Q. 1. Some of my friends claim that they say the Rosary every night as a family. I do not think that they say the Rosary. Rather, they say a Chaplet. I think the Chaplet is improperly called the Rosary. Can you please clarify this?

A. 1. The Rosary consists of 20 decades of "Hail Marys," each decade being preceded by the prayer "Our Father" and followed by a "Glory Be...", one of the mysteries or events in the life of Christ or the Virgin Mary being recalled at each decade. A decade has 10 beads; therefore, a Rosary has 200 "Hail Mary" beads.

As you indicated, your friends are most likely praying the Chaplet and not the Rosary. It is not unusual for Catholics to intermix these two words. Even local Churches, when they refer to an hour of devotion being set aside during the week for the recitation of the Rosary, that hour usually represents a Chaplet.