THE CATHOLIC VILLAGE:
Forming Children
Through the Liturgy

Recently my sister told me that my five-year-old nephew is on a soccer team. She chuckled that her husband, Jeff, had to attend training courses before he could become a coach for his son’s team. “How hard can it be to learn about soccer?” she said. “Jeff loves sports. He’s clearly smart enough to understand what the game is all about. Anyway, how long can it possibly take to figure out the rules?”

Her conversation reminded me of the numerous remarks I hear about the selection and training of catechists. Familiar statements include: “Lisa would be a great second-grade school of religion teacher. She’s sharp and seems very comfortable with kids.” “Ruben is marvelous with the junior high students. He keeps those students in line.” “Connie is so dedicated to the parish. Her faith is bound to rub off on the children.”

Similar to Jeff, catechists usually come to their ministry with a zeal for teaching others. Both coaches and catechists rely on “manuals” to guide them on the content and the method of teaching. Unlike coaching sports, however, teaching others about faith demands much more than attending a couple of training classes and following a teacher’s manual. Despite someone’s love for the church or ability to discipline children appropriately, serving as a catechist entails being formed in an adult faith.

If you’ll pardon the pun, let’s narrow the playing field and focus on liturgy. Being formed in the church’s liturgical tradition involves more than just knowing the “rules” of the Mass. Although faithful attendance at Sunday Mass may foster a genuine love for the liturgy, being a liturgical catechist, that is, utilizing the liturgy and all its symbols to form others in faith, requires much more than knowing what to do and when to do it.

The missing piece
Many catechists are neither adequately informed about nor properly formed in the church’s liturgy. Herein lies the missing piece. Successful liturgical catechesis necessitates that adult catechists be steeped in the church’s tradition of worship. Catechists, therefore, should know and understand something about the history, theology and practice of our liturgical tradition. In addition (and perhaps more important) they must live out the liturgy in their lives. This calls for imparting relevant content, celebrating in full and vibrant liturgies, and reflecting upon the experience.

Liturgical catechesis:
Who, what, where?
Several questions arise: Who is ultimately responsible for doing liturgical catechesis? How do we train them and who will do the training? What are the pitfalls involved in doing liturgical catechesis with children? And what does the term “liturgical catechesis” mean?

Liturgical catechesis is the instruction and formation that precedes and/or follows a ritual event. It has as it’s purpose the formation of Catholics in faith using the symbolic words, gestures, and objects of the liturgy. Liturgical catechesis is meant to deepen people’s understanding of God, the church and themselves.

The earliest examples of liturgical catechesis are found in the writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan, John Chrysostom, and Theodore of Mopsuestia. The catechetical treatises of these fourth- and fifth-century bishops connect human experience with ritual participation. Just as the early church relied on the catechetical wisdom of Cyril, Ambrose and others, the modern church looks to the collective wisdom and writings of those who attended the Second Vatican Council. One particular document, Directory for Masses with Children, guides catechists in adapting and appropriating the liturgy for children. It also underscores the relationship between human values (life experiences) and eucharistic celebrations (liturgy).

Despite someone’s love for the church
or ability to discipline children appropriately,
serving as a catechist entails being formed in an adult faith.

Even if children already have some feeling for God and the things of God, they may also experience, in proportion to their age and personal development, the human values that are present in the eucharistic celebration. These values include the community activity, exchange of greetings, capacity to listen and to seek and grant pardon, expression of gratitude, experience of symbolic actions, a meal of friendship, and festive celebration (9).

Although it is commonly accepted that liturgical catechesis is an essential component of total Catholic formation of children (and adults), the success of this type of catechesis is largely dependent upon the catechist and the catechist’s training. And securing catechists and training them are two distinct dilemmas. Most parishes struggle to find suitable teachers for their parochial school and school of religion. Securing catechists is difficult enough; finding catechists who live the liturgy in their lives and can articulate it may seem almost impossible.

Ideally, the entire faith community is the primary catechist, for it is within the midst of the Sunday assembly that all Christians are formed. Realistically, however, parents and catechists prepare children to participate in the liturgy.

Although adult Catholics may be more active in the liturgy than children, many parents, if not most, relegate their responsibility for liturgical catechesis to other people. Yet these people, the catechists, may not believe they are properly equipped to do extensive liturgical catechesis with children. Very few standard religion curricula have the liturgy as a primary element for the text. Forming children in their understanding of the ritual gestures, symbolic objects and words is not a significant part of most religion textbooks. And if this content is absent in the curriculum, it is unlikely that the liturgy will be the focus of any lessons. Both parents and catechists can lack proper liturgical formation.

Resource for training
The question remains: How do we train parents and catechists? When considering methods for training liturgical catechists, I am reminded of two resources. Each is different in focus and purpose. Combined, they have the potential to inform and form adult catechists on the church’s liturgy.

