(Left to right) Debbie Webb and Sue Mudd smile with their pastor, Fr. Stephen Van Lal Than, making a home visit on April 15. Fr. Van Lal Than also blessed the many rosary bracelets the women made over the past two months. COURTESY OF DAVID MUDD
Celebrating Mary’s month of May, pastor blesses rosary bracelets made by parishioners
BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
Two longtime friends recently welcomed the blessing of a collection of rosary bracelets they had handmade for the month of May, and they hope to make even more.
Debbie Webb and her friend Sue Mudd are parishioners of St. Augustine Parish in Grayson Springs. On April 15, their pastor, Fr. Stephen Van Lal Than, visited Mudd’s home to bless the rosary bracelets.
Webb said she and Mudd, a lifetime parishioner, became dear friends when Webb and her husband, Vance Webb, came into the Catholic Church 20 years ago.
Their parish of St. Augustine is one of the three in the tri-parish community pastored by Fr. Van Lal Than. The Grayson County Tri-Parish is made up of St. Augustine, Grayson Springs; St. Anthony, Peonia; and St. Benedict, Wax.
“In May these rosary bracelets will be gifted to encourage praying the rosary and the Church’s devotion to Mary during the month of May,” Webb told the WKC. She said the rosary bracelet project is something she has tried to do over the past five years for her parish community in May and sometimes October.
The Catholic Church has long considered May to be a month dedicated to Our Lady, and celebrations often include praying the rosary and “May Crownings” in which children place a crown of flowers upon a statue of Mary.
“My intention is to leave about 20 handmade and blessed stone and/or glass bead rosary bracelets at each church for anyone who might want or need one,” said Webb. “This year, thanks to the help of a St. Paul School benefactor, another 50 rosary bracelets will be given to the students to present to their mothers on Mother’s Day.”
She said the remaining rosaries made thus far this year are intended to be shared at and with Saint Meinrad’s Monte Cassino Shrine and the Benedictine Sisters in Ferdinand, Indiana.
If the two women can make even more rosary bracelets, Webb said she has spoken with Fr. Van Lal Than about sharing those with his friends in the Myanmar (Burmese) Catholic community in Bowling Green. (He is the first Myanmar-born priest ordained in the United States and was ordained in 2020.)
“Fr. Stephen is a genuine blessing… we are so grateful he (via Bishop Medley) found his way to our parish/parishes!” said Webb. “We are very grateful to be a part of his Church family!”
Correction: In an earlier version of this story, it was incorrectly stated that Sue Mudd and Debbie Webb entered the Church together. Mudd, a lifetime parishioner, welcomed Webb when she and her husband became Catholic.
Originally printed in the May 2026 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
