Monday 8 December 2008

Children's Liturgy - of a sort?

I have just been indirectly led to this post, entitled Kindergarten at Mass. Reading the bloggers' observations about her/his experience of entering churches when s/he was a child prompted two thoughts.

Is the practise of Children's Liturgy (when young children leave the Church for a form of liturgy of the word during Mass) really the right way forward? Shouldn't they stay, and have their sense of awe encouraged by the readings, a solemnly sung psalm and allelulia, and the incense and candles of the Gospel procession?

And I suspect this applies very much to the parents too .... Shouldn't someone tell them what all these things mean, instead of assuming that it is beyond them?

Ah, what might be ...

6 comments:

Fr John Abberton said...

I agree with your sentiments. I am thinking that the Children's "Liturgy" is not liturgy at all, and we should stop calling it that. The Liturgy is the public worship of the Church, and in parishes this means the Parish community (or the part of it that is present at that Mass). The removal of young children from the Mass actually means that they are being removed from the Liturgy. What they have in a room appart cannot, and should not be, called liturgy.
Just what we can do about it now is another question. So many things have happened and continue to happen in the Church that have not been sufficiently thought through or critiqued properly, and now we have those who will resist change or challenge becaue they are happy with what they have.

Fr. John Abberton

Joe said...

Father

I think another part of the story is the absence of "devotions" from parish life. A time of Eucharistic Adoration for children is a great time to teach them about prayer, the different parts of the Mass, how to genuflect, what the Gospel procession is about... Because this isn't being done outside of what is strictly the Liturgy, the only place to do it is in the Liturgy proper - so things get inserted into the Liturgy that (have some pastoral value but)don't belong there.

Joe said...

PS. I wonder whether what is needed is that delightful tool of management - a "review" of the provision?

Anonymous said...

At the time i suppose it was thought to have been "sufficiently thought through" when a "chidren's Liturgy"was introduced . Perhaps for everyone that isn't in favour of it there are twice as many that favour it.

Joe said...

Anonymous:

If I were to ask most people involved in running "children's liturgy" in the parishes I am familiar with a question about the catechetical or liturgical objectives of their work .....

I suspect that most would not understand the question, let alone be able to give a coherent answer.

I would be delighted to be proved wrong, but...

Anonymous said...

zero says
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