By Reagan Scott
For the Register
While the diocese’s Catholic schools allow students the opportunity to encounter Jesus in school every day, there is also a goal to ensure that a relationship with our Lord extends beyond the classroom.
With a designated hour for Eucharistic Adoration every Wednesday evening, St. Cecilia High School in Hastings allows students the opportunity to grow in their relationship with God outside the school setting.
In November 2014, Father Adam Sughroue, now seminarian formator at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward and pastor for Presentation Parish in Bellwood and St. Francis Parish (Center) in rural David City, was the director of campus ministry and religion St. Cecilia High School. That month, St. Cecilia Parish began perpetual adoration in its newly renovated adoration chapel.
As parish volunteers worked to ensure that there would be adorers every hour, then-pastor Father Joseph Walsh asked Father Sughroue if the school wanted an hour reserved for students to come and pray. Father Sughroue agreed, and the school has held the Wednesday 9 p.m. slot ever since.
While the number of students attending each week is too great to fit in the Adoration chapel, they continue to use that designated hour to spend time with the Lord in the main body of the church, with far-reaching impacts on the school community.
About a month after the holy hour began, Father Sughroue said a student came to him and asked, “Is there a reason we don’t have confessions during holy hour?” There wasn’t, so confessions have been available weekly ever since, too.
That hasn’t been the only change to the holy hour since its inception, though. Since taking on the director of campus ministry and religion position this school year, after serving as an assistant to Father Sugroue the two years previous, Sister M. Xavier Schulze has overseen an additional change this school year.
This year, she and Father Cyrus Rowan, principal for St. Cecilia Middle and High School, were hoping to find a way to draw in more students, so they began a new tradition for holy hours on the first Wednesday of the month.
The first Wednesday holy hour begins with a talk by a priest on staff at the school. Each one is related to the Eucharist, in keeping with the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative to renew worship of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, sponsored by U.S. Bishops.
Afterward, there is time for prayer and confessions with the addition of music or recitation of the rosary. The evening ends with night prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours.
The additions were meant to help ease any anxiety that students might have about what to do or how to pray during the hour.
“We thought that some kids might be intimated by a whole hour of silence,” Sister M. Xavier said.
Since the changes have been made, Sister M. Xavier has noticed an increase in attendance on first Wednesdays, enough to warrant the addition of another priest to hear confessions. The weekly holy hours are open to anyone, and local GodTeens students have started coming on first Wednesdays, allowing public and private school students the opportunity to enjoy fellowship together.
Sister M. Xavier said that in speaking with, and observing the students who attend adoration, she has seen that they are experiencing the blessings that come from putting Jesus first.
“The students really like having that hour,” she said. “They all say it’s one of the highlights of their week, it helps the whole week go smoothly.”
Brynn Weeks, a sophomore at St. Cecilia, started attending the holy hours when she was in eighth grade. She saw high school students she looked up to attending, and said she doesn’t think she would have started going, if it wasn’t for them.
“I think I saw how joyful and genuine the [students] that went to holy hours were,” Weeks said. “They took their faith seriously and it really inspired me.”
Weeks said she notices a marked improvement in her week when she spends an hour in prayer.
“Holy hour is just such a peaceful and beautiful time,” she said. “The first time I went I remember how startling the silence was. It’s so nice to just have an hour to not worry about anything and chat with Jesus.”
Paisley Mangers, a freshman at St. Cecilia, first attended one of the holy hours in sixth grade and enjoyed her experience so much she continued to go. This year, she’s made the commitment to attend every week during Lent.
Mangers said having a quiet place to go has really helped her prayer life, and has helped her to stay more focused in prayer.
“I come home before bed relieved. It makes my day,” Mangers said.
Senior Keegan Lindauer has seen his own prayer life deepen as he’s spent time in adoration this school year. He said he had noticed that he didn’t feel as strong in his faith as he had been in the past, and started going to adoration with friends.
At first, he said that he would spend no more than 30 to 45 minutes in the chapel, and found that his mind was prone to wandering. Now, he finds that the hour goes quickly, and he has more focus in prayer than he did when he started. He’s really enjoyed the music on first Wednesdays.
“You don’t know what you’re missing out on until you spend an hour,” Lindauer said. “It’s a peaceful time to think and pray about what my future might bring.”
Robby Hrnchir is a senior this year and began attending adoration the summer before his sophomore year after an invitation from a group of recently graduated seniors. He enjoys spending his hour journaling, taking the time to think through the big questions that come with being a senior in high school.
“You hope the Lord is guiding you in those moments, but you trust He’s going to bring out the best,” Hrnchir said.
Hrnchir spoke to the importance of invitation, having seen students attend holy hour who might not have otherwise, thanks to an “ask” from a fellow classmate. He said he would encourage any fellow high school student to spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist.
“Just start with five to 10 minutes, whatever you can do, whenever you can go,” he said. “You don’t have to feel bad about where you’re at.”
Father Sughroue shared that once, a student asked him if they could do their homework during the allotted hour. His response was an emphatic “yes.”
“Our Lord wants to do anything and everything with you,” he said. “There’s no way you can spend an hour with our Lord and it not have an impact.”
During his time at St. Cecilia High School, Father Sughroue said he did think the student body changed with exposure to Jesus in the Eucharist. In addition to the weekly holy hour, the school started holding a homecoming holy hour in the school courtyard each year during his first year as director and added a Eucharistic procession during Catholic Schools Week.
“The overall atmosphere at the school definitely changed,” Father Sughroue said. “There’s an atmosphere of openness to the Holy Spirit. I like to say that the Holy Spirit is on staff and working at Hastings Catholic Schools.”
