This Sunday, August 16, Catholics around the world will join together in a simultaneous praying of the rosary.

The Rosary will begin at 5:00 PM Paris time, which is 11:00 AM east coast time, 10:00 AM central time, 9:00 AM mountain time and 8:00 AM west coast time. The participants will recite the Glorious Mysteries.

The invitation to become one in the praying of the rosary is extended by the Second Annual International Marian Conference, which will be held this year at Paray-le Monial in France. The festival is running from August 14-19.

Zenit News reports that the conference is open to all, but is organized by young people, and is targeted at people aged 18-35 and families. Last year's event drew 1,500 people and this year the organizers expect at least 3,000 attendees, and will feature speakers from France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Brazil, and Canada. Organizers hope to give attendees an opportunity "to dive again into the mysteries of the Eucharist and the rosary and to be renewed by the Holy Spirit, like the apostles in the Upper Room with Mary, and to grow in holiness."

The festival is hosted by Bishop Benoīt Rivičre of Autun, Chālon and Mācon, France. Other bishops attending include Archbishop Emeritus Henri Tessier of Algiers and Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon. Father Giovanni d'Ercole, of the Vatican's Secretariat of State will also attend, and will speak on John Paul's special attachment to Our Lady. This year, Catholics will also be joined by members of an Orthodox parish in St. Petersburg, Russia, who will bring an icon for the veneration of the faithful.

The organizers say that the rosary will be assisted by meditations by John Paul II , that were given when he visited in France in 1986. In 1984, John Paul II consecrated the entire world to the Virgin Mary, and the organizers are confident that "John Paul II will entrust our important prayer intentions to the intercession of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, close to the Father."

News of Sunday's worldwide rosary came late to the English-speaking world, through a Monday article in the Catholic News Agency , but it has quickly generated significant enthusiasm.

Comments include:

"Can you imagine the POWER of the prayer of the rosary being recited by all those people together"

"Yes! This is most exciting…just what our world needs now! "; and "Oh, Let us do it!"