In memory of Rose

You may be surprised that one of the most hip and artistic Catholic Instagram accounts is run by a grandmother living in Lethbridge, Alta.

​For seven years Kathleen Obara has posted daily inspirational quotes and images of the saints @TheCatholicRose in Instagram.

She’s garnered 31.6K followers through the years with her roughly 4,000 posts.

“I hope people learn about the saints because I know in my own life how much they’ve helped me,” said the 63-year-old wife, mother of two adult children and grandmother of eight.

Obara started @TheCatholicRose as a tribute to her late sister Rose. They used to talk about the lives of the saints and Obara couldn’t think of a better way to honour her sister’s memory. The name Rose is also a way of expressing her devotion to the Blessed Mother Mary.

As Obara has gotten more sophisticated with technology, so have her posts. She will use upwards of seven filters to tweak images, giving them a contemporary graphic design look. She researches the lives of the saints and popes to find quotes in biographies, books and trusted online websites such as vatican.va.

The former Lethbridge Public Library clerk works on her posts the day before and then uploads first thing in the morning.

“I would have people say ‘I look forward to it every morning. It’s the place I go.’” Obara takes great care in creating quality posts, but the time she puts in blesses her life as much as her grateful followers.

“You really stay focused on your spiritual life with God when you are doing this every day. So many times God has used what I’ve posted that day to help me in my own life. He always teaches me things, especially with new saints I didn’t know much about.”

​People from all over the world will ask Obara questions about the saints or for clarification about the quotes she posts to learn more.

“I always try to stay positive, to give people hope. There are a lot of people who don’t have much hope. I just want to be there to help people who struggle spiritually through learning about saints and asking for their prayers.”

Obara posts about saints on their feast days and prays to God for inspiration. Her personal favourites are: St. Therese of Lisieux, Pope Pius the 10th, St. John Vianney and St. Padre Pio. The two saints that get the most likes are Padre Pio and St. John Paul II.

“Padre Pio has so much to say about spiritual warfare and your guardian angel. Those are things people need to hear about today,” said Obara.

​A notable connection she’s made through her online ministry was with an order of nuns that asked to print her pictures to use in their monastery. Obara never set out to begin a successful evangelical ministry, reaching thousands of followers; it grew over time, one step at a time.

“If you want to start a site you are passionate about, pray about it and do it. It’s a really good ministry to be able to do from home. It will bless you. Today there is such a need in this world to learn the faith.” 

Kathleen Obara with her husband, Grant.

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​Written by Sara Francis for Faithfully

Kathleen Obara is a parishioner of All Saints Parish in Lethbridge, Alberta. ​To follow Kathleen's Instagram account, click here.