“Praying the rosary helps couple stay together through tough times.”

 

By Rebecca Saunders (Bostic)  /  The Catholic Sun

 

            When an Italian man sat down to eat lunch with Kurt and Julie Carrick in April of 2005, his first question came as quite a surprise.  “Does November 14, 2004 have any significance in your life?” asked Alberto De Pretto, the Italian president of Maximillian Kolbe Radio via a translator.  They answered his question with tears.

           It was that day Kurt told Julie, a nationally recognized Catholic recording artist, that he was leaving her for a former high school girlfriend with whom he had connected via the Internet. 

           “It was all of a sudden a kind of escape route”, Julie said of her husband’s decision to pursue a relationship with this former girlfriend.  Kurt was trying to escape from the reality of May 2004 when the Carrick’s’ daughter was raped, impregnated and the extreme pressure the family was undergoing.  “One person’s choice  - and that being the man who raped our daughter – affected an entire family”, Julie said. “A person does not realize how far reaching one action can be. And that was the springboard for what happened” with Kurt.

          On that November day in the same hour that Kurt and the girlfriend decided this is the evening they tell their spouses they would leave them, the hard drive of the Radio Kolbe station in Schio, Italy, crashed.

          De Pretto, the president of the station, arrived in the middle of the night to repair the connection and found Julie’s album “The Bridge” on his desk.  The Carricks still “don’t know how it got there.”  To avoid dead air, De Pretto played Julie’s album. As he listened the song ‘Mercy’ deeply touched his heart and “he was feeling that he needed to pray for the person who was singing,” Kurt said.

          The Marian community in Schio, where apparitions of the Blessed Mother have happened from 1985 until 2004, is centered around Benedictines that support the radio station. After listening to ‘Mercy’ multiple times, De Pretto “started the prayer chain for the community – and the people that make up this community – and they began praying for me,” Julie said.

          He told the people of the community, “All I know is that her name is Julie Carrick and she is undergoing a very big sorrow in her life and we need to pray for her,” Julie said. “So everyday from November 15 that community prayed.” 

         Although Julie was unaware of the prayers in Schio, she began praying the full rosary daily. “I attended Mass everyday and offered rosaries everyday – and I mean 20 decades – everyday for some kind of healing for us”, Julie said.

         On January 9^th, Julie’s prayers were answered when Kurt realized his mistake and recommitted himself to their marriage.  Mother Mary spoke in his heart in a most unusual and very effective way.      “It was no surprise, really, to receive a call the next day from Schio,” Kurt said. The organizer of an international music festival held in Schio called “The World Sings of Mary” and asked Julie to perform in April 2005.

       With a new commitment to their marriage and then moving into couple ministry, Kurt, accompanied Julie to Italy where they sat down to eat lunch with De Pretto, the Italian man who asked about the day that marked the beginning of their saga.

        When Julie and Kurt explained the significance of November 14^th to De Pretto, he told Julie, “Our community prayed for you everyday”, and she replied, “Well, that’s amazing because I was prying the rosary everyday too.”

        It was this revelation in Schio that prompted Julie and Kurt to record “A Couple’s Rosary”, their first recorded project as a couple. The bulk of the album consists of Kurt and Julie praying the rosary together (all four sets of  mysteries).  As they lead each decade you hear beautiful piano music in the background behind the ‘Hail Marys” to keep focused on the intention of each one. The album also contains a few favorite Carrick family prayers and a handful of Mary centric songs, some written by and all performed by Julie.

          The Carricks hope “A Couple’s Rosary” will be used as a prayer tool to make praying the rosary a less daunting task.  The rosary has become an important link in the Carrick’s marriage. Julie and Kurt feel that it is important to continue ministering to Catholics because “the Church is not a place for saints, it is a place that you come to be fed”, Julie said. “And that never rang more true until November 14, 2004!

 

Product Detail  ~  A Couple’s Rosary

This beautiful CD of prayer is lead by Kurt and Julie. As they pray all the mysteries of the rosary you will hear light, beautiful piano in the background with melodies appropriate to each mystery .  Additionally favorite prayers of strength and protection are added. 4 Songs finish out the project. ’Lullaby’ a brand new one penned by Julie with the focus of Mary looking into the face  of the Christ-child.

Rosary CD plus 4 Songs

Beginning Prayer of the Rosary

The Joyful Mysteries

The Luminous Mysteries

The Sorrowful Mysteries

The Glorious Mysteries

Concluding Prayers

The Family Prayer

Trust Him Prayer

Prayer of Blessing

St Michael Prayer

Songs:

Ave Maria

Ordinary Holiness

A Mother’s Love

Lullaby

 

Price: $10.00

This project is an answer to Mary’s call to Julie and Kurt at Schio, Italy where she made herself known as the Queen of Love (www.reginadellamore.org/inglese/indexen.htm).  It is appropriate that the couple’s first recording together is one to unite hearts and encourage the prayer of families as that is Mary’s call to all of us seeking her Son. 

Why this is the first recording with Kurt and Julie together …….

“When they first told me about their A COUPLE’S ROSARY CD, inspired by their trauma and survival, I thought, “I’ll never listen to that.”  Instead, I have it in my car stereo and pray the Rosary with Julie and Kurt nearly every day.  It has lifted me up so much; it’s amazing.  Well, no, it isn’t odd…it’s God!”

 

          ~  Carole Bartholomeaux

Our thanks to Janice & Rhett Gist for helping us to make sure this tool of prayer was completed!  Through their  generosity this CD is able to be made available at a very low cost. But don’t let the low price fool you, it is beautiful!