St. Joseph’s Children’s Liturgy.
The Liturgy provided for the children is an act of worship designed to be appropriate for the children’s age and understanding. It may take the shape of a reading/story, prayers, songs, and discussions, or activities such as games or artwork. It begins with a blessing at the front of the church, when the children leave their parents and go with the leaders to their own Children’s Liturgy room. It ends when the children return at the Offertory procession, when they present their experience to the congregation.
There is a Liturgy every week, except for the First Sunday of the month, when at 10.30a.m. we have a Children’s Mass. St. Joseph’s Children’s Liturgy is open to all children of school age (including nursery school), who are able to able to participate in the activities provided without the assistance of their parents. In practice, this usually means children of three-and-a-half to approximately twelve years. Children above that age sometimes continue coming in order to help the younger ones.
Parents may accompany their children on the first visit, but are requested not to do so thereafter. Whilst we would hope to be welcoming to the families of our children, there is limited space in the room provided and we have found in the past that some parents have brought in even younger children, or have talked to their child during presentations, which has been distracting to leaders and children alike. Besides this, the Liturgy is a community experience - the children are encouraged to relate to each other, so they learn about themselves and that they belong to each other.
On the other hand, we always welcome new leaders. At the moment, we have no Dads, so a male input would be especially welcome!
There are also opportunities to come and see what the children have been doing after mass, when we are usually available to discuss any issues, ideas or concerns. You may like to come to see the displays of work on the walls, or to read our Web Books.( Our children’s website can be found on: There are records of our activities now for getting on for five years.
The children would find great encouragement in their parent’s taking time to come to view; it might lead to further chats with your child about what they have been experiencing. Sometimes we will have asked them to bring items or return work the next week.
Leaders are all from different backgrounds and our three teams each have a different approach. Most of us are not schoolteachers. We try to bring our own experiences and to continually experience our Faith in a new way ourselves. Whilst we may use traditional workbooks, we often prefer to invent new methods to put ideas across to the children, which may help prevent boredom and is also more personal. We hope we all, adults and children alike, will always grow through what we share together. This can be wonderful - the children are full of surprises - or challenging.
As you may imagine, preparation is very time-consuming. We have regular meetings to work out rotas and overall plans and ideas, and to try to share the preparation tasks.
As the Liturgy is open to all, we cannot guess how many children will be new each week. We often have visitors we will never see again! We never know, from one week to the next whether we will have sixteen children, thirty, or even forty. One Easter, we were inundated with seventy children, some of whom were accompanied by parents.
As you may imagine, this is very nerve-wracking at times. (Please understand that the presence of an unknown adult audience can add to the pressures.) It can also be most disappointing - and wasteful - when preparations are made for our regular children, and they do not come. We may have planned a programme for several weeks on a particular theme, which means that absences result in incomplete work.
The children do develop a sense of belonging, and perhaps, greater satisfaction, if they attend more regularly.
Child Protection (Child Safeguarding Procedure).
In order to ensure the safety of the vulnerable groups within St. Joseph’s parish, it is necessary for all parish volunteers (including Clergy and religious Sisters) who have contact with children, young people and vulnerable adults, to go through a safe recruitment process, which involves giving details of themselves and their background on a parish application form (supplying necessary references), as well as completing a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) application form. Everyone who helps with our Children’s Liturgy has gone through this process.
All Catholic parishes are expected to have a “Safeguarding Protection Policy” and a “Safeguarding Officer”, who organises and monitors the recruitment procedure, and who is directly responsible to the “Diocesan Safeguarding Co-ordinator”. Further information can be found on our children’s website- please see the address above - or by telephoning the Parish Office on: 0116 241 5159.
First Communion.
We are often asked by parents of First Communicants if the children will be learning anything towards their First Communion in the Liturgy. The answer is that the work we do is usually based on the Gospel reading for that day, or on a particular period of the church year, so in a sense, everything we do is meant to contribute to their understanding of their Faith and to support their relationship with God. As the year progresses, we should touch on all the themes Jesus brings, so when they meet him at Communion, we hope we will have helped the child begin to know him.
Each year, one of the parents acts as a co-ordinator between the First Communicant families and the Liturgy organisers.
Children’s Masses.
Children’s Masses take place on the First Sunday of the month.
There are opportunities for children to play an instrument, contribute artwork for the mass leaflet, read/write prayers and to take part in the Offertory procession. If your child is interested in any of these activities, please tell Fr. John.
We would need to know that your child would be present on a certain date.
If your child would like to join the children’s band, please look out for rehearsal times in the newsletter. Practice will normally be on the Wednesday before the First Sunday.
The Children’s Liturgy Leaders