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Connections
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After reverting back to the Church recently, I just became aware of the Children's Liturgy of the Word. This option for children is entirely new to me.
I have a call into the Church to get more information but from what I understand, the children leave for a portion of the Mass so they can hear readings and a homily geared more toward them.
I really like the idea of our family celebrating TOGETHER. It is not sitting well with me to think of my children leaving for the Liturgy of the Word.
OTOH, since my children are just being introduced to the Church (at 6 and 7) I don't want to deny them something that may speak to them, either.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
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Tracey
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sarahb
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 3:47pm | IP Logged
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We have this at one mass. My kids do not go. I dont really know much about it but because my kids are relative newcomers they dont know the leaders of this.
I think its a little protestant frankly. But I do think it is nice that something is geared to the kids at the same time. Usually the homily is so over their heads.
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 3:49pm | IP Logged
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See this thread for a discussion of children's liturgy.
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Connections
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 4:46pm | IP Logged
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Thank you so much for the link! I had done a search but came up empty- I must have needed to try different phrases.
I notice that discussion was in 2006, I would love to hear if anyone has changed their opinions or if anyone cares to add to it.
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Tracey
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 5:32pm | IP Logged
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Connections wrote:
Thank you so much for the link! I had done a search but came up empty- I must have needed to try different phrases.
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Yeah, the first search I tried came up with 40 pages of threads!
And it's definitely worth revisiting...just pointing to the other thread for reference. 
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Cindy Mac
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 6:00pm | IP Logged
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I led the Children's Liturgy of the Word at our former parish - small parish where if you make a suggestion, all of a sudden you are in charge! 
Personally, I adored the Children's Liturgy. The children were so eager to listen to the Word of God when it was "theirs". The readings were not watered down at all. The homilies, however, were directed at the kids level, and they got to answer questions, and really participate in understanding what the Gospel was for that week.
I myself, learned so much from being a leader. My faith really grew during that time. I totally understand about wanting to all go to Church as a family. I found that the kids got more out of Mass when they went to the CLOW, and were more attentive for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Just my 2 cents.
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donnalynn
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 8:32pm | IP Logged
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Cindy Mac wrote:
The homilies, however, were directed at the kids level, and they got to answer questions, and really participate in understanding what the Gospel was for that week.
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This begs the question, doesn't it...?  Who did the homilies?
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Cindy Mac
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Which question?
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 8:40pm | IP Logged
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Sorry..I guess I was too busy with my emoticons to be clear.
Who did the homilies (and read the Gospel)?
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folklaur
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 8:59pm | IP Logged
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Our old parish had a Children's Mass - in which the homily was geared towards the kids - but the kids did not leave. The Children's Choir sang, etc.
However, I do know that some parishes were moving towards having the kids file out to have their "own" readings, etc- and I have to be honest - I really, really do not like that one bit. As was mentioned, I see no reason to age segregate in Mass, plus I feel kids learn how to act and behave and be at Mass by....being at Mass.
And, as MacBeth said - who did the Gospel Reading? And said the Homily?
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wifemommy
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My kids go and really enjoy it. They are good and pay attention at Mass but the CLOW makes it more appropriate sometimes because our priest are starting to give some hard hitting but needed sermons BUT the little ones do not need to hear them yet. We actually watched a family walk out of church in the middle of a sermon Annie
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monique
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Our parish offers it for ages 3yo-1st grade during the school year. After they receive First Communion they are suppose to stay upstairs. My children sometimes go downstairs for CLOW. It is up to them. I usually need all the help I can get though because often I have to attend Mass by myself with 5 children (DH works sometimes). I usually only have one or two that can go. I also know the person doing the CLOW otherwise I wouldn't be too keen on the idea. In our parish they just do the readings downstairs and coloring/activity pages. There isn't a homily.
The priest dismisses them right after the beginning prayer and we sing "Let the Children Come To Me" while they walk out. They come back up during the offering.
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graciefaith
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It's offered here but i dont allow my girls to go. It was offered at our previous base as well and a good friend of mine was the leader but we still did not allow them to go. Yes, the homily does go over their head but they behave and many times, as we leave they will tell me how much they love Church.
I'm going to get Magnifikid and another resource to help prepare them for Sunday Mass.
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Anne
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I have really struggled with this in our parish. My children never wanted to go and now that they have all received FHC they really need to be in the regular church.
Now the tricky part is .... the woman who made children's litergy at our church a success has moved and she had a hard time filling the spot. I found myself accepting her plee after many many hours of prayer. I felt the Lord calling me in this area and now am in a slight delima since I really want to stay and listen to the homily with the family .
I have tried going on Saturday nights and Sunday and it works sometimes but I don't always have time to go to 2 masses on the weekend. I am trying to fill spots for the Fall for volunteers to take 1 week a month. So far I have a few willing but if anyone gets sick I must fill there place.
It is a personal struggle that I am still trying to figure out. I am torn between what I feel the Lord calling me to do and my time spent in mass with my family. I plan to read other links in this post. I hope they may help me to decern my opposing feelings.
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Our kid's don't go. For one thing, instead of calling it Children's Liturgy of the Word they call it "kid's church" for short. I realize it's just the wording, but I think it loses something.
Another reason our kids don't go is that the person who leads it actually struggles with the Catholic faith! She goes to the Baptist church for Bible Studies and is very open about the fact that she disagrees with much of our Catholic doctrine. She runs it more like "Awana"; giving the kids candy for memorized Bible verses, etc. It really causes a stir when the kids come back into Mass, waving their candy in triumph.
I guess my opinion of CLOW isn't very good, but it is based on my experience. Perhaps it could be beneficial for the children if it was done differently, but now it only seems to be like "recess" from Mass.
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LucyP
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I keep our two (1 and 4) with me/us, although the CLOW is used by most parents at our church (which is a cathedral and very big congregations) - I am happy to have them with us through the whole mass, and I know that we will answer questions, explain, help them keep focus and do a lot of teaching at home - but I suppose many children never get any of that. I also slightly feel I am depriving my home educated children of fellowship with other catholic kids, so I do feel a bit unsure of my decision. I have just always HATED to see the children all troop out of church whatever church I have been in.
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 11 2008 at 10:41am | IP Logged
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There is an outstanding article outlining the history, purpose of, and potential problems with, children's liturgy here. This is part three of a longer article (links right there) worth reading in its entirety, but this page gets to the point rather quickly.
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Tina
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We don't have this at my church, but we do at "Grandma's Church" in PA. And only at one Mass per weekend. So when we are visiting and end up going to that Mass, I let them join in. It's only a few times a year. They seem to give or take it....don't care either way.
But to be honest, there have been times I wished my children could have been anywhere but in the church (esp. 3 rows back where we usually sit) during the homily. Especially when the sex abuse scandal was in the headlines all the time . My kids got an earful of words that led to so many questions that I was not ready to answer. And frankly they were just too young to hear it. I do wish the priests would take that into consideration when they give their homilies. We are there as families with children of all ages. And we are telling our children to pay attention, so they are listening and will ask questions.
Sorry, I didn't mean to get off track.
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Cindy Mac
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To answer MacBeth & Laura's question, in my parish, the children volunteered to read the Old & New Testament readings, and myself or an adult leader (whoever was in charge that week), read the Gospel and taught the lesson/homily.
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Topic: Children's Liturgy
