By Dan McCarty • Posted September 4, 2024

St. Monica Parish in Berwyn kicked off their second round of “Wholeness in Christ”, a praise and worship holy hour series that encourages participants to invite God to transform a particular area of their life. Hosted on the last Tuesday of each month, participants explore topics including family, health, and rest through adoration, worship, liturgical music, and confession.

“We want to spend the whole year talking about integration and how you can invite God into every area of your life,” said Elise Sitzman, director of communications at St. Monica.

The series returned to the Chester County parish August 27 following the success of a previous program, which took place from August 2023 to April 2024 before going on a summer hiatus.

Reflecting on last year’s series, pastor of St. Monica’s Father Paul O’Donnell said, “People enjoyed the time of prayer. We also have another chance for confessions. That’s always an edifying thing to see. It’s well appreciated.”

At each event, a monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament is placed on the altar for adoration and priests are present to hear confession.

Alexandra LaMastra, director of music and children’s faith formation, leads the music portion of the event.

“Playing and directing music for St. Monica’s praise and worship holy hours has been such a joy and highlight of my role as music director,” said LaMastra. “It is not only a chance to gather and pray with other musicians but [also} to pray together with the parish community.”

Nearly 70 people attended the first gathering of the season on the Feast of St. Monica. Among those present were Young Catholic Professionals (YCP), a national organization that seeks to bring together young Catholic professionals in a communal atmosphere of encouragement at all stages of their faith journeys, who partnered with the parish for the event.

“I’m so excited that YCP gets to collaborate with St. Monica on its feast day,” said Melissa Caromano, president of YCP . “It’s such an honor.”

Joining YCP and other participants was Archbishop Nelson Pérez.

“It was a pleasant surprise and such a gift to have him there,” added Caromano. “He’s so present to all the young adults in the archdiocese and brings with him a joy and light to all the events he can make. He’s so supportive of YCP and always wants to know when we have events so that he can try to attend.”

“Wholeness in Christ” resumes on Tuesday, September 24 at 6:30 p.m. with a focus on school and work. For more information, please visit https://saintmonicachurch.org/holyhour.