Mags Gargan
Mags Gargan speaks to people involved in the weekly family Mass in St Aidan’s parish in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford
Offering a weekly family Mass is a great opportunity for parishes to create an atmosphere where families feel part of the community of faith, especially children, who by participating in the ceremony gain a fuller understanding of the meaning of the celebration. The family Mass in St Aidan’s cathedral parish in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford is a good example of how this can work at its best, thanks to a committed parish team who have a rota of 200 children who take part in the weekly Mass run throughout the whole liturgical year.
The family Mass committee is a sub-group of the parish pastoral council made up of five members: Joan Mitchell, Dervala Tierney, Fiona McCoole, Breda Nolan and Ilva Krama.
“Organisation is the key,” says Joan Mitchell. “We all work great together. We all have our jobs to do. When you set up a template and rota system, then it is just a case of keeping it going.”
Small group
It all started in April 2012 when a small group from the pastoral council got together to see if they could put together a family Mass in St Aidan’s. “We decided to put children on the altar by doing the readings and prayers, and bringing up the gifts, because we felt that if the children were active in the Mass this in turn would bring parents and grandparents and hopefully other family members to Mass to see them,” Joan says.
It was initially piloted for the month of May and Joan had the job of finding the children to fill the different roles by ringing everyone she knew with children who attended Mass. The first Mass was a great success and the team was approached by parents at the end of this Mass to ask if their children could be involved. Five children were recruited that day and by the end of the month they had 30 children, including those taking part in the ‘Do This in Memory’ Communion programme, so they decided to keep the Mass going.
Fr Billy Swan says that as a priest it is “a joy be involved” in the family Mass. “It is very life-giving and reminds you of why you are a priest for them,” he says. “We try to create that family atmosphere in every Mass but the 9.30am every Sunday morning is a special time where we make a special effort to make it more child-friendly but not more childish, that’s an important distinction. There is always a message for children but for grown-ups as well.”
He says at the heart of the success of the project is the structures that have been put in place and the good relationships that have been built up.
“We have a very good relationship with our parish school of St Aidan’s. We have good structures here as well between the pastoral council and the sub-group of the family Mass committee. We are consistent and constant in building up the family Mass and doing something new all the time.”
The family Mass committee started to bring the children on the altar for the Our Father. On St Patrick’s Day children from St Aidan’s School are invited to colour in pictures of St Patrick to hang up on the pillars in the cathedral. On Holy Thursday, 12 people including grandparents, parents and children are invited to have their feet washed at the altar, in May the children bring up flowers for the May altar and in Advent they bring up symbols for the Jesse tree.
“We also started to do print-outs and they would be left at the back of the cathedral for children to bring home. We got pictures and short stories about the feast days to help them understand the meaning of these,” Joan says.
Theme
“I think the theme is very important,” says Dervala Tierney. “The welcome prayer sets the tone and the readings make more sense in the context of the theme. It is a very simple message usually.”
Every year together with their sister parish of St Senan’s, the team put on a grandparents Mass in St John’s Hospital when children who have grandparents in the hospital do the readings and the Mass is broadcast to all the wards.
“Having been on a ‘Do This in Memory’ parents committee, we felt that some children after they make their Communion are not seen again until Confirmation,” Joan says. “We started class Masses where we invite a class from St Aidan’s School to participate in the Mass. Each Class from 3rd, 4th and 5th class each get their own Mass. We send a letter home to all parents of these children inviting them to the Mass and explaining that their first Holy Communion should not be a ‘once off’ event.
“We ask children of 2nd class to write their own prayer cards (in their own words) these are then brought up at Mass and placed on the May altar. When the Mass is over they are collected by Siobhan from the Ferns Diocesan Pilgrimage Group and brought to Lourdes where they are brought up as gifts in a Mass over there.”
When the children reach 13 or 14 and no longer want to read with smaller children, the team suggest that they join the folk group, which organises a Mass more orientated towards teenagers. “Every year a couple of them move on and it’s a way of keeping them involved,” Joan says.
Fiona McCoole says she has enjoyed watching the children progress and gain confidence. “It’s been lovely because we have had kids that start off really small, like bringing up the gifts, and then they graduate to the Prayers of the Faithful and then they get more confident and do the readings.”
As an example Joan says that about a year ago a mother approached her because her son was struggling to read out loud in class and asked if he could read the Prayers of the Faithful to encourage his confidence. “So we were slipping him in nearly every week and now he is above average at reading in school,” she says.
“Some adults would say I would never be able to stand up in front of everyone and read. It really instils confidence,” Fiona says.
“It also brings adults back to the Mass, because whole families come to hear the children read,” Joan says. “What we are doing would be easy to set up in other parishes. It is just a matter of getting some people on board who are committed.”
Amy Murphy (12) says she likes to do the readings because it is “an easier way of understanding when you are reading at Mass”.
Her mother Mairead says the family Mass “gives the kids a great sense of belonging to a community and also the bigger picture – the family, the home and the community”. “I also like coming because all the other families are here and you immediately feel part of that when you walk into the church,” she says.
Fiachra Busher (12) says reading at Mass “gives me confidence to speak in front of a big group”. His mother Caroline says she loves the “fact that the children are involved in the Eucharist and that they are able to come here very week and take part in the Mass with other families”.
Tracey Grant says she takes “pride as a parent watching my kids getting involved”. The family Mass “makes a big difference to the kids because they don’t mind coming to Mass when they are allowed to take part in it and they have more understanding and are more aware of what’s going on around them”.
Margaret O’Connor says it is “a great way to bring children in to the Faith and in to coming to church – it prepares them for the future. If their parents bring them every Sunday, then when they grow up they will continue that.”