EUCHARISTIC PRAYERS FOR MASSES WITH CHILDREN

Parish leaders have been asking, now that the Roman Missal has been revised, what will happen to the "Children's Eucharistic Prayers".

In its August edition of the Newsletter, the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship (CDW) reported that the prayers were approved for the reprinting of the Roman Missal. They also said that, "Work has begun to prepare a supplemental text of the adapted Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children, which will be available later this year."

As always, the use of these prayers has been restricted to Masses with children only "or at Masses at which the majority of the participants are children." (See, Directory for Masses with Children, forward to the prayers).

The CDW reminded its readers of the importance of catechesis before using the prayers.

What does that mean for parish and school leaders? It helps to have the children read through the prayer, paragraph by paragraph, in the classroom setting to raise the child's awareness of what each paragraph says. An expert teacher will know not to do the whole thing in one setting but to take parts of the prayer over a week's time. The child discovers how the prayer tells a "story" of salvation and how the institution narrative - the very words of Jesus - is central to the bread and wine becoming the Body and Blood of Jesus. Using parts of the Eucharistic Prayer as gathering or dismissal prayer can also help the child to be attune to the text at Mass.

The CDW also reminds its readers that the Lectionary for Masses with Children, approved in 1991, is still approved for liturgical use today. In the future, we can look for a revision of this lectionary since the Bishops approved a new translation of it in 2005. That text is in Rome for review so we await its approval.