Every single church I have ever been in has raced through the Rosary prior to Mass :really-mad2:  Is there some reason this is universal?  Is it just a function of praying in a group?  

I'm at the point I won't even try to join in any more because it is recited at lightning speed, I pray it in my head and am only at the 3rd decade at the time the group is saying their final prayers

Please don't let small irritations keep you from such an excellent source of help as the Rosary. I say small because concentration on the actual meanings of the words is not critical to the proper praying of the most holy Rosary; rather, contemplating the mysteries is the intended occupation of the mind. As a side note, Bishop Williamson said (I don't recall where) that there is some small value in even the physical motions involved in recitation  of the Rosary as one wills his body to participate, which should encourage us to pray it even when the mind cannot completely participate, such as walking, driving, or working (if your hands are not required for the task at hand.).

I hope I've helped,
God bless.

JoeZ

The Rosary should be prayed at a rate a person would speak, a rate they would speak on matters serious. Some people do speak fast. I notice some priests say the Rosary quickly. They might know the Faith back to front, but it doesn't give them licence to rattle though prayers.

It takes about twenty minutes at least to pray five decades devoutly (in English). According to Saint Louis of Montfort ( read the "Secret of the Rosary")racing through the Rosary is not pleasing to God,even insulting.
The Rosary in German takes longer, approx.25-30 Minutes for five decades. They repeat every mystery at each Hail Mary.
In Ireland people race through the Rosary  at an awful speed, you can hardly make out the words,which the Archangel Gabriel adressed to the Blessed Virgin. In a little booklet,written by an irish priest I found the comment : It is easy to pray the Rosary every day, it takes only 10 Minutes to do so (!!!).
I often wonder if the Rosary is very effective if people pray it so fast.

Another practice I find quite awful, particularly in Ireland, is the very sloppy way people bless themselves with the Holy Sign of the Cross. You could not make it out as a Sign of the Cross at all. And, if properly done,it is such a beautiful sign and brings so many graces and blessings, and 100 days indulgence, 300 days indulgence when made using Holy Water.

In our resistance chapel here we do not say the Rosary publically before Mass as people come and go for confessions and also  arrive at different times. However, on Sundays when there is no Mass, we pray the Rosary publically in the chapel, where  the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, and it takes one hour to pray the fifteen decades. It is quite an effort mentally to do all the meditations of the 15 mysteries in one go.  

All serious Catholics should read St Louis Marie de Monfort's True Devotion to Our Lady. Well they should try. Frank Duff found it hard at first. He persevered. Nowadays there are books that explain well and help with the 33 Day Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary and the True Devotion itself.

A follower of that lunatic Jєω must be downvoting everything I post.

Anyone starting the 33 Day Consecration?

I suppose it is subjective of what exactly constitutes "too fast."  At my chapel, the rosary before Mass is typically led by an elderly man, and is followed by the Angelus (or the Regina Coeli during Eastertide).  This tends to take 15 to 20 minutes, and doesn't seem rushed or "too fast" to me.  I've never encountered anything faster than then, and certainly never anything like an auctioneer; perhaps I've been lucky.

I would imagine that any individual with a proper intention knows the speed of which they are capable in praying the rosary while at the same time putting themselves in a meditative mode. The difference lies when praying the rosary as a group. It is somewhat similar to singing in a choir.  Individual voices should not stand out; rather, they should seek to blend. It is rather difficult to pray in unison when the leader is either going too fast, or too slow. As a group there has to be a comfortable medium which would most likely be faster than some people normally pray when by themselves.

We pray the rosary before almost every mass in the community where I live.