By Suzanne Weiss | For On Mission
GREEN BAY — It is no secret that the Catholic Church is in need of more priests and sisters. Parishioners throughout the Diocese of Green Bay are putting their faith in the power of prayer to help fill this need.
The Green Bay Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (GBDCCW) have gathered at five different worship sites throughout the diocese this year, starting in May, for the council’s third annual Traveling Rosary for Vocations.
The sixth and final gathering will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on October 16, 2025, at Stella Maris Parish, 8013 State Highway 57, Baileys Harbor. Men and women are welcome.
“Vocations are gifts from God, so we need to pray to God for an increase in vocations,” said Roxanne Dyzak of Two Rivers, coordinator of the Traveling Rosary, as well as financial secretary and past president of GBDCCW.
“The Green Bay Diocese is ordaining one priest per year. We should be ordaining one priest for every 100,000 Catholics in the diocese, and we have roughly 300,000 Catholics, so we should be ordaining three a year,” she said, citing 2023 statistics from The State of Priestly Vocations in the United States report.
In addition, the seminary count right now isn’t enough to supply the number of priests needed in the next few years, Dyzak said.
The Traveling Rosary was inspired by the late Barb Kimme, a former officer of the council, to raise awareness of the need for prayer in helping to increase vocations in the Diocese of Green Bay, she said.
Fr. William O’Brien, who served in several parishes, including as pastor of St. Peter the Fisherman in Two Rivers for 13 years, was instrumental in starting the Traveling Rosary.
“If it wasn’t for him, this would never have gotten off the ground,” Dyzak said.
“This year, it seems that more people are aware of the event and the need for prayer, and it’s nice to get to know men and women from other parishes and their priests,” she said of the Traveling Rosary, which this year took place at worship sites in New Franken, New London, Green Bay, Whitelaw and Denmark.
“We went to the outskirts of our diocese, and it’s amazing to see how rural and how urban our diocese is,” said Julie Radosavljevic of Green Bay, GBDCCW president. “Having an opportunity to meet wonderful spiritual ladies across the diocese, not just in Green Bay … makes it very amazing.”
She hopes that the Traveling Rosary will inspire young men and women to enter religious life and encourage more women to join the GBDCCW, she said.
The council was founded in 1924 at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay.
“Our main goal is to gather Catholic women together for spirituality, service and leadership,” Radosavljevic said.
Another upcoming event is the group’s Morning of Reflection, scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon on October 25 at the Norbertine Center for Spirituality, located at 1016 N. Broadway, De Pere. Cost is $25. Mass and breakfast will follow registration. The Jubilee theme is “Pilgrims of Hope” with speaker Sr. Sally Ann Brickner of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross in Green Bay.
The GBDCCW also observes Marian Day in May and alternates between holding conventions and assemblies.
All Catholic women of the Diocese of Green Bay are welcome to join the council; any parish women’s group can become affiliated with the organization.
For more information on the GBDCCW and the Traveling Rosary for Vocations, please visit gbdccw.org.