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Category: Children

  • Chanting the texts of the liturgy, from Tim O’Malley at Church Life

    Tim O’Malley has a fascinating opinion piece over at Church Life today. He’s in favor of chant, not instead of hymnody, but instead of reading. I have to admit I find this argument intriguing: Last Sunday, we went to the Melkite Liturgy on campus. The entire liturgy, as anyone knows who has attended Eastern liturgies,…

  • Feast of St Hildegard of Bingen

    Thanks to the Liturgical Press’s recent release of Robert Ellsberg’s Blessed Among Us, I have another choice to read aloud for these family celebrations. Today’s reflection on Hildegard is beautiful: “Within the cosmos, [Hildegard] wrote, human beings are the thinking heart, called to be cocreators with God in shaping the world. Both the cosmos and…

  • Out of the mouths of babes

    My point here is that I originally considered the children’s questions about prison food to be a distraction from the “important” points of the class. In fact, however, their questions had deeper implications that I did not recognize.

  • What’s Wrong with Burlap and Butterflies?

    I vividly recall crouching uncomfortably on carpeted sanctuary steps, watching puppet shows during Mass. Lots and lots of puppet shows. “In fact,” I voiced, as I grew reflective, “almost the entirety of my First Communion catechesis was done through puppets.”

  • A meditation in inkpen and marker

    On Holy Saturday, Juliana got up and, overwhelmed by the immanence of Easter, began to draw. The result (perhaps a new set of Mysteries for the Rosary, since there are five) has been pretty inspiring on my walls during this Octave; perhaps others will enjoy them too.

  • Out of the Mouths of Babes

    Something for Palm Sunday.

  • “Help!” – the ultimate Lenten discipline

    “I need help! No, I can do it MYSELF!” (struggles) “Help!” Toddlers and Lenten discipline, by Tim O’Malley.

  • On liturgical failure

    Today, while the community was being asked to extend to one another its gesture of peace, two were instead being asked to leave. That is liturgical failure.

  • How Does Pope Francis Baptize?

    An account of a baptism by Pope Francis, recently published in America magazine, contains some puzzling features. Here’s a fact check.