My friend says that “church is no place for children and that parents should just keep their kids at home until they are able to be quiet so they do not bother others who are trying to pray.” I don’t think that is the spirit here at CTR at all. What are your thoughts?
CTR is a very family friendly parish. Our weekend liturgies are truly a place for everyone, including the little ones and all their interesting noises, smells and gestures. . Here is a little piece I recently found that I think sums it up nicely….
To the Parents of our Young Children, may we suggest….Relax! God put the wiggle in your children; don’t feel you have to suppress it in God’s house. All are welcome! Sit toward the front where it is easier for your little ones to see and hear what’s going on at the altar. They tire of seeing the backs of others’ heads. Quietly explain the parts of the Mass and actions of the priest, altar servers, choir, etc. Sing the hymns, pray and voice the responses. Children learn liturgical behavior by copying you. If you have to leave Mass with your child, feel free to do so, but please come back. As Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” Remember that the way we welcome children in church directly affects the way they respond to the Church, to God, and to one another. Let them know that they are at home in this house of worship.
To the Wider members of our Parish, please welcome our children and give a smile of encouragement to their parents. The presence of children is a gift to the Church and they are a reminder that our parish is growing.
The Gathering Space and the Reconciliation Room certainly can serve as cry spaces or places to nurse when needed, but we hope you won't begin there or stay there throughout the whole Mass. We want the children to be with us when we pray, and among us in the main church is their rightful place as much as anyone else’s.
Coming to Mass every week (or as often as possible) getting dressed up, greeting friends, eating donuts after Mass, listening to live music with real instruments, and singing and praying together really help our children to consider this place 'home.' Our children’s presence is good for others too; especially some of our elderly members who perhaps don't get to see the energy and vitality of youth but once a week! Holding a child's hand at the ‘Our Father’ may be a very deep and real experience of the sacred for a fellow member. So, just because your kids are a little fussy or distracted, please don't deprive us of their terrific and important presence…or yours!
Of course, we are a reasonable and realistic community too, so we DO offer some options that aim to help parents get a little valuable, undisturbed prayer time. When your child can walk, we do offer a free nursery service. We also offer a terrific PreK/K program during Sunday Masses (drop-ins welcome!), and then at the beginning of Mass our 1st – 3rd graders are invited to leave the main church and head to the chapel for our “Children’s Liturgy of the Word,” which consists of an age appropriate proclamation of the readings and homily, and then return to their family for the Eucharistic prayer and communion.
Personally, I think the wider parish welcomes our children quite effectively already!! So, kudos to all of you who help make this a special, sacred place that our treasured little ones can truly call “home.”
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Crazy Catholic Question #50: Vulnerability
When Jesus instructs us to love our enemies and be a servant to all, doesn’t that just give other people license to take advantage of and even abuse us? I thought Christians were supposed to fight injustice, not acquiesce to it?
In Mark 9:30-37 Jesus recognizes that his disciples are afraid about Jesus’ fate…and their fear has made them insecure…and their insecurity has led to a shallow argument about “Who is the greatest” among them. So Jesus looks to comfort them in their insecurity and he does this by bringing a small child in front of them and giving the little toddler a sincere embrace. What does he mean to teach with this action?
In the original ancient Greek of the Gospels there are three words for power. The first indicates physical energy: strength, health and muscle. The second means dynamism or vigor, like the energetic and vibrant power of a good salesman. But when the Gospels speak of Jesus as "having great power", they use a third word, “exousia,” which is best translated as “vulnerability.” Jesus' real power was rooted in his ability and decision to be vulnerable… like the powerlessness of a child.
Jesus is inviting us to imagine the kind of world it would be if rather than exerting our power through physical strength or verve we embraced our own and others vulnerability and exercised our power not through selling ourselves and our accomplishments but through loving service and being gentle with one another….not by collecting powerful friends but by welcoming the weak and small in the world.
