"Seusscharist" by Episcopal church in Pittsburgh

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I have to disagree with you. It’s not mockery, rather just making it easier and fun for all children to learn. When I was a child and had religious instruction it was incredibly boring and you know how much I learned??? Just about nothing. And I’ll tell you something else; I’m glad they are doing it the way they are; at least the kids have a chance of grasping the fundamentals of the liturgy. I wish when i was a kid they had thought of doing something like this; I might have actually learned something.
 
My response is: I’m certainly glad that there are churches out there where you can find liturgy that is given in the way you find acceptable; likewise for me, I’m glad there are churches whom have the liturgy given that is acceptable to me. Furthermore I don’t believe that I would challenge liturgy outside my own faith as I understand and respect that people have different belief’s, even if they are not what I believe.
 
HAnne said:
I’m the mom of a 7 year old boy. While I can POSSIBLY understand this as “reaching out to kids” I can tell you EXACTLY what would happen in my home. But for a little background, let’s discuss his responses to communion thus far. All of these experiences are from the past 2 months.

CM&A Church (prior to beginning attending Mass):

We attended a service with communion. I did my best to explain ahead of time what communion was, why it was an important sacrament, etc. It was our second service at that church. He sat still, paid attention, and tried to understand. I thought he was doing pretty good until he quietly asked me why he couldn’t go up and get snacks too. I can understand. Leavened bread in a basket and little “juice cups”. Kinda looked like snack time to me too.

Catholic Mass:

It was our first Mass as a family. I had done the same speech now adding “this is a Catholic Church, we can’t take communion because we aren’t allowed to have the Sacrament until we’re done with school” shtick. The Father came out ahead of time and talked to us along with the RE/DS’s CCD teacher (who was also kind enough to sit with us). They explained to him that he couldn’t have the Eucharist yet, but that he COULD come up and be blessed and showed him how to cross his arms.

He treated the ENTIRE service with the utmost reverence. He knelt, stood, and sat with the adults, tried to follow along in the adult missal, and worked hard to keep up. At the time of the Eucharist, he went up, crossed his arms, and was blessed. After the Mass he talked about it for DAYS.

What would THIS “Seusscharist” bring? NOTHING BUT GIGGLES. Trust me. NOTHING BUT GIGGLES. Kids don’t read Dr. Seuss to get a hidden message. Sure, it’s there in books like “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” but they aren’t looking for it, it’s just implied by a fun story and great illustrations. Kids read Dr. Seuss to laugh. It’s FUN. It’s meant to be FUN.

The Eucharist is not FUN. It’s not a party. It’s a solemn Sacrament designed to bring us closer to Christ. If we want children to respect it, we need to explain it with the appropriate reverence with love in our hearts.
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Great post!

I remember my first visit to a church when I was a child… it was a liturgical church (Eastern Orthodox). I understood that something serious and mysterious was going on, and it stayed in my memory. If it was fun and kid oriented like everything else, and like tv shows I watched or books that I read, it wouldn’t have been special.
 
DCNBILL said:
Is Yertle the Turtle in the Episcopal canon?:confused:
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Not in the canon, but I think “Yertle the Turtle” teaches the kids something worthwhile. I read it to my son just a couple of weeks ago. I especially like “Sneetches” and “The Lorax”.

Really now, why is the way an Episcopalian congregation chooses to teach their children about the Eucharist, of any concern to Catholics?
 
I think that this type of service is really disrespectful…even if the Episcopal church doesn’t have the Real Presence, they don’t see Communion as a mere symbol, so it’s not a good idea to make the liturgy less reverent.

Here’s how I look at it… if you were at Calvary and saw Christ crucified, how would you act? that is how we should act at Mass, because it is a participation in Calvary. That means no laughing, jumping, dancing, etc. There’s nothing wrong with those things outside of Mass… I sometimes go to Christian music concerts where they have a band, guitars, etc, - but the Mass should be reverent, traditional, and respectful of God. I think children sense that too. Children really understand more than most adults think they do. Even if they don’t intellectually understand Communion, they pick up on a lot of what they see, and on how we approach the Eucharist.
 
gamewell45 said:
My response is: I’m certainly glad that there are churches out there where you can find liturgy that is given in the way you find acceptable; likewise for me, I’m glad there are churches whom have the liturgy given that is acceptable to me. Furthermore I don’t believe that I would challenge liturgy outside my own faith as I understand and respect that people have different belief’s, even if they are not what I believe.
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Should we infer that you have no problem with the Seusscharist?
 
Mikeoffaith said:
I really thought that having great love and giving of ones self was having a connection to Jesus. If having pain and loss is a connection to Jesus, then shouldn’t we be creating as many opportunities as possible for pain and suffering?
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There are opportunities for pain and suffering that we don’t have to even try to “create”.
They are simply there.
 
masuwerte said:
Not in the canon, but I think “Yertle the Turtle” teaches the kids something worthwhile. I read it to my son just a couple of weeks ago. I especially like “Sneetches” and “The Lorax”.

Really now, why is the way an Episcopalian congregation chooses to teach their children about the Eucharist, of any concern to Catholics?
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While I agree that Horton Hears a Who can be read as a pro-life lesson, and a lesson for acceptance of all creation I still feel the message is lost entirely if the idea that each worship time must be fun. This of course is a decision that the pastor needs to make, because he can’t keep this up all year if doing daily worship. At a rate of once a week worship given to God, he may squeek by after 3 or so months. What then?
 
I concur. This is a sickening and inappropriate way to approach the Eucharist and Our Saviour. I’m not a fan of this kind of nonsense. There are other ways to draw children and youth in. Catechism, theology, and liturgy can be fascinating to kids if taught properly. Silly gimmicks and bizarre stuff like this are totally unnecessary.
 
Well your certainly entitled to you opinion, as I see no “mockery” of the Eucharist I must highly disagree with you. Its most likely best that we agree to disagree on this topic.
 
No, one agrees to disagree in discussion when one diverging opinion over another cannot be resolved or agreed upon and as such further discussion on the topic would be futile.
 
“God we have wronged you
And we need to say boo hoo
For the things we did and didn’t do.
We are not content
We want to repent
one hundred percent
Oh so sorry
Won’t you forgive us this day;
so we can walk in your way”

Gurney takes finger, sticks it down throat, gags and vomits exceedingly…pppppphhagggh
 
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