FOR CATHOLICS: ABOLISH SPECIAL LITURGIES FOR CHILDREN

Assuming that we hope Catholic children mature into serious, well informed, practicing Catholics, we must abolish children's liturgies because such liturgies are, psychologically speaking, counter-productive. The primary purpose of childhood is to become capable adults. Yes, children need to play, to even be occasionally silly as they try out roles for themselves. But even those activities are psychologically designed, so to speak, to advance their way to maturity.

However, in contemporary society the process of maturation is retarded in far too many ways, including movies, television programs and commercials, computer games, clothing, even what passes for so-called character formation in most schools. Consequently, childhood continues well into adolescence. Adolescence continues unabated also, but that is a topic for another essay.

Countering these factors is not easy. Entertaining children, which is what children's liturgies are designed to do, is counter-productive. The Church cannot successfully compete with the secular world by entertainment. St. Augustine defined sin as the act of the will curving inward on itself. And yet, to appeal to children by employing entertainment is a concession to self-centered behavior. Is that really what we want?

There is one strong counter factor—maturing is a natural inclination and therefore children do possess a desire, weakened at present but lurking a little beneath the conscience level, to mature. They do want to grow up.

I won't delineate what school instructors can and should do to help maturation along. Suffice to say that as much as possible, treat children as adults. In this essay, I simply want to argue against liturgical celebrations designed for children.

The Catholic Church must be a counter-cultural institution. If not, there is no need to be Catholic. Liturgies for children, by their very nature, cannot be counter-cultural. Hymns with a “me” focus; singing the Gloria to a rock beat; the use of instruments such as pianos and guitars and even tambourines; along with agitated moving around as generally prevails during the Kiss of Peace; and the overall noise as opposed to holy silence, works against what is really necessary for assisting in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and worthy reception of Holy Communion. After all, the Church teaches that the sacraments are only as efficacious as we are prepared to receive them.

By itself, the need to create a holy environment should be sufficient to abolish children's liturgies. There is another reason, perhaps even more compelling reason. That is, as kids grow older, not mature, but merely grow older, they lose their Catholic Faith. As they do, they usually recall their early religious experiences as something they did when they were kids. As it was.

The massive abandonment of Faith lends itself to sociological analysis. In the social sciences, history is a laboratory. A caution: In human affairs, attributing a single variable to any cause is always reckless. However, identifying powerful variables is not precluded. And the historical evidence of the last 50 years is clear—religion reduced to an elementary level with an attendant liturgy has little holding power. Succinctly, liturgies specifically for children freezes children, so to speak, where they psychologically are, instead of assisting in their maturation.

Personal reflection: I was born in 1940. On Sundays, Holy Days, week days, my generation attended the same Mass that adults did. Mass was one of the few occasions where we could feel like adults. Moreover, when I first began going to Sunday Mass, the Mass was in Latin and the sermons were in Polish. Did I have a sophisticated understanding of the Mass? Of course not. But I did grasp something that children today cannot—something was happening that was beautiful in an other-worldly sense, something that did not happen the other six days of the week. That feeling never left me, even in my misspent adolescence. In short, the traditional liturgy had holding power. That I never left the Church must be, of course, attributed to grace, but as the Church also teaches, grace works on nature. My early associations with the Church provided a nature upon which grace could work.

I am certain that the Extraordinary Liturgy is perfectly suitable for contemporary children. However, for pastors who think otherwise, I do wish that the Novus Ordo liturgy be conducted so that the congregation will be quiet and attentive, and that the Mass be celebrated with dignity and reverence.

I cannot imagine how any child that regularly participates in a children's liturgy can come to a correct understanding of the Mass. How many today know that the Mass is the re-presentation of the original Sacrifice on the Cross? That can be explained in religious class, but that all important concept will not be internalized if the Mass is not offered with proper solemnity. Most Catholics of any age will get their Catholicism primarily from the liturgy. Not that the primary purpose of liturgy is teaching. It is not. But liturgy does teach indirectly, and powerfully.

Another salient point: As they grow older, adolescence will likely have negative recollections of priests, deacons, and teachers who encouraged or even demanded, participation in children's liturgies. Goodness knows Catholics need to respect priests. But our young people will someday feel embarrassed for priests they recall singing “This little light of mine.”

Herewith a word on homilies for children. Elementary level children hear almost nothing but appeals to do good deeds. They can learn that by joining the Boy or Girl Scouts. They need to know that while good deeds are a prerequisite for salvation, God demands supernatural goodness. Natural goodness is not sufficient for salvation. And after all, too many do good deeds mixed with worldly concerns--making a good impression or convincing one''s self that one is a good person. Such corporal works of mercy may fail to reach the supernatural level. Children should also be encouraged to perform the spiritual works of mercy. Granted, even those good works may be tainted. Still, because the spiritual works are usually not obvious to others, there is at least less possibility that they will be corrupted.

Preach doctrine. That's right. There is a psychological connection between the infallible Church doctrines and the infallible Church moral teachings. When Catholics know doctrine, the moral teachings are much easier to accept and live by. There is good reason why the Baltimore Catechism taught that we are to “know, love, and serve God” and to do so in that order. Serving God has to do with moral behavior. But we unlikely to serve what we do not love and we cannot love what we do not know.

Knowing God, His nature and attributes; knowing angels—good and evil angels; knowing what is known about Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell; knowing why even Hell is a mercy, as are all God's punishments, are important doctrinal matters that will likely catch the attention of young people.

I write from many years personal experience—children, and adolescents also, actually enjoy, not to mention respect, being treated to a religion that requires intellectual effort to understand. Even elementary school children can learn basic doctrines. I know that I have a lasting respect for the Catholic Church because of my early religious instruction. I realized early on that any objection I had to the Faith had been countered centuries ago by holy men blessed with finer intellects than mine.

In summation, the contemporary Catholic Church has little holding power. Entertainment and/or going down to the young Catholics level has not worked and never will. Reaching them on their level is okay, if, and only if, the priest or religion instructor does not remain on that level. The objective must be to bring the young people as rapidly as possible to an adult understanding of the Faith.