This is a very counter-cultural idea. We are taught to value competition and to glamorize success. One of our most basic assumptions is that we all have an unbridled right to pursue our own self-interest, and that doing so successfully (and often defeating others in the process) is what makes us powerful and secure in our own happiness. If you ask a little boy “What is power?” he will take a strong, stern stance, and puff out his chest with “conquer” in his eyes, right? Jesus is telling us this is NOT the kind of power that is “of God.”
A toddler is someone who entirely lacks any accomplishments, status, or pretensions.
During Jesus’ time children were considered insignificant liabilities because they weren’t productive members of the household and were completely dependent on others. They were the picture of smallness. So when Jesus embraces the little child who represents utter vulnerability he teaching the disciples something about God. He is in effect saying our worthiness has no prerequisites, because this is how God welcomes us too…and THIS is the power of God. We need not vie for power or position, because we are not loved for what we DO but for who we ARE; beloved, unique, treasured children of God.
So, Jesus isn’t asking us to be doe-eyed doormats that other people can take advantage of rather he wants to birth a community where everyone relinquishes the calculating and manipulative tendencies born of fear so that the pecking order and the relationships of superiority and inferiority, are abolished altogether.
Brene Brown says “We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable selves to be deeply seen and known….when we stop judging and offer trust, respect, and kindness to one another. Love is something that we work very hard to grow. “ Jesus taught that this unconditional love and vulnerability is the power of God; the ONLY power that can ever bring about true and lasting change in our troubled world…but, without a doubt, it is some hard, dangerous work, as the cross displays.
In Mark 9:30-37 Jesus recognizes that his disciples are afraid about Jesus’ fate…and their fear has made them insecure…and their insecurity has led to a shallow argument about “Who is the greatest” among them. So Jesus looks to comfort them in their insecurity and he does this by bringing a small child in front of them and giving the little toddler a sincere embrace. What does he mean to teach with this action?
In the original ancient Greek of the Gospels there are three words for power. The first indicates physical energy: strength, health and muscle. The second means dynamism or vigor, like the energetic and vibrant power of a good salesman. But when the Gospels speak of Jesus as "having great power", they use a third word, “exousia,” which is best translated as “vulnerability.” Jesus' real power was rooted in his ability and decision to be vulnerable… like the powerlessness of a child.
Jesus is inviting us to imagine the kind of world it would be if rather than exerting our power through physical strength or verve we embraced our own and others vulnerability and exercised our power not through selling ourselves and our accomplishments but through loving service and being gentle with one another….not by collecting powerful friends but by welcoming the weak and small in the world.
This is a very counter-cultural idea. We are taught to value competition and to glamorize success. One of our most basic assumptions is that we all have an unbridled right to pursue our own self-interest, and that doing so successfully (and often defeating others in the process) is what makes us powerful and secure in our own happiness. If you ask a little boy “What is power?” he will take a strong, stern stance, and puff out his chest with “conquer” in his eyes, right? Jesus is telling us this is NOT the kind of power that is “of God.”
A toddler is someone who entirely lacks any accomplishments, status, or pretensions.
During Jesus’ time children were considered insignificant liabilities because they weren’t productive members of the household and were completely dependent on others. They were the picture of smallness. So when Jesus embraces the little child who represents utter vulnerability he teaching the disciples something about God. He is in effect saying our worthiness has no prerequisites, because this is how God welcomes us too…and THIS is the power of God. We need not vie for power or position, because we are not loved for what we DO but for who we ARE; beloved, unique, treasured children of God.
So, Jesus isn’t asking us to be doe-eyed doormats that other people can take advantage of rather he wants to birth a community where everyone relinquishes the calculating and manipulative tendencies born of fear so that the pecking order and the relationships of superiority and inferiority, are abolished altogether.
Brene Brown says “We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable selves to be deeply seen and known….when we stop judging and offer trust, respect, and kindness to one another. Love is something that we work very hard to grow. “ Jesus taught that this unconditional love and vulnerability is the power of God; the ONLY power that can ever bring about true and lasting change in our troubled world…but, without a doubt, it is some hard, dangerous work, as the cross displays.
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