CLOW- what is it? CLOW stands for Children’s Liturgy of the Word. The target age group is children from 3-6 years old. Children begin Mass with the parents in the pews and are invited to follow prayer leaders out of church to hear the Liturgy of the Word spoken at their level of understanding before returning to the pews in time for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. This allows parents time to focus on listening to the Word and gives the children an opportunity to hear the Word spoken at a level of their understanding. We restarted CLOW at St. Alphonsus in December 2019 but have not met since the start of the pandemic. There is a CLOW webpage as part of our parish website that lists some resources for you to use at home for this age group: https://stalphonsusfaithformation.weebly.com/clowpre-k.html.
Due to the pandemic, we have not been able to meet together in person in the library as we had in the past. We are planning to restart CLOW again at 11am Masses (this is a change from the past when it was at 8am). As we are still under some restrictions, we will have the children meeting outside in the small enclosed garden off of the Gathering Space. We will use picnic blankets and mats to sit on outside, and everyone sitting spaced apart. With the children meeting outside, CLOW will only occur on weekends with decent weather. In addition to restarting CLOW at the 11am Mass, there are some parents who are planning to meet at the upper playground at Saunders Park (behind the hospital) at 10am on Fridays. This is a time for the kids to have some fun in the fresh air and the parents to share in fellowship. These playdates are weather dependent. CLOW is led by volunteers. If you would like to be part of the CLOW Team or would like to receive text updates about CLOW and the Friday playdates, email me at [email protected] and ask to be added to the CLOW Remind group.
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HE IS RISEN! We are beginning a joyful new season in the Liturgical Year. We are also entering a more hopeful time as our COVID numbers go down and vaccination numbers go up. More than any other year, it feels like a time for renewal. At Easter Vigil each year, we get to witness renewal when someone going through the RCIA process receives the Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation.
What does it mean to be Baptized into the Catholic Church? Paragraph 1267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ: ‘Therefore...we are members of one another.” We all have rights and responsibilities within the Church. At Baptism we are not simply getting our Catholic Church membership cards stamped. As members of the Body of Christ we are called to serve one another. Each of us must discern how we are called to serve and how to use the gifts God has given us. For the past couple of weeks, I have been using this space to feature different ministry opportunities available to anyone in the parish. Family Faith Formation was featured first, then Youth Ministry. This week we will look at RCIA. RCIA stands for the Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults and it is shorthand for the process a person goes through to become fully initiated into the Catholic Church when they did not receive the Sacraments of Initiation in the “usual” manner (Infant Baptism, 2d grade Eucharist, 10th grade Confirmation). The process can vary depending on the person who is going through it. We need a team of parishioners who are interested in accompanying people as they learn about the Catholic faith. Members of the RCIA team will support each other as well as RCIA candidates to grow in their own faith and Catholic knowledge. We will set up some meetings this summer to discuss what we want the RCIA process to look like at our parish. If you are interested in becoming a part of the RCIA team (or the Family Faith Formation Team or the Youth Ministry Team), contact me at [email protected]. March 21st marks the one year anniversary of public Masses being canceled in our Diocese and our first parish online Mass (we didn’t know how to livestream at that point so it was a posted recording). Just as our set-up for livestreaming the Mass has come a long way from a phone balanced on a music stand, we have all been learning new skills and ways to adapt to the new rules for living in a pandemic. Something that has become abundantly clear in the last year is our innate desire for connection to other people. We miss gathering together in person, sitting together, eating together, shaking hands, and hugging each other. We continue to cautiously find ways to inch our way back to “normal.”
Have you been feeling disconnected from the parish community? Maybe you weren’t very involved before March 2020 but this past year has you yearning for more. Maybe you were involved but have had all your “normal” connections ripped away this year and are trying to find a way back to that community feeling. A great way to get re-connected is to join a ministry or team at the parish. You have gifts that are needed. When you share those gifts with the parish you will meet or get reacquainted with other parishioners. As we start to emerge from our frigid winter into spring, we will soon be able to gather together outside. I am inviting you to consider joining one of our Faith Formation Teams. I will be spotlighting different Faith Formation Teams each week in the bulletin, starting with the Family Faith Formation Team. This year has been an experiment in a family and home based faith formation program. There have been positives (like the sacramental prep program used for First Reconciliation) and negatives (like using Dropbox to share materials). If you have opinions about faith formation at our parish, I encourage you to join the Family Faith Formation Team (FFF Team) to help shape what it will look like going forward. We will start having some FFF Team meetings later this Spring when the weather allows for outdoor meetings. Anyone with an interest in improving the lives of families in our parish is welcome to join the FFF Team- teens and adults. Let me know if you want to be notified of our meetings this spring and summer. We will be brainstorming ideas for a summer program and exploring options for a family-based program next school year. Email me at [email protected]. In the March 14th bulletin I started contributing to the weekly bulletin in a section called "Kelley's Korner." Here is what was published in the March 14th bulletin:
I’ve been given this corner of the bulletin to keep the parish updated on Faith Formation. You can also find faith formation information and resources by clicking on the Faith Formation tab of the parish website. Below is a summary of what is happening now and what we hope to see in the near future:
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Kelley TanseyFaith Formation Coordinator Archives
June 2021
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