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By Suzanne Haugh, Special To The Bulletin

ROSWELL-Five-year-old Michaela Patafil goes to the children's holy hour at St. Peter Chanel Church "to be close to the Lord." She and her older sister, 8, attend with their parents each Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. Michaela adds, "(Jesus) feels good." Catherine Anderson is one of a team of five mothers who serve as guardians for the children's hour at St. Peter Chanel, where perpetual adoration of the Eucharist was established Dec. 1, 2001. "We want people to feel free to bring children and not feel like they will be a disturbance to others," she said. What takes place during the hour can change from week to week and is directed by the children. Normally about 20 children come, she said. A shelf in the chapel holds children's books on faith, Bible stories and prayers, and each member of the mothers' team brings additional materials. "Last night everyone took a rosary and so we said the rosary and different children led the prayers." A mother of four boys ages 6 to 10, Anderson has approached the hour creatively, with an eye to fostering the spiritual development of her children. "When we first started, the youngest was too young to stay in the entire time so I brought a cassette player and he listened to 'Does God Know How to Tie His Shoes?'" Bible games and simple paper and pen are other activities Anderson's children have used during the hour. "I don't want them to feel like (adoration) is a punishment." She believes Jesus has a sense of humor and understands the squirminess of young children. "It's not always quiet. Children may be walking around, but they know that Jesus is present and that we've come to his house. He wants them to be there." Anderson felt reaffirmed last fall in her efforts to pass on her love of the Blessed Sacrament. The family returned to the children's hour of adoration after a summer of nighttime swim meets had ended. "As we left, the oldest came out and said, 'That was the best adoration I ever had. I really felt Jesus there and connected with him.'" Anderson understands that having adoration readily available is something to cherish. She recalled a family trip to the Florida coast where they asked a priest after Sunday Mass if adoration was available anywhere in the area. "The priest first asked what we meant by adoration and said, 'Well, we believe Jesus is present whether he is in the box or out of the box.'" She said her boys were shocked by the reference, saying, "They can't keep him locked in that box. Would they want to be locked in the box?" Anderson commented on adoring Christ present in the tabernacle and in the exposed Blessed Sacrament. "I think it's different when there is a wall or door between you and the Eucharist than if he's in the monstrance and you're in full view of the Lord. It's a more intimate feeling." Even in our unworthiness we can sit before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, she added. "We do not hide away from him and he does not need to be hidden away from us." Adoration is one aspect of helping to shape her children's faith life. All four attend Queen of Angels School, Roswell, and the two oldest are altar servers. The youngest boys often put on their blue blazers and khaki pants and serve as ushers with their father. The family has also brought home the Elijah Cup, where households take turns keeping a chalice for a week while praying for an increase in Religious vocations. "My husband and I, for a while, thought that we couldn't have children. We're really grateful for them and believe that their faith should be the center of their lives, rooted and growing and part of everything they do." Anderson describes the "craziness going on" in the world and hopes that with a strong faith her children will understand that it is more the exception than the rule. "I have a sense of peace when I take them (to adoration), of fulfilling a part of my role as a mother as God has intended me to," she said. "God gives us children and we have the responsibility to teach them the faith." With a strong faith, Anderson hopes each of her sons will continue on their appointed mission assigned to them by God. "I'm hopeful that they won't, as teenagers, fall away from the church, as many seem to do, and have to make the long struggle back." Prayer has become an important exercise for the family. When a friend's mother died, the Andersons prayed often for that family. "It's neat when we go to adoration and the children insist that we light a candle for her and they wanted to pray a rosary for her. It was an opportunity to talk about why God lets people die." This "avenue of conversation" gives Anderson and her husband a channel to handle serious issues. They explained to their children how we all have a mission on earth and will hopefully find our way to heaven. "In a reassuring way we tell them that Jesus is present there in the Eucharist." Michele Patafil, a parishioner at St. Peter Chanel Church, said she and her family are "the biggest fans of adoration." A cradle Catholic with nine years of parochial school education, Patafil admits that her faith life as an adult really took off only after a conflict that rattled the Queen of Angels school community. "We had a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament and I was overwhelmed," she said. "We asked the Lord to intercede . . . and it all worked itself out. It was an incredible experience." "There are so many ways the Lord leads you to sit and listen, but I didn't until I was invited," said Patafil, who responded to an altar call concerning adoration shortly after her experience with the episode at Queen of Angels. Since then, adoration of the exposed Blessed Sacrament has become part of the family's weekly routine. She and her husband take their two girls to the children's hour. Being aware of Christ's physical presence in the consecrated host and understanding how one can go before the Lord as before a friend are important aspects of the Catholic faith Patafil hopes to nurture in her children. "I want to expose my children to that same power that is so special and is what I have experienced as an adult." Patafil has discovered a love for the Eucharist that she didn't have in her spiritual life before participating in adoration regularly. "Now I'm drawn to it-truly, truly drawn to it. I want to receive the Eucharist every day to keep myself close to the Lord as I struggle to be the person I'm called to be." She urges others to experience adoration. "Everyone should go to eucharistic adoration and have a weekly check-in with Jesus, a weekly 'come to Jesus' meeting . . . It has now changed our lives as a family."