This is amazing! 😱
Irish Dominican priests and lay Catholics in the United States joined in praying the rosary using a new video portal connecting New York City and Dublin, Ireland.
The video portal shows a live stream of each city where passersby can connect with people in real-time from different locations.
The NYC portal is located in Manhattan's Flatiron District, while the portal in Dublin resides on O'Connell Street, one of the city's primary streets. Additional portals reside in Lituania and Poland.
Social media personality and Catholic convert Franco Aurelio Fernandez published a video of the historic Catholic event. He led a rosary in NYC while praying with Dominicans in Ireland. Fernandez says he believes they are the "first to pray through the portal."
Fernandez also said he will continue hosting a video portal rosary on the 22nd of each month.
Here's the video below:
The video's full text reads,
"A video portal was installed between Dublin and New York City where people from the two countries are able to interact in real time.
As far as we know, the first people to pray the through the portal are Catholics.
Idea was pitched by metathomist, Franco’s friend on X, and the idea was executed by Franco who got in touch with his followers that live near the portal and @nicolabrennann got him connected with @irishdominicans (the cool looking white-robed men) who brought several other lay people.
This portal rosary with Franco (@thefrancotv) will be each month on the 22nd at 2 p.m. EST."
Franco published a behind-the-scenes look into the original rosary video. He speaks with the Dominican Friars in Ireland while looking at them through the NYC portal.
Here's the video:
The social media personality posted additional follow-up videos. In one post, he includes his communication with an Irish Catholic woman who also prayed the rosary with the Dominicans through the Ireland side of the portal.
"She was all the way in Ireland while I spoke to her in New York," Fernandez writes in the caption.
Fernandez also addressed the controversy surrounding the portal, as creators temporarily shut down the project due to inappropriate behavior. However, in a video comparison, he shows viewers that there is peace in Christ.
"Catholics trace their origins back to Jesus Christ and the apostles, who have been directly commissioned by Christ to guide His Church," Fernandez writes. "Our hierarchy is the guardian of apostolic tradition and teachings, guided by the Holy Spirit through the succession of popes and bishops, and thus hold that our doctrines and practices represent the true expression of Christianity as established by Christ himself."
Countless users commented on Fernandez's videos. As of this writing, the original rosary video generated over 500,000 views, almost 55,000 likes, and nearly 1,000 comments.
Here's how some people responded:
"The future is Catholic," one user wrote.
"Amazing, best use of the portal so far," someone else said.
"Though I am a Protestant from Ireland, this is beautiful and heartwarming," another user commented. "I pray Ireland returns to Christ, specifically under the Catholic Church."
"This is what the portal was made for - peaceful and nice interactions," someone else wrote. "Not for people showing what's meant to be private or insulting the other side. God bless you all."
"The Dominicans rock!" another user said. "They wear the large rosary on their side instead of a sword as a weapon against evil. How cool is that?! The rosary is our sword against the evil one!"