Introduction: Become Like Children
By Nathaniel Marx
Sunday Mass is the primary and indispensable activity in which a Catholic parish welcomes Jesus Christ and celebrates God’s reign over heaven and earth. Every parish should remember what Jesus says about welcoming him on earth and joining him in the kingdom of heaven:
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” – Matthew 18:1–5
About the Children’s Revival of Participation at Sunday Mass 
Sunday Mass as source and summit 
The potential that children possess to invigorate congregations and elicit everyone’s active participation is great, but often unrealized. The Children’s Revival of Participation at Sunday Mass aims to increase the capacity of parishes to incorporate children’s leadership and children’s ways of worship into their regular Sunday Masses. Parishes thrive and families grow in faith when children are seen, heard, and valued in the community’s central act of corporate worship. We envision parishes in which the Sunday Eucharist is genuinely the source and summit of all activities that aim to nurture the faith of children.
Growing into the full stature of Christ 
The Children's Revival proceeds from Pope Francis’s recent exhortation to prioritize “the formative action of the Liturgy itself in every believer in Christ.” Such formation “does not consist in a mental assimilation of some idea but in real existential engagement” with the person of Jesus Christ, encountered in worship. “The education necessary to be able to acquire the interior attitude that will let us use and understand liturgical symbols” begins in early childhood, and it happens when adults accompany children in practicing the words and movements of prayer. “Growing up we will have more ways of being able to understand” what we do, but understanding flows from participation. It is ultimately not the achievement of a child’s human teachers but “the work of the Spirit,” who operates through the liturgical symbols “until Christ be formed in us.” Believers grasp this truth more consciously as they grow into the full stature of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13), but “always on the condition of remaining little ones.”[1]
Becoming like children 
The ideal parish celebration of the Eucharist, then, is one in which all generations participate as “little ones” in the faith. In practice, however, most parishes treat the preparation and celebration of Sunday Mass as an “adult” activity, to be distinguished from activities intended to nurture children. We hope that parish partners in our project will deliberately plan every Sunday Mass with children’s participation in mind. We further desire that our partner parishes will celebrate at least one Mass every Sunday in which children are directly involved in some aspect of preparing the liturgy and leading the congregation in song, speech, or movement. The goal is not to create a separate “children’s Mass,” but to help an intergenerational congregation benefit from children’s natural curiosity about God, multi-sensory interaction with the created world, and docility to the work of the Spirit. In this way, every Sunday Mass can be an invitation to believers of all ages to “become like children” in their relationship with Jesus Christ and his heavenly Father.
[1] Pope Francis, Desiderio Desideravi, Apostolic Letter on the Liturgical Formation of the People of God, 29 June 2022, paras. 40, 41, 47.

The Children’s Revival is a transformative initiative funded by Lilly Foundation, Inc.
The partnership is set to enhance and increase children’s involvement in regular
Sunday Masses. Throughout the summer and fall, the Children’s Revival core team
will establish goals and objectives for implementing the initiative. The team will
develop a plan to emphasize the importance of children’s active participation in
worship in five specific areas. At the beginning of Advent 2024, we will implement
our parish plan to increase children’s participation at Sunday Mass.
If you feel called to this ministry, we encourage you to attend our Children’s Revival
meetings. Watch the bulletin for regular announcements informing parents,
grandparents, catechists, parishioners, and volunteers about the project’s goals and
strategies.

A Core Team of interested parishioners are currently developing plans to present to St. Meinrad for funding in August. If you would like to be a part of the conversation please reach out to Claire Phillips. 

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