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Tuesday, January 28, 2020

DO CHILDREN'S MASSES HAVE TO BE CHILDISH? IN A WORD, NO!

We have a monthly "children's Mass" at our Sunday 10:30 AM High Mass. By High Mass in the Ordinary Form, I mean, everything is chanted including the priest's prayers. We also chant the propers. Incense is used.

At our children's Mass, we have young people as lectors, ushers and our excellent children's choir sings. We have a child cantor who is one of the best cantors we have in the parish with a well trained voice. She's excellent and often cantors at our normal Sunday Mass.

The homily is children friendly, to the point and also meaningful and challenging for the adults. They actually listen, both the children and adults!

This past Sunday was also the first ever Sunday of the Word of God. I invited parishioners to bring their Bibles to Mass. These were blessed at the conclusion of the Universal Prayer.









8 comments:

Fr Martin Fox said...

I am definitely in favor of homilies being crafted with children in mind, and I confess I don't do this often enough. On the other hand, I think such a homily should not be crafted as if only for children; there should be something for all present. From your comments, I suspect you take the same approach.

That said, I am not a fan of having the children come forward and gather around in front of the altar. It's just too cute; and I think it puts too much attention on the children themselves; they become a kind of prop. Does it subtly send the message that the rest of the Sundays, Mass isn't really for them? They don't really have to engage other times -- only when it's a "children's Mass"?

As far as children serving as readers, etc., it really depends on whether they are able to handle it, and if they are, I wonder why they shouldn't be able to read on other than "children's Sunday"?

Fr. David Evans said...

Prior to vatican 2, priests would realise they were servants before the Almighty. Now they feel so empowered they can bless his Word. Thus the Almighty has become their Servant

Anonymous said...

Candlemas Day falls on Sunday this year as it only comes around to Sunday every seven years. Candles are supposed to be blessed. Were people asked to bring in their candles on this coming Sunday to be blessed? When I lived "up north", our parish bought their year's supply of candles and several dozen boxes of smaller candles "for home use", including the small ones for sick call sets. These were all blessed on Candlemas Day and the "for home use" were made available for purchase. Actually, the parish asked for a donation to cover its cost. These became available in the parish gift shop, and I heard other parishes had them available in the parish office.
But.....I'd be willing to bet that very few parishes will actually do the blessing of candles because that would make the Mass t o o l o n g. Or the priests didn't bother reading their ORDO.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Yes, this past weekend I invited everyone to bring their home candles to Mass for the blessing at candlemas. In the Ordinary form, though, candles are passed out, Everyone goes to another chapel or outside. the candles are lighted as an antiphon chanted and then the candles are blessed and all enter the Church. The Vatican Mass for Candlemas as done in the Ordinary Form is very nice also.

rcg said...

Our ARS is making candles for our congregation tomorrow. It is a tradition for them and ensures the right proportion of beeswax is used.

John Nolan said...

Not long ago I went into a Catholic primary school to 'supply' for a teacher who was absent. As it was 29 June there was a Mass in the school hall. The priest vested properly, followed the rubrics, and in his homily engaged the children without talking down to them. For their part, the children recited prayers which they had written, and sang items they had practised, accompanied by a teacher with a guitar. They behaved reverently. In the context there was little to object to, but two thoughts did cross my mind.

1. The parish Sunday Mass would probably have been little different, although most of the congregation would have left school years ago. What is it about most parish liturgies that has the effect of infantilizing people?

2. When I was eight years old there were no 'children's Masses' but would I have wanted them? I had started serving Mass, knew the (Latin) responses by heart, and was conscious of participating in something supremely important and 'grown-up'.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

John, I think one of the positive shifts since Vatican II is the concern to be pastoral and kind. My parents' generation and even my own early years as a Catholic prior to Vatican II was all discipline oriented and priests and sisters could get away with berating children and adults and being authoritarian. The Latin Mass with his discipline fit into that. Adults, in fact, were more infantilized prior to Vatican II than today in terms of how many clergy and religious related to them.

I think one of the benefits of Vatican II is the emphasis on both the humanity and divinity of Christ, using the term "human" in the redeemed sense of closely aligned with humanity in love for us and to save us.

A humanizing of the EF Mass, in the positive sense, could allow for a children's homily that is brief, succinct and teaches the truths of the faith. I wouldn't see that as a bad development at all and might win over more Catholics who want both reverence and humanity at Mass.

John Nolan said...

Fr Allan

It's all very well to talk about being 'pastoral and kind' but this too easily degenerates into what people have called the 'Church of Nice'. In other words, don't challenge people's behaviour lest they take offence and leave (not that this approach has been a resounding success, if numbers attending are anything to go by).

In Our Lord's day, if a lamb strayed the shepherd would retrieve it, but would then break one of its legs. By the time it had healed, the lamb would have learned to stay with the flock. It's an example of 'tough love'.

Over the years I must have read millions of words on the litugical reform, from zealous advocates to harsh critics. Some still maintain that the language of the Mass must be instantly intelligible to children and the feeble-minded. This not only rules out Latin but also 'literate' English; music, too, must be reduced to the lowest common denominator (forget Broadway - most parish music hardly rises above the level of advertising jingles).

If this were not depressing enough, the Novus Ordo has a tendency to be overly didactic. You know what I mean - the priest, facing the people like a classroom teacher, begins by telling you what you are going to hear in the Scripture readings. You then hear the readings proclaimed ponderously in a bad translation. The priest then preaches a homily which does little more than reprise what you have just heard. And in case you still haven't got the message, he can squeeze in another mimi-homily before the dismissal.

People came in large numbers to hear Our Lord preach. His message was not carefully crafted to avoid giving offence. They listened because he spoke 'with authority'.