After an unsettled debate with a colleague in the late 90’s, it took the grace of a veteran children’s liturgy instructor to understand that both the brief Lucan version of the Lord’s Prayer with five petitions (Lk. 11:2–4), and the more developed Matthean (6:9-13) version of seven petitions are right and biblically factual.
However, it is the Matthean version that is traditionally used in the liturgy. I never forgot this!
For lack of proper catechesis, that was a question the domestic church I belonged to couldn’t easily answer, a challenge that Part I of this series sought to address.
Whenever I remember that episode, I wonder what would have happened to my Catholic Faith without the well-informed children’s liturgy instructor, and I imagine the formation the current instructors go through (if any) in these challenging times to warrant the right outputs?
Are the children’s liturgy instructors even known by the pastors under whose ecclesiastical mandate they serve? Can exemplary professionals like teachers (active and retired) be encouraged to help with their talents? Would the story have been different if I had the privilege of a Catholic basic school education that is supposed to facilitate the Church’s mission, directly and indirectly?
And could ecclesiastical youth groups like the Catholic Youth Organisation (CYO), various Knights associated to the Faith, Children/Legion of Mary, Christian Daughters and Sons, etc., have stood up to that catechetical task?
When the Lord said, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs’ (cf. Lk. 18:15–17; Mt. 19:13–15; Mk. 10:13–16), he obviously meant something much deeper than mere familiarity and companionship.
It was about training the child in the way he should go: so that when he is old, he will not depart from it (cf. Prov. 22:6). The importance of this wholistic understanding lies in the fact that if the foundations be destroyed, the just man may be unable to help (cf. Ps. 11:3). As the beautiful Chichewa proverb puts it, M’mera mpoyamba (catch them while young), and they shall be forever yours.
Inspired by such basic truths of early childhood development as regards a wholistic and institutional catechetical approach of the Church therefore, Pope John Paull II quizzed: ‘What kind of catechesis would it be that failed to give their full place to man’s creation and sin; to God’s plan of redemption and its long, loving preparation and realization; to the incarnation of the Son of God; to Mary, the Immaculate One, the Mother of God, ever Virgin, raised body and soul to the glory of heaven, and to her role in the mystery of salvation; to the mystery of lawlessness at work in our lives and the power of God freeing us from it; to the need for penance and asceticism; to the sacramental and liturgical actions; to the reality of the Eucharistic Presence; to participation in divine life here and hereafter, and so on?
Thus, no true catechist can lawfully, on his own initiative, make a selection of what he considers important in the deposit of faith as opposed to what he considers unimportant, so as to teach the one and reject the other’ ( Catechesi Tradendae, 30).
In as much as these and other similar faith-themes may contribute to the foundation of a child’s faith, it is obvious, that the means to effectively explicate them to a child may necessarily have to differ from that of an adult. Hence, the need to attentively consider what is often called ‘Sunday School’ but properly called ‘Children’s Liturgy’ (of the Word) in the Catholic Church. This liturgy is intentionally organized and adapted to the young age and environment of children to properly groom them to know, practice, and actively share the ‘Sacraments of faith’ (alluded to in the Introduction of this series) they believe in, celebrate, and expected ‘to build up the Body of Christ and to give worship to God’ (SC, 59). So, as an illustration of foundational commitments, it was beautiful to know that the Accra Archdiocese of Ghana, for instance, has declared 2024 as the year of children with the theme, ‘Helping Children to seek Christ: from Discovery to Discipleship’ (Jn. 12:2).
With children’s liturgy as a primary tool, if the spirit of the theme is to be achieved, a parish church may have to consider, for instance:
▪︎ After the Collect, the minister may personally invite the children before the sanctuary for short admonitions and dismissal, and before the Offertory, may return to their guardians or reserved place.
This approach may be distracting without proper organization and coordination, but like the Dismissals in the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults), it serves as a didascalia that practically provokes the children’s desire to fully participate in the Church that offers the Eucharist (cf. St. Augustine, Sermon 132:1); ‘fountain of all holiness’ ( Secret Prayer of the Mass of St. Ignatius Loyola ) and ‘fountain of all graces’ ( Catechism of Trent, Art. 10).
▪︎ On special occasions, however, they may fully partake in the liturgy of the ‘matured’ Faithful, or when possible, a priest may celebrate a proper Mass for them at their place of meeting.
▪︎ With the help of graphic materials that effectively impact on children, their meetings should be a period to help them acknowledge ecclesiastical facts like the order of the Mass and its theology, the Saints as our living ancestors in the faith and not some weird principalities, the Church’s traditional prayers (the Rosary, Anima Christi, Act of Contrition, etc.), the Sacraments, and others like helping them appreciate that unless in extraordinary circumstances (especially in the absence of an ordained priest), they go for Mass or Eucharistic celebrations, not a (Sunday, Funeral, Youth, etc.) Service. They two, Mass and Service, are metaphysically different!
Materially, this is about being proactive and not merely reactive in the substantial sustenance and propagation of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Since the Faith is not magic, ‘truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it’ (Lk. 18:17; Mk. 10:15).
The End.