Are Teachers for Childrens Liturgy of the Word Missing their Sunday Obligation?

[Pug]

MooCowSteph:

Hmm…I’m be interested to see if this is the experience of others. When my husband was in RCIA it wasn’t sugessted, and to be honest, it never even occured to me that he wouldn’t be meeting his obligation.

Br. Rich I think was talking about the RCIA team, not the people actually in RCIA. If your husband had a mass obligation, they would not have had him be one of the ones dismissed. They only dismiss the ones who don’t have the obligation yet, in my parish. For example, someone who is not yet baptized doesn’t have the mass obligation.

About the RCIA team members, I assume they MUST attend another mass to meet the obligation. So most of us go to Saturday Vigil and then on Sunday we don’t have to worry about being dismissed early for BOW.

If you are leaving for BOW and are a RCIA team member, you should attend another mass that weekend and sit through the whole thing.

 

[CyberSaint]

A representative of my archdiocese contacted me. I left the same question with them at their website. She stated that teachers of CLOW meet the homiletical part of their obligation by their service. My priest agrees.

I still want to find something in the Catechism that states what parts are necessary for the Sunday obligation, but I sense this will be difficult to determine. The sister and my priest’s info. came from the 1973 Bishops’ document on Children’s Worship, I think.

Anyway, thanks one and all for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

CS

 

[SouthCoast]

Regarding RCIA… Just some clarification as someone who went through it just this year:

a) he was talking about the people conducting RCIA classes, not the participants. Those individuals would need to attend another mass (if available at the parish) to complete their Obligation. After all, they did not get the opportunity to receive the Holy Sacrament.
b) RCIA Candidates/Catachumens aren’t Catholics, and thus have no Sunday Obligation to complete. Furthermore, it is the tradition of the Church that they not be present for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
-Michael

 

[puzzleannie]

Chris-WA:

I would suggest there is a better way to handle this whole situation, as was done in my old parish. Have the children’s RE between masses so the kids can attend their RE and go to the entire mass with their families. That way the kids develop a respect and appreciation for the whole mass early on. This also allowed the parish to have an adult RE class at the same time the kids went to class, which eliminated any need for babysitting. It works great!

CLOW is for children who have not yet made their first communion. AFter that they, like adults are required to attend a complete Sunday Mass which includes the lectionary readings and homily. The adult leaders should rotate duties so no one misses this part of the Mass too often, and may with permission of the pastor study and meditate on the lectionary readings (which they should do in preparation for the session in any case, otherwise the class is useless). The adult should attend another Mass that day if it is not an undue burden.

RE on Sunday morning is fine IF the church has enough parking, if the children also attend Mass with their families, and if adult catechists don’t use RE as an excuse to miss Mass. All three abuses occur in any parish I have worked in that has Sunday RE.

 

[Benedictus]

CyberSaint:

But is there some rule in the Catechism or elsewhere that states: “These are the requirements for meeting one’s Sunday Obligation”?

The 1917 Code of Canon Law stated that one had to be present for the Offertory, Consecration, and Communion (apparently based on the Roman Catechism). The 1983 Code doesn’t state specific parts of the Mass that one must be present for. Presumably, one should be present for the entire Mass, only prevented by a just reason. The question is, just how much do you have to be present for? An old rule of thumb was that if you miss the Gospel, you miss Mass.

 

[Chris-WA]

puzzleannie:

CLOW is for children who have not yet made their first communion. AFter that they, like adults are required to attend a complete Sunday Mass which includes the lectionary readings and homily. The adult leaders should rotate duties so no one misses this part of the Mass too often, and may with permission of the pastor study and meditate on the lectionary readings (which they should do in preparation for the session in any case, otherwise the class is useless). The adult should attend another Mass that day if it is not an undue burden.

RE on Sunday morning is fine IF the church has enough parking, if the children also attend Mass with their families, and if adult catechists don’t use RE as an excuse to miss Mass. All three abuses occur in any parish I have worked in that has Sunday RE.

Thanks for the information. I would be interested in knowing your source so I could present it to my parish. In our parish, CLOW is the RE for our younger kids. They start 30 minutes before mass and then enter the mass during the offertory to join their families. The end result is that they miss half the mass. I think it’s much better to separate RE completely from mass so a child attends both. This also allows time for an adult RE class to be held while the kids attend RE, and everybody goes to a complete mass as a family either before or after.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

demolitionman65:

Let’s ask another question: Is the Children’s Liturgy of the Word allowing the KIDS to fulfill their obligation? Because the CLOW’s I have seen have been filled with the most brainless and neutral pablum imaginable.

You are my new hero. What a waste - they “invite” ALL kids ages 6-13 to proceed out of my husband’s assignment to hear the Gospel read by a layperson with whatever distorted “reflection”/homily said layperson can muster. CLOW is a travesty, and hopefully will be cleaned up under our new pontiff.

 

[MooCowSteph]

Pug:

Br. Rich I think was talking about the RCIA team, not the people actually in RCIA. If your husband had a mass obligation, they would not have had him be one of the ones dismissed. They only dismiss the ones who don’t have the obligation yet, in my parish. For example, someone who is not yet baptized doesn’t have the mass obligation.

About the RCIA team members, I assume they MUST attend another mass to meet the obligation. So most of us go to Saturday Vigil and then on Sunday we don’t have to worry about being dismissed early for BOW.

If you are leaving for BOW and are a RCIA team member, you should attend another mass that weekend and sit through the whole thing.

Thanks for the clairification…I see you’re right.