Once each month, Father Todd Reitmeyer, the chaplain for the diocese’s home school students and pastor of St. Anthony Parish, Herreid, spends some extra time in Sioux Falls.
Father Reitmeyer comes to Sioux Falls for spiritual direction and he utilizes the opportunity to spend some quality time with the young people of the diocese in youth adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Youth adoration began when Father Reitmeyer was assigned to St. Michael Parish, Sioux Falls. He was asked to start youth adoration while he was still at St. Michael by Julie Christian, a member of a St. Margaret Fellowship, a home school group in the diocese
“I think it makes a huge difference, especially for the younger children,” said Father Reitmeyer.
“It’s really amazing to watch,” said Christian. “Even the youngest of children, the four-year-olds are captivated for the entire hour.”
The hour of adoration is not like it is for adults. The hour is instead geared toward the younger children. “It’s broken up with songs, it’s broken up with prayers, it’s broken up with periods of silence which gradually increase so the children can learn to sit quietly before the Lord,” he said.
It is important to Father Reitmeyer, to the parents and to the children who attend. “In a concrete way, children’s adoration brings the reality of the teaching of the Eucharist to them in a way they can understand.
“When they are young, they are the most receptive to it, the most open to it,” said Christian. “My own kids ask as do other kids, ‘When is Holy Hour?’ They want to come, they are excited to come.”
She believes this experience with her own children will pay big dividends as her children get older.
Christian and other parents have not been surprised by the turnout each month. The group ranges from two dozen up to 75 and it includes children as young as 4 and as old as 13 or 14.
Children’s adoration at St. Michael Parish has been going for more than a year, so it is no surprise that Father Reitmeyer is encouraging other parishes to take it up, especially in this Year of the Eucharist. “We’ve been encouraging it since day one,” he said. “The Holy Father has talked about the need to renew our faith in the Eucharist...it is going very well and the kids really understand that that is Christ.”
There was a children’s adoration hour as part of the recent 40 Hours devotion at St. Joseph Cathedral.
Father Reitmeyer and Julie Christian have offered to do a presentation as part of the diocesan Ministry Day next summer so others in the diocese can see its value and how it succeeds.
“We’re more than willing to help anyone who wants to start one,” Father Reitmeyer said. “The home schoolers would love it to see this happen in more places in the diocese so they have more opportunity to attend.”