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Children's Liturgy

Wecome to the Children's Liturgy Page

Every Sunday at 11.00am mass we celebrate a Children's Liturgy of the Word.
All children from Reception year to Year Six are welcome.

Many of you I am sure will have seen the children called forward, receive their candle and process to the room where their liturgy is held. It is a heartwarming sight to see the children gather joyfully, if a little daunting for the leaders who sometimes see 60 children in the queue. The next time you see the children at the offertory procession , when they gather at the altar and are officially welcomed back by the celebrant.

We are often asked by parents what actually happens during Children's Liturgy. Our time with the children is not a form of Sunday School, neither is it a baby-sitting service. It is a celebration of The Liturgy of the Word that is remarkably similar to what you will be experiencing. The same readings and Gospel will be explored, but in a way that is accessible to the children. Our aim is to not only to help the children understand the gospel more fully, but to help them go out and live their lives as Jesus would want them to do.

So, how do we do this?

We use any means at our disposal to help reveal the Word of God. Sometimes we mime the Gospel story, we may use visual images, or song, we have even used a mobile phone. We ask questions, encourage the children to really think about what Jesus was saying. There have been occassions when we have sat in deep silence, watching a candle. There have been times when we have laughed uproariously, and others when a child has revealed a bereavement or worry, that we have been deeply moved.

You will notice that the priest often gives the children an object to carry, along with the candle, as they process. These objects are visual symbols that help the children remember the gospel. We have used seeds, shepherds crooks, glasses of water and even suitcase. At the end of one Lent, we showed the children the symbols that we had used for each week of Lent. To our great joy they were able to remember every Gospel story.

Some people worry that a child is missing mass when they attend Children's Liturgy. The celebration of the Liturgy of the Word for children is approved of by the church and we follow guidelines set by the Vatican and by the Bishop's Conference of England and Wales.

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