The Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar during a Young Adult Holy Hour at Sacred Heart Church in Bridgeport, Montgomery County. Held monthly, the holy hour offers young adults an opportunity for prayer, Eucharistic adoration, and confession, followed by an optional social to build parish community. (Photo: Brianna Dauby)
Beautiful Gregorian chant music filled the dark and silent church as all eyes and hearts focused on the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar at Sacred Heart Church in Bridgeport, Montgomery County last month.
About 20 to 40 young adults gather monthly for a holy hour spent with the Lord in adoration, led by the pastor, Father Peter DiMaria.
The Young Adult Holy Hour also includes the sacrament of reconciliation with Father DiMaria. It’s marked by an atmosphere of silence and reverence that makes confession easily accessible to young adults with hectic schedules.
After Father DiMaria ends the holy hour with benediction in Latin and occasionally a litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and after he returns the Eucharist to the tabernacle, so begins the second part of this event — the social.
Typically hosted by Kennedy Bucko and her husband Jacob, the social is a way for attending young adults to get to know one another.
The Buckos began these monthly holy hours about one year ago to provide young adults in the Bridgeport area with a way to adore the Lord in the Eucharist on a regular basis and go to confession.
Kennedy Bucko explained how she had been involved in several young adult groups but sought something different. She wanted to create a young adult group where the main focus was prayer without requiring participants to share their faith, such as in a Bible study. Such a practice presents pressure for an individual to describe their spiritual journey.
Instead, young adults with the Sacred Heart group can enter into the presence of the Lord and pray without any social requirements, unless they would like to join the social that follows.
The impact of this approach was felt early on. Bucko described how in one of the first holy hours, a young man who was active in other young adult events decided to go to confession for the first time in about 10 years because it was made available during that time. He left the holy hour, she said, encountering the mercy of the Lord.
“I really wanted a young adult event that would inspire people to pray but also trusting in the power of the Eucharistic Lord to really transform hearts and change them and bring them closer to Him,” Bucko said.
The main emphasis for the holy hours is to allow young adults to slow down and spend more time with the Eucharist. But the social aspect remains vital as it brings the parish community closer together.
“There is a deep desire for us to have community and fellowship. So having this event coupled with prayer and fellowship felt really important, but I also wanted it to be that the social aspect was optional,” Bucko said.
“I would say that the social aspect is actually very important for this; just to really create a space where people feel a sense of community. As much as prayer is important, I feel that having both is really what is the most fruitful.”
A struggle with many parishes in recruiting young adults is that they tend to move from parish to parish and don’t typically attend the same parish every weekday. Mobility can make it difficult for parish communities to grow and receive the invigorating energy that young adults can bring to a parish.
Kennedy Bucko explains how the young adult holy hours have helped to increase the number of young adults that regularly attend Sacred Heart Parish.
“It has been really special to see how this Young Adult Holy Hour has influenced our greater parish community,” she said. “The parish of Sacred Heart has grown so much in the area of young adults.”
“This holy hour has allowed an opportunity to invite young adults into our parish and now on Sundays, our pews are filled with really wonderful young people who desire to grow closer to the Lord.”
Bucko sees the benefit of more parishes offering eucharistic adoration to their parish community.
“I think that especially for young adults that are discerning vocations, or are in early stages of their vocation, there is a need for community and a desperate need for drawing closer to the Lord and doing that through Eucharistic adoration,” she said. “I think more time of adoration offered in parishes is going to bear fruit in our Church.”
The next Young Adult Holy Hour at Sacred Heart Church will be on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. The church is located at 120 Jefferson Street in Bridgeport, Pa.
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