Adoration with the Archbishop

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Students kneel with Archbishop Schnurr, transitional deacon Jeremy Miller, and Matt Dunch, SJ, at Adoration during Holy Power Hour 2.0 at XU’s Bellarmine Chapel Friday. Click to enlarge.

About 50 people, almost all of them students, gathered at Xavier University’s Bellarmine Chapel Friday night for Eucharistic Adoration with musicians from Nashville and a very special guest for the student-run group: Archbishop Dennis Schnurr.

Life After Sunday, a Catholic student organization that has activities almost every day of the week, holds “Holy Power Hours” every few months. This event earned the “2.0″ designation by combining the typical prayers, chants, and procession common to Adoration of Christ in the host with a short concert by The Glory Collective  and the leadership of Archbishop Schnurr.

The evening began with an address by Archbishop Schnurr about the importance of discerning a vocation, and about how young people are especially called to the New Evangelization.

Everyone has a vocation, he told the students. “People will ask you, ‘What you want to do?’ not “What plan does God have for you?’” Archbishop Schnurr said. “But who has the better idea? God gives us all gifts and talents for our vocation, and unless we discern that vocation some part of those gifts and talents will always be untapped.”

Adults can be afraid to ask young people to pray, to find a vocation, and to be part of the New Evangelization taking Christ to others, the Archbishop said. “But study after study shows that young people are generous, that they want a challenge,” he said. “They don’t want anyone to soft-pedal the Church.” Young people want to accept or reject the Church as it really is, and not to have older people decide what they will accept or reject.”

Archbishop Shnurr said that Catholic student groups at Xavier and other schools in the Archdiocese, including secular schools such as Wright State University, demonstrate that young people embrace vibrant faith when they experience it. The rest of the night bore that out, as the three musicians from The Glory Collective provided contemporary and traditional sacred music, Aquinas College sophomore Maria Price’s yearning vocals soaring through the chapel in “Come Holy Spirit… Veni per Mariam.”

The worshipers knelt fervently through the Eucharistic procession and Adoration, chanting the O Salutaris Hostia and Tantum Ergo without needing to read the Latin from their programs.  They crowded the vestibule for a reception afterward, eager to speak with the Archbishop, meet the musicians, and enjoy each other’s company.

Life After Sunday sponsors Rosary Monday-Thursday, Bible study Wednesdays, Adoration on Thursdays, and yearly retreats, as well as several Holy Power Hours throughout the year.

Photos by The Catholic Beat. See a gallery of photos at our Facebook page.

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Maria Price and Shawn Williams (pianist Jimmy Mitchell is not in the photo) in concert before Archbishop Schnurr and XU students at Friday’s Holy Power Hour 2.0. Click to enlarge.