Children's Liturgy of the Word suggestions?

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Our parish is considering adding CLOW to another mass that has increased in attendance. I reviewed this forum to get some ideas and see there are some real negatives about some CLOW programs.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to resources or other guidance to make this both successful and orthodox? I’d love to hear from any CLOW teachers about what works and what doesn’t work.

I realize some are against CLOW programs altogether, but we believe this will enable parents to concentrate on mass rather than keeping their kids under control. There are a lot of young families at this mass and the kids tend to get restless sitting there for an hour. Plus hopefully the children will gain something if the CLOW is aimed at their level.

So if anyone has words to the wise, we are in the formation stage and want to do some research before we jump in.

Thanks
Lisa N
 
Lisa N:
Our parish is considering adding CLOW to another mass that has increased in attendance. I reviewed this forum to get some ideas and see there are some real negatives about some CLOW programs.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to resources or other guidance to make this both successful and orthodox? I’d love to hear from any CLOW teachers about what works and what doesn’t work.

I realize some are against CLOW programs altogether, but we believe this will enable parents to concentrate on mass rather than keeping their kids under control. There are a lot of young families at this mass and the kids tend to get restless sitting there for an hour. Plus hopefully the children will gain something if the CLOW is aimed at their level.

So if anyone has words to the wise, we are in the formation stage and want to do some research before we jump in.

Thanks
Lisa N
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God Bless you on your endeavor!
Just don’t do what they did at my old parish.
Show Veggie Tales. (really, I’m not kidding)
 
netmil(name removed by moderator):
God Bless you on your endeavor!
Just don’t do what they did at my old parish.
Show Veggie Tales. (really, I’m not kidding)
Click to expand...
Oh dear, no I don’t think Veggie Tales are on the menu! Thanks for the response.
Lisa N
 
Holy Mass is a family affair, and as long as I’m the head of my family my children will always be with me throughout all of the Mass. I have a hard enough time getting my five year old to settle down when we first get to church, I’m not going to deal with getting her to settle down again after someone takes her out of church.
 
Our parish has Children’s Liturgy of the Word for grades one through five during the 9:00am and 11:00am Masses from October through May. I know there are some things that we should be doing differently but this is what we do. We have enough teachers such that leading CLoW is about a once a month responsibility. Some of what we do is because our church has a rather odd setup. The altar is in the middle on a raised platform. But the Priest’s chair, the Ambo, and the cantor’s stand are situated outside of the ‘sanctuary’.

We divide the kids into two groups: first and second graders, and third, fourth, and fifth graders. We have two teachers for each group. Each group has a set of supplies which is stored in a cabinet in one of the rooms. Supplies for each group include a cross/crucifix, copies of the creed, candles, dry erase markers, an inexpensive CD boombox, a CD with Psalm and Gospel acclamations, and some fabric in the color of the current liturgical season. There is either a music stand or a small portable lectern in each room. We have Children’s lectionaries for each group which are stored in the sacristy of the church. The younger group usually just hears the first reading and the Gospel. The older kids hear all the readings that are in the lectionary for that day. (Sometimes there are three; sometimes there are only two.) We usually have two people from the choir come in (one per room) and lead the Psalm and the Gospel acclamation.

On Sunday mornings, the teachers show up to rooms where the custodian has previously set up chairs. (In the first few years the teachers set up the chairs themselves.) Our rule is that if we don’t have four adults (at least one leader per group) we cancel for that day. Before Mass, the teachers divide up several responsibilities. Everyone is supposed to sign in in the rectory. (Everyone who has some role to play at Mass is supposed to do this, including altar servers, Readers, and EMHCs.) Someone has to get the lectionaries from the sacristy. Someone else finds and notifies the celebrant that we are in fact going to have CLOW at this mass. Someone notifies an usher. Someone takes responsibility for making an announcement at Mass. (More on that in a bit.) Someone sets up candles, the crucifix, and lectionary stand in the front of the room, using the fabric to decorate. Someone else has takes two candles and one of the lectionaries and locates three Children who will be attending CLOW for that Mass. (I think this is the hardest job. But that’s me.) One of these children, usually the oldest, will be the Lectionary bearer. The other two will be candle bearers. These children often come and sit near a teacher.

