Blessing My Mother's Rosary: Lourdes. Loss. Love. was named Best Travel/Pilgrimage Book for 2025 by the prestigious Catholic Media Association.

Authored by Carla Knorowski, PhD, Blessing My Mother's Rosary (ACTA Publications 2025) is the true story of a promise twice-fulfilled. The book, which Vanity Fair correspondent Maureen Orth calls, "touching…and brimming with love," and Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Bill Kurtis describes as "deeply felt — a journey you'll want to take yourself," details Knorowski's decades-long sojourn to get her late mother's rosary blessed at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

Blessing My Mother's Rosary is an exquisitely touching memoir for those who have lost a parent or loved one, for those who have ever visited Lourdes or other sacred places, for those who have never taken such a pilgrimage or wish to, and for those who believe in miracles large and small.

"What an honor it is for my book to have received this award from the prestigious Catholic Media Association," Knorowski said. "I hope this recognition helps more people learn about the book so it can inspire them to have their own journey of healing and hope and be inspired to take a pilgrimage that touches their hearts—particularly as we approach the holiday season and beyond."

The book is available on Amazon at: Blessing My Mother's Rosary: Lourdes. Loss. Love.: Knorowski, Carla (author), Meyer, Connie (illustrator): 9780879467418: Amazon.com: Books or through ACTA Publications at Blessing My Mother's Rosary PB. Order today and experience this "spiritual masterpiece" that will be read again and again.

Knorowski is senior advancement advisor at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI. She is the former president and chief development officer of the U.S. Naval War College Foundation, and the former chief executive officer of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation.

She serves on the board of directors of the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris. The Republic of France named Knorowski an Officer in its National Order of Merit for her work raising funds and awareness for the restoration and rebuilding of Paris's Notre-Dame Cathedral, for which she also received the coin of Notre-Dame from Archbishop of Paris Laurent Bernard Marie Ulrich.

A member and former director of The Society of Midland Authors, her books include Gettysburg Replies: The World Responds to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (Lyons  Press, 2015) and Under Lincoln's Hat: 100 Objects That Tell the Story of His Life and Legacy (Lyons Press, 2016, co-authored with James M. Cornelius). Her writing also is featured in Lincoln: An Intimate Portrait (Life Books, 2014). Knorowski is a life-long resident of Chicago. See: https://www.carlaknorowski.com/.

Incorporated in 1911, the Catholic Media Association works to strengthen the value, effectiveness, and identity of Catholic media. For more information, log on to https://www.catholicmediaassociation.org/.