Children's Liturgy of the Word.

WHAT IS CHILDREN'S LITURGY?

The Children's Liturgy is for all children aged between 4 and 10 yrs. The group aims to provide the children with an adapted Liturgy of the Word during the 9.15 am Mass at St Pius X, 11.15 am Mass at St Mary's and the 5 pm Mass at St Joseph's on Sundays. It is provided in a context which encourages them to listen, pray and respond to the word of God within a safe place. The children leave the main body of the church with a team of adult leaders before the Liturgy of the Word and come back during the offertory to continue their participation in the Mass.

WHO IS CHILDREN'S LITURGY FOR?

Children’s liturgy of the word is for children who are aged up to 10 years old and are able:

• Able to sit and listen to a story for a maximum of 15 minutes
• Happy to come to Liturgy independently if attending full-time school (aged 5-10)
• Be accompanied by an adult if under the age of 5

WHEN DOES IT TAKE PLACE?

Children's Liturgy takes place at the following Sunday morning Masses during term time. 

• St Pius X 9.15 am Mass,
• St Mary's 11.15 am Mass,
• St Joseph's 5 pm Mass

Parental Consent and Registration is Essential.

A Parental Consent Form should be signed by a parent, who wishes their child to attend the Children’s Liturgy. Please find the form below. Please complete a form for each child who wishes to attend.  You only need to fill this in once, not each time your child comes to Children's Liturgy. 

Children's Liturgy
​Parental Consent Form

Each week, a register will be placed on a table just inside the main entrance to the church. The register will contain a list of children for whom a Parental Consent Form has been completed. Before the Mass commences, a parent of a registered child will only need to sign the box next to their child(ren)’s name.

If a Parental Consent Form has not yet been completed, then the parent will need to initially write the child’s name and the parent’s name and parent's email in the register. We will then email the above consent form to fill in and, once it has been filled in, the child’s name will appear printed on the register. The parent will need to accompany the child to Children's Liturgy until the consent form has been completed.

We need your help

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We are getting teams together to help with Children's Liturgy at St Mary's, St Joseph's and St Pius X.  Please consider joining the team.  

What does a helper do?

• No special skills or knowledge required!  No teaching, reading, singing or craft-making is involved. 
• All the content will be provided in a pre-recorded video. Here's this week's video as an example: https://www.cpg.church/familyliturgy
• The helpers' role is to facilitate conversation with the children.  The video provides moments to pause and listen to the children's responses.
• Helpers go to the hall with the children for the Liturgy of the Word and re-join the congregation during the Offertory. All in, about 15 minutes.
• There is an expectation that helpers attend Mass regularly.​

DBS Checks

• At any time, safeguarding policy requires at least two DBS-checked adults to be with the children. 
• You do not need to be DBS-checked at the time you volunteer. We will arrange this with you.

We would really love to hear from you. The more helpers we get on the team, the lighter the load for everyone.

If you have been to Children's Liturgy over the past few months you would have seen how straightforward it is. In a nutshell, there are two types of helpers we need:

1. 1) a DBS'd chaperone - this is the second DBS'd adult in the room to make sure that we comply with safeguarding
2. 2) a leader - someone who can make sure to get the video up and running, pressing pause at the right times and listening to the children's responses.

If you are a parent who often attends Children's liturgy, why not consider offering to help us as a DBS'd chaperone?

Interested or would like to find out more please email us: cyf@cpg.church.