Liturgy

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Let the Little Children Come to Me.

 One of the things that visitors notice about our parish is the large number of children in our assembly. These children are an important part of our parish, and with their needs in mind, our Children's Liturgy of the Word program was started over 10 years ago. We wanted the children to be formed by the Word of God by having the readings and the reflection presented in a way they could more easily understand. What a wonderful sight to see all of the children following the presider to the chapel for Children's Liturgy of the Word.

 Another touching sight is little children approaching the font, dipping their hands in the water, and watching them try to imitate the adults in their lives as they attempt to make the sign of the cases. Often their parents will then help them bless themselves.

There are so many children who do not have the advantage of being raised as part of a faith community. As our children are brought to Church they learn the rituals and actions by watching and imitating.

Recently however, there have been a number of issues regarding children that cause concern.

When planning for our new church, we thought that the narthex could be the place where a parent could bring a crying baby or an unhappy toddler to calm them down. It was never intended to be a place where families would stay for the whole Mass, only running inside to receive Holy Communion. Often we can see children racing back and forth to the glass doors. At times they knock into the glass probably not hard enough to break the doors, but why take the chancre? And though someday we hope to have some kind of stained or frosted glass that will make the narthex less visible from inside church, for right now, all the activity in the narthex can be very distracting to the people, including the children, inside church.

Many parents of young children say that the best place for them to sit is right in front where the children can see everything. Often parents bring small books for their children to look at if they get restless. And sometimes, despite their best efforts, they do have to take the little ones out for a while. They stay in the narthex only long enough to quiet the child and then come back into church.

On either side of the narthex are the books where the community is invited to write their intentions and remember those who have died. It is very touching to see the name of a grandparent written, or printed by a child in the Book of Intercessions But it is very distressing to see that many pages in the Book of Eternal Life are filled with scribbling. This book is sacred to the memory of our deceased relatives, and should not be defaced this way.

The children of our community are our greatest resource for the future. We want them to be safe, as they learn to worship and participate in a meaningful way at liturgy.  

.6/20/99