While serving as a parochial school music teacher, I made an appointment with our diocesan director of worship. During our conversation, she gave me a book that made a great impact on me. As I read it from cover to cover, I highlighted new information and scribbled notes and questions in its margins. Twelve years later, I still refer to that resource. Although I own a newly edited version of this same book, I have kept the old edition as a reminder of what deepened my understanding of the celebration of the Eucharist. Little did that director of worship know that sharing one specific book would have encouraged an elementary school music teacher to become a liturgical catechist. The book is The Mystery of Faith: A Study of the Structural Elements of the Order of the Mass (Washington, D.C.: Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, 1981). It was designed by the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy in cooperation with the FDLC. This book takes each element of the Mass and gives a historical survey, citations from the conciliar and post-conciliar liturgical documents, and a reflection that poses concerns about pastoral application. Each element concludes with suggested questions for discussion. The introduction to the book states that it was intended to be a workbook to help Catholics study the structural elements of the order of Mass.

A second book is Catechesis for Liturgy (Portland, Ore.: Pastoral Press, 1986). The author, Gilbert Ostdiek, offers an experiential model that adopts a three-step process: attending, reflecting, and applying. (Ostdiek relies on Thomas Groome’s shared praxis model of theological reflection.) First, a person attends to the experience of the liturgy. The physical and sensory experience of the symbolic objects, words, and gestures is recounted, thereby recovering, describing, and naming the experience in a reflective setting. Second, a person reflects on the liturgy by exploring what the named experience tells the person about him or herself and the world and by listening to other people’s stories and experience. A facilitator helps to integrate the personal stories with the larger faith and cultural story. Third, a person applies the insights gained from reflection to the liturgy and considers how what was learned can shape the experience of future celebrations of the liturgy.

A common error made by presiders and catechists alike
is to explain the symbols
(the objects and words)
during the celebration itself.

What else will need to happen in order to train catechists? Principals, DREs, parish liturgists, pastors, and catechists must enter into a dialog that continues beyond the initial catechist training. Each minister needs to agree that successful liturgical catechesis starts with properly formed adult catechists. The group must draw upon parish and diocesan resources for assistance in facilitating ongoing formation. Finally, a strategy should be devised to guide them toward their short-term and long-term goals.

Catechist training
A parish might begin by discussing what liturgical catechesis is — and what it is not. Two common misunderstandings about liturgical catechesis have to do with when and where it takes place and to whom it is directed.

Many people mistakenly believe that the liturgy is the place for catechesis. Indeed, the liturgy has the power to form the assembly in faith. However, a common error made by presiders and catechists alike is to explain the symbols (the objects and words) during the celebration itself. Even with the very best intentions, these explanations diminish the symbols’ power by narrowing their interpretation or watering down their meaning. Rather than awakening people to multiple ways of understanding a particular symbol, in reality these explanations lock in one particular meaning.

Many people also misunderstand to whom liturgical catechesis is directed. Often catechists spend a great deal of time preparing the most visible or “significant” ministers of the liturgy. With good reason, catechists assist lectors, cantors, servers, ushers, etc., by helping them learn about their liturgical ministries. (It goes without saying that children, as well as adults, are likely to participate more fully and with greater ease if they are secure in their liturgical roles.)

Forming children
in their understanding
of the ritual gestures,
symbolic objects and words
is not a significant part
of most religion textbooks.

It is regrettable, however, that catechists neglect to deliberately and intentionally form the principal minister of the liturgy: the assembly. Although time and effort is needed to help young lectors proclaim the Scripture, breaking open the word with all of the students before they attend the liturgy is of primary importance. While it is necessary to coach the cantor on the psalm with musical accuracy and prayerful expression, it is essential that all the children are prepared to sing the parts of the Mass and the other songs. Even though it is marvelous to have young persons serve as communion ministers at student or youth Masses, it is imperative that all the young people in the assembly know what it means to go forth from the eucharistic gathering to be nourishment for those whom they encounter.

If parochial schools and schools of religion formed young people as full, conscious and active members of the assembly, I suspect that participation would be dramatically changed. I am convinced that the liturgy would cease to be a passive endeavor, that is, something that is observed, something that does not warrant participation.

Conclusion
I return to the comparison between sports and the liturgy. Like athletic events, the liturgy is a body skill; we learn by doing. But unlike sports, liturgy is not a game; it does not involve players and passive onlookers. Liturgy is a way of life and is the primary place where Catholic Christians gather to actively remember and ritually celebrate their relationship between God and with each other.

Teaching children about the liturgy presumes that catechists attend more than a couple of training classes about the rules of the Mass. Liturgical catechesis demands that adults grow in their faith and in the faith of the church. The strategy needed to form adult catechists must come from principals, liturgists, directors of religious education and faith formation, and pastors. All must work together to form adults in the liturgy.

If it truly takes a village to raise a child, then it must take an entire faith community of adult Catholics to shape children in their liturgical understanding. May this new century witness a rise in the number of lay ministers who will commit themselves to liturgical catechesis with children. 

Clara Dina Hinojosa has been both a parish director of liturgy and a coordinator for parochial school liturgies. She is presently employed by the Center for Pastoral Life and Ministry in the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph, which is committed to lay ministry formation and dedicated
to collaborative ministry within the chancery and the diocese.