In this installment of “Working in the Vineyard,” Pray Tell presents the University of Notre Dame Center for Pastoral Liturgy’s recent symposium, “A Conversation on a Theology of Childhood and Children’s Liturgical Formation,” in an exchange with Dr. Tim O’Malley, Academic Director at the Center for Liturgy. The event, directed by Lesley Kirzeder, took place on April 15-17, 2024.
The photo includes Symposium participants Dr. LuElla D’Amico, Dr. Nichole Flores, and Dr. Joyce Mercer.
Describe your mission and vision. How do you fulfill your mission during a time of such rapid change in our churches and in our world?
When we were invited to apply for the Children and Worship grant from the Lilly Endowment, the Center for Liturgy at Notre Dame thought at once of a concern that we’ve been thinking through over the last decade: how do you form people into the proper dispositions to live a liturgical life? All of this has become more complicated in the last twenty years. We have the rise of a digital culture, one that often malforms us as liturgical creatures, as our program director, Lesley Kirzeder, has often addressed. There’s the speed that comes along with us, the seeming inability to simply sit in awe and wonder. In that sense, we need a liturgical formation that slows us down–what we’ve come to call a slow catechesis.
Tell us about the origins of the project.
Well, first off, we wanted to get a lot of academics interested in our work. We partnered with Villanova University for this reason, and we’re hosting three scholarly gatherings (one on Romano Guardini; one on a theology of childhood; the last on ecology and childhood at Villanova). We think that academics across disciplines need to attend to the effect of this digital culture on our capacity to worship. But, also, to show that childhood is a robust area for academics to be involved with! And too many aren’t. From there, we will be partnering with dioceses to work together to change the way that the liturgical formation of the young child happens. We believe that, if we change this approach, we’ll also have an effect on adult liturgical formation!
Who is your audience?
For the scholarly gatherings (which will be collected into three books), our audience would be pastorally interested academics and academically inclined pastoral leaders. The audience will necessarily be ecumenical. For our on-site events in dioceses, we’re working with all those engaged in the formation of children: directors of family formation, those who work with young children in schools, choir directors, etc.
What is the most important contribution this project is making to the life of the church?
Well, for us, we think that “liturgical participation” is a term that needs some attention. For too many in the 20th century, it was reduced to “understanding.” That leaves out so many people: the frazzled parent at Mass, the child who doesn’t possess this understanding, the person with an intellectual disability. Surely, we can do better than this. By attending to the experience of the child at worship, we hope to open up new ways of understanding this participation on the part of every person in the Church. At least, that’s the dream for us!
May God prosper your work!
This interview with Tim O’Malley was conducted by email.