Mass starts as usual. Just after the opening prayer, one of the teachers steps up to the cantor’s stand and makes an announcement calling the children to come stand before the priest. (The priest used to do this but our pastor insisted that someone else take this role because sometimes he was not informed of last minute cancellations of CLOW.) The children come and stand before the priest. The children with the lectionary and candles stand in front. The priest reads a short prayer that has been prepared earlier in the week by the liturgy coordinator. This prayer hints at the theme of the readings. Then the priest dismisses the kids. The choir sings a song about taking the Word of God with you and the children process out (under the guidance of the teachers.) This is all done as seamlessly as possible so as not to be distracting to those who remain in the church.

Once the children are outside the main church they walk over to the two rooms (in our case, on the otherside of our courtyard) and are directed into the appropriate room. The lectionary and candles used in the procession somehow make their way back to the appropriate room. If a choir member will be helping, he or she joins the group. When everyone settles in, one of theteachers greets the children, gently reminds them that this should still be considered as part of Mass (and that they should behave as if they were still in the church), and then reads a brief prayer from a CLOW teacher’s source.

(continued next post)
 
(continued from previous post)

At this point it is time to hear the first reading. For the younger kids, a teacher will do this. For the older group, a teacher may read or a child may be chosen to read. (If a child is chosen, the teacher will discretely coach him on any difficult words and remind him to speak in a clear voice.) All the children are coached to make the proper response following the reading. If a psalmist is available, he or she leads the children in the responsorial Psalm. Otherwise a teacher will read it. If there is a second reading, it is read. The Gospel acclamation is always sung. If there is no one to lead it, it is omitted. The Gospel is always read by an adult, never by a child. Ideally it would be read by a priest or deacon but unfortunately this happens infrequently in our parish. We do have one husband and wife team where the man is a deacon. I’m hoping we will get more.

After all the readings, the leaders have a discussion with the children. At one point we would have the younger children fill out a worksheet or color but this generally took too much time so it has for the most part been eliminated. Next, the children make a profession of faith. The older children say the Apostle’s Creed (frequently using a handout of the words) and the younger children (many of whom cannot yet read) are coached to repeat the lines of a simplified children’s creed read by a teacher. A teacher next leads the children in the Prayer of the Faithful. This is an area that I would like to see better preparation in our parish. We have teacher materials that have suggested petitions and we usually ask the children if they have anything requiring prayer. The problem with asking children about their prayer needs is that you tend to get a long litany of prayer requests for deceased pets. My personal opinion is that children should only be asked about personal prayer needs if there is extra time before the children must return to the assembly. An usher is supposed to come and give us a five minute warning before we return to the church. Judging the time needed is probably the hardest thing to do. I suspect we really need more like 10 minutes in our parish. I think ideally, the usher ought to come at the end of the homily since the profession of Faith and Prayer of the Faithful are of similar length for both groups (at least when you add in time for passing out and collecting handouts and reminders about behavior).

Returning to the assembly is difficult. When it is time to return, the children are reminded that they need to be as quiet as possible when they return to the assembly. I try to tell the older children that they are to act as examples for the younger ones. We sometimes have handouts for the kids and these are passed out at the end. (I try to tell the kids to let their parents hold any handouts because otherwise they tend to end up cluttering the pews rather than going home.) They are instructed to walk, not run. Unfortunately, these admonitions are easily forgotten or ignored. In our case, we wait outside a closed glass door until an usher opens it, hopefully giving another reminder to be quiet in the process. Ideally the children make their way back to their parents during the presentation of the gifts just after the gifts have been delivered to the priest. (An earlier return risks a collision between children and the gifts.) Our parish has a tendency to get the children back to thechurch later than that which can be quite disruptive.

At the moment I don’t have access to the resources used by the teachers so I can’t give you any names or publishers. What I can say is that the teachers are encouraged to attend a liturgy based bible study earlier in the week and that they have access to materials and copies of the readings from the Children’s Lectionary at least a couple of weeks in advance. At the beginning of each ‘year’ each teacher is given a ‘script’ for a general CLow and a list of instructions similar to what I wrote in the preceeding paragraphs.
 
