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Martha
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| Posted: May 22 2007 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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Well we've moved back tot he parish where my path to entering the Catholic Church first began.
A lot has changed since then! We've grown and changed in so many ways.
Unfortunately things that I was ignorant too then are very bothersome to me now. It is not an option to drive to my old parish because dh, who isn't Catholic, just isn't going to do it. It's this parish because he likes the "atmosphere here better" or he stays home.
There's mainly 2 areas I'd like some opinions on how to deal with:
1. girl alter servers.
My boys have absolutely ben thrilled to alter serve previously and were looking forward to getting to do it here starting in August. Then we went to Mass Sunday and there was a teen girl in flipflops and too short skirt serving. (The robes are white, so you can see through them fairly well, color and shape/style of clothes.) They had not noticed girl servers before this and we were all bothered by this. Even dh! Can I just tell the church not to schedule my sons to serve with girls? (I think this also would be good example to set for my dd, who I will forbid to serve this way.) Has anyone else done this without problems?
2. The parish is very hs friendly so far as I can tell. They've certainly gone out of their way for me so far. However, the CCD/RE programs are seriously lacking. They use some waste of paper called We Believe and remove children from part of the Mass once a month for a children's liturgy. I refuse to participate in either of these events. So, if you are also of like mind, how would you get your children involved in the church community?
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Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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Lorri
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| Posted: May 23 2007 at 7:51am | IP Logged
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Martha, I'm pretty sure our parish uses "We Believe", too and I'm less than pleased with it. At home, we use the Seton religion books. My dh is the parish council president and sings in the choir and I'm active with Catholic Women of the Chapel (it's a military thing) and the Catholic homeschool group. Our parish is very small, so everyone knows everyone else, and with our involvement, we are pretty high profile. Because of this, I don't feel right about turning my back on their RE program. So I just decided to do our real religious education at home and let our dc go to RE as something fun to do. It has not been harmful and a lot of their friends are in class with them. I view it as just another extra curricular activity. I use the quiet time at home to prepare my school schedule for the next week! One homeschool family I know doesn't put her children in RE at all, and just uses Seton. The pastor let her dd make her FHC with the rest of the second graders.
If you choose to not do RE with your parish at all, I would just caution you to check with the pastor a couple of years before you have children receiving sacraments. At my mom's parish, the children need to have 2 years of RE before FHC.
I'm surprised that they are removing school age children for the Children's Liturgy. I've only seen it for preschool children. It's always been optional. If you don't want your dc to go, just let them know. Mine never wanted to go, often being only 2 of 5 children left in church. It's not a big deal for them to stay.
If your church is very hs friendly, maybe you could start a hs group? Ours is only 5 families ages newborn to about 11 yo. We meet Friday for the 11:30 mass, then have a brown bag lunch in the parish activity room. It's almost all social time for the moms and kids, and we wrap up around 1:30. About once a month we have a potluck with a craft that focuses on some theme for the month, usually religious in nature. We did our own Christmas play, which the children wrote themselves. This month we're having a Pentecost play and a birthday party for the church. Anyway...that's just an idea to help get your dc involved.
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Lorri
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: May 23 2007 at 11:47am | IP Logged
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Hi Martha,
1. Lots of ideas here.
2. Attending daily mass has helped our children feel a part of the community. Informally, after mass they are often asked to help out...move chairs...run an errand. Unfortunately, because of legal concerns, we have found formal contributions by our children limited to lectoring and altar serving. That's why we like having the "informal" network happening after mass and during church events and such.
May God bless you with a smooth transition into your new parish home.
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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mandamum
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 10:19am | IP Logged
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Re: Altar servers, isn't it true that only men (boys?) can be acolytes (more defined than "altar server", and I think involves some sort of blessing/installation?), since it is really the first step to the ordained priesthood? Just like only men can be lectors (again with the installation), while women are also allowed to read at Mass... A thought to throw out there, but don't have my sources close at hand. I was thinking this might be the basis for the cassock distinction mentioned in the old thread, and I think this is being described in the case where the priest had boys serve in their Sunday best for a while first, and only after a blessing did they wear the cassock. Hmm...don't know where to look for more info though.
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Lisbet
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The word acolyte is thrown around so loosely now, but I was taught, as were my server sons, the same as mandamum. I have come to realize that many now use 'acolyte' synomonysly with 'server'. 
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: prayers? help? new parish questions
