I have a freind that wants to know why these are wrong...any articles I can refer her to? They have to be somewaht positive, if she sees hardcore attacks, she will shut down....

There's nothing "wrong" with them. You can just inform your friend that the Rosary was given to us from Heaven! There's no need at all to make substantial changes to it (the Fatima prayer for example, even the Gloria Patri was added by St. Louis de Montfort) especially as regards to the Mysteries.

The Rosary has always been called "Our Lady's Psalter". I believe that even Mary refered to the Rosary as her Psalter. It is called her Psalter because the 150 angelic saluations to Mary represent the 150 Psalms in the book of Psalms of David. If we change the Rosary to 20 Mysteries, the Rosary can no longer be called our Lady's Psalter and the connection between it and David's Psalms is lost.

Also, the 15 Mysteries Rosary is divided into 3 parts of 5 decades each. The reason for this is:

1.  To honor the three Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity;

2.  To honor the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ;

3.  To imitate the Church Triumphant, to help the members of the Church Militant and to lessen the pains of the Church Suffering;
 
4.  to imitate the three groups into which the Psalms are divided:
(a) the first being for the purgative life,
(b) the second for the illuminative life,
(c) and the third for the unitive life;
 
5. And finally, to give us graces in abundance during our lifetime, peace at death, and glory in eternity.

But 20 Mysteries cannot be divided into 3 parts. Once again, the deeper meaning and intention of the Rosary is lost.

In the Gospel, there were 153 fish in the nets pulled up by the Apostles after they had fished all night, catching nothing.  When you include the three Hail Marys said before the 15 decades, the total is...153.  While fascination with numbers can certainly cross over into the superstitious, they are not without meaning -- especially when mentioned under such circuмstances within Holy Writ.

In an age when very few pray five, much less fifteen, decades on a daily basis, does it even make practical sense to ADD five more decades?  Forgetting the hubris involved in adding to that which was given by our Lady herself, does it make ANY sense to make this devotion "bigger" or "longer", and in an age that is decidedly addicted to external activity?  In a word, NO.

In the Gospel, there were 153 fish in the nets pulled up by the Apostles after they had fished all night, catching nothing.  When you include the three Hail Marys said before the 15 decades, the total is...153.  While fascination with numbers can certainly cross over into the superstitious, they are not without meaning -- especially when mentioned under such circuмstances within Holy Writ.

In an age when very few pray five, much less fifteen, decades on a daily basis, does it even make practical sense to ADD five more decades?  Forgetting the hubris involved in adding to that which was given by our Lady herself, does it make ANY sense to make this devotion "bigger" or "longer", and in an age that is decidedly addicted to external activity?  In a word, NO.

Saint Cyrille of Jerusalem said Our Lord told the Apostles to count them because Jєωs knew (or at least believed so) there were 153 species of fishes, and so with this miracle He was saying to them in a quite symbolic manner that they "fishers of men" had to preach and try every kind of man to enter into the nets of the Church. I think this is quite beautifull.

Cristian

It seems to me to be a bit arrogant to change a form of prayer that is so old and may have been revealed by Our Lady.  I am what most people here would call a semi-trad or a conservative No type, but I don't use them.  If I did I would say that I was pray8ing the chaplet of Pope John Paul II, not the holy rosary.  I suppose there is noting wrong with that, as far as it goes.

There are many ways to pray on Rosary beads, but none is as venerable or as ancient as The Rosary, i.e. the system of prayer given to St. Dominic with the 15 mysteries.

Any other set of prayers for the Rosary beads is 2nd class at best.

The Rosary (classic version) is in a class by itself, and should not be tampered with.

It's like re-writing Scripture, instead of simply writing a new book of meditations to rest on its own merit.

Matthew

Actually Elizabeth, what really got me started on the sorrowful mysteries, I read in one of those Catholic prophesy books, might have been Yves Dupont, that in the end times God will grant favors of those praying the sorrowful mysteries, not to say the others are wrong, but the way I  understood this, God favored the sorrowful ones in the end times.  

Of course He only grants things to anyone that are His Will also, no matter what they pray.  

This made sense to me, because if we are, and I believe we are living in end times, and Jesus suffered for our salvation, and since we are getting closer, we should think about that more often, His passion.  

Also during Mass the rosary prayed  with the sorrowful mysteries is another way to pray the Mass.  This I learned in Catholic school eons ago.