SMHW thank you SO much for the detailed information. I have printed this off for my resource book.

Lisa N
 
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Patrick2340:
Holy Mass is a family affair, and as long as I’m the head of my family my children will always be with me throughout all of the Mass. I have a hard enough time getting my five year old to settle down when we first get to church, I’m not going to deal with getting her to settle down again after someone takes her out of church.
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You make a valid point there. They don’t have the Children’s Liturgy at my parish. At my former parish they did and I noticed that not all the children participated in it. I don’t have any small children but if I did I wouldn’t have them participate in it. I agree that the Mass is a family affair and they should be present during all of it. I remember Mother Angelica speaking about this topic and she did not approve of it at all. If I was considering it, I would make sure that the children were being taught the Gospel for that Sunday and how it relates to them. I’m assuming that is the purpose of the Children’s Liturgy? If it’s just a play/coloring session or watch a video, then I would be concerned.
 
Hello!

I have been a volunteer Children’s Liturgy presider for 6 years. Our program is split according to Mass time so I am only the Coordinator for the Mass time I attend. Dialogue between Coordinators depends if they respect each other. Some parishes have 1 person in charge of all Masses.

I agree that children participation is up to the parents. There are pros & cons for all decisions. You cannot please everyone.

Have funding for this ministry? Yes - lucky! Indirectly - courses (religious ed) - Go! Here is why:

Pro
Community perception is important. I’ve been asked for advice on: “The parents at our Mass time think we are a babysitting service. Any tips?”. Depends on the Coordinator leadership style. If Coordinator is reluctant to attend or encourage volunteer staff to go to dicocese courses then parents are going to assume it is a baby sitting service. I don’t say this publicly. One shall go 'cos they want to; not 'cos they have to.

Con
Youth volunteers do get scared when you mention courses. Be prepared to tell them why. You’ll need to ensure they know their call to ministry is more than just helping out on Sundays.

You can only hold volunteers accountable for not attending if they are on the border line of being fired (frequently skipping Mass to study or showing poor attitude).

Read forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=55638. This is the biggest challenge I am facing.
 
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prophetdaniel:
Hello!

I have been a volunteer Children’s Liturgy presider for 6 years. Our program is split according to Mass time so I am only the Coordinator for the Mass time I attend. Dialogue between Coordinators depends if they respect each other. Some parishes have 1 person in charge of all Masses.

I agree that children participation is up to the parents. There are pros & cons for all decisions. You cannot please everyone.

Have funding for this ministry? Yes - lucky! Indirectly - courses (religious ed) - Go! Here is why:

Pro
Community perception is important. I’ve been asked for advice on: “The parents at our Mass time think we are a babysitting service. Any tips?”. Depends on the Coordinator leadership style. If Coordinator is reluctant to attend or encourage volunteer staff to go to dicocese courses then parents are going to assume it is a baby sitting service. I don’t say this publicly. One shall go 'cos they want to; not 'cos they have to.

Con
Youth volunteers do get scared when you mention courses. Be prepared to tell them why. You’ll need to ensure they know their call to ministry is more than just helping out on Sundays.

You can only hold volunteers accountable for not attending if they are on the border line of being fired (frequently skipping Mass to study or showing poor attitude).

Read forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=55638. This is the biggest challenge I am facing.
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Thank you for the additional insight. Our current CLOW at one of the masses is definitely not considered babysitting. It’s well structured with all the appropriate set up and respect. I do think of course it’s done at a child’s level with some arts and crafts that relate to the readings.

I also definitely agree, for some parents, the children should be with them through the mass. For others, this allows them some freedom to truly pay attention and worship. I spoke to one woman, 9 months pregnant with two bouncy little boys who said once she has the baby, she isn’t sure if she can attend mass at all due to having to keep track of three little ones. She definitely wants them to receive the liturgy and doesn’t consider CLOW a free sitter but it can be a positive mission.

We do have a very supportive parish with some funding although of course much volunteer support is needed. Again, thanks for the encouragement!
Lisa N
 
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