion of Mary have ministered to the spiritual needs of Boulder Canyon residents — among them Judy, Dianne, Dorothy and Sean, whose consistent, faithful presence made all the difference for Warren. After the rosary, the team stays to sit with residents, share a laugh and play dominoes together.

Warren found himself moved not just by the prayers, but by the people offering them.

"Every meeting made me more appreciative of my own family and being there for them," he said. "I wanted to be like them."

The Rosary also carried Warren through some of the most painful chapters of his life. His mother and his brother passed away close to the same time, a grief that would test anyone. And Warren and his brother had carried tension between them for years, a friction that stretched back to childhood.

"The Rosary has brought me to a better opinion of my brother," Warren said quietly. "We have been warring over the years, even from childhood. I have always hoped to become a better person. The prayers have led me closer to God."

And so, after years of praying alongside these faithful prayer warriors, Warren finally came home to the Church in his final season of life.

The Rosary Team is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds Rosary Teams in senior care facilities across the nation, ensuring no soul is forgotten in their final years. To donate, purchase handcrafted rosaries and sacred art or volunteer in your area, visit www.therosaryteam.org.