catholic church- separate program for kids during mass?

billiburrows

Do any of you know of any catholic churches in the Pgh area that have a separate program for kids while mass is going on?  A co-worker told me things like this exist so just thought i would look into it as my almost 5 year old is really interested in learning about jesus/church but attending the adult mass doesn't really help to answer his questions and i'm not sure i'm the best one to answer them... 

lala5507

Our church does a children's liturgy.  They go into another room right before the first reading (I think) and come back after the homily.  My mom got a children's Bible story book for dd.  My girls love it and often choose it for their bedtime story.  If you are looking for some at home "education"

amyjoy18

lala5507 said:

Our church does a children's liturgy.  They go into another room right before the first reading (I think) and come back after the homily.  My mom got a children's Bible story book for dd.  My girls love it and often choose it for their bedtime story.  If you are looking for some at home "education"

Our church does this as well.  The went on hiatus for the summer, but will start again in the fall.  We're west of the city.

kris356

My parents' church used to do the same thing as lala's but it was only at one mass, 9:30 I think.

lala5507

kris356 said:

My parents' church used to do the same thing as lala's but it was only at one mass, 9:30 I think.

Yeah, I think ours is only at the 10:00 mass.

sarahandtim

I think a lot of places do the children's liturgy. Ours is at 10:30 mass, but they take off for the summer.

billiburrows

now that i know what it is called i can look into it. it looks like the churches in my neighborhood do not have it. I see St. Bedes has it.  Anyone know of any in the city of pgh or east areas other than St. Bedes?

thanks! never heard of this before!

bride2003

I believe Sacred Heart has a similar program but will check with my friend and let you know. Ours is during the 8:30 & 10:30 masses - I teach and it is very easy to do.  We follow a book, come up with songs and do the prayers.  But we follow with the liturgy - still do the first reading & then the gospel & discuss on a much more basic level.  All parishes may do it differently but if yours doesn't and you want to do it, then consider starting one

denalea

It's pretty common for children's stuff to take the summer "off."  Attendance is lighter, and it's harder to get teachers because of travel, etc.  Our church even goes from 2 services to 1.  The week after Labor Day is return to the "Program Year" for a lot of churches (Sunday School starts, Youth Group, studies, etc.), so now is a great time to be calling around and looking.   Also, it's also pretty typical to just offer those kinds of programs at the most family-attended services.  They may not be offered at every mass.  Again, its an issue of getting leaders, and when you only have 1 or 2 kids it's hard to make it energetic and fun.  (Just trying to give some insight on why things are the way they are!)

Just call the offices of the churches near you.  They should be able to tell you what they offer and when. You could email, too, but calling is probably much more efficient.  I wouldn't depend on websites, as they are sometimes not updated with the greatest regularity.  ;-) 

I don't have any good Catholic resources, but if you are even in the market for some Presbyterian ones, I'm you're girl.  ;-)