Here at St. John Bosco we welcome the full participation of our young children in the celebration of the Mass. Special provision in the form of Children's Liturgy is made at the 10:00 am Mass on Sunday. We try to ensure that Children's Liturgy is an enjoyable experience for the children which nurtures their relationship with God as equal members of our church community. The first half of the Mass is the Liturgy of the Word where we listen to readings from the Bible, followed by the Homily where Fr. Chris interprets and relates the readings to our Christian life. However, we all recognise that these words are generally aimed towards the majority of the congregation which is essentially adult. This proves to be of little interest to a young child who may become bored, making church a negative experience.

The term 'Children's Liturgy’ is short for ‘Children’s Liturgy of the Word' and refers to the practice of the young children, between the age of 3 and 8 years old (before they make their First Holy Communion) leaving the Sunday assembly at the beginning of Mass and gathering elsewhere to celebrate a separate Liturgy of the Word that is more appropriate to their level of understanding. At St. John Bosco Church, this takes place in the Lady Chapel and the small room linking the Lady Chapel to the sacristy. As part of our Diocesan safeguarding policy, children must be registered before attending Children's Liturgy. A parent may like to join the child in the group for the first few occasions. Children who are new to our church may be shy at first but once they have attended our Children's Liturgy they always want to return as it is very popular.

In 1973, the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome issued the document Directory for Masses with Children . This document offered principles and guidelines for adapting the liturgy for children to enable them to take a more conscious and active part in the Mass. The Directory stated: Sometimes..., if the place itself and the nature of the community permit, it will be appropriate to celebrate the liturgy of the word, including a homily, with the children in a separate, but not too distant, room. Then, before the Eucharistic liturgy begins, the children are led to the place where the adults have meanwhile celebrated their own liturgy of the word (DMC #17).

The purpose of adapting liturgical celebrations to make them more accessible to children must always be to lead them gradually to full, conscious and active participation in the Sunday Mass. Occasionally, at St. John Bosco, in order to offer our children the experience of celebrating all of Mass with the entire community, the children may go up onto the sanctuary instead and listen to a short homily by Fr. Chris, which is particularly directed towards them.

Two key principles are always kept in mind when preparing and celebrating our Children's Liturgy of the Word. Firstly, Children's Liturgy of the Word is Liturgy, ritual prayer, and not catechesis (religious instruction) or child minding. Its purpose is not to give the children colouring-in-type activities to keep them busy and quiet so the adults can listen to the homily in peace! Because it is a liturgical celebration, all the principles of good Liturgy (active participation, clear symbols, etc) apply. Secondly, it is Liturgy of the word, so it is ritual centred on the proclamation and breaking open of the scriptures. The children do what the rest of the community is doing at this point of the Mass. They listen to the scriptures proclaimed and applied to contemporary life and respond in various ways. It is an experience of prayer and worship.

The approved book of readings we use for Children's Liturgy of the Word is the Lectionary for Masses with Children . The LMC adheres as closely as possible to the readings in the Lectionary for Mass, while adapting them to the needs and capabilities of our children. It is a simplified version of Scripture, not a collection of paraphrases or Bible stories. As far as possible the readings follow those in the (adult) Roman Lectionary for Mass. Where a reading is considered too difficult for children, it is been simplified or omitted completely.

A Liturgy of the Word is never simply a verbal experience. The use of symbols, gesture, movement and singing heightens the children's experience of the transcendent. Our Children’s Liturgy Book is always handled with respect, and a special place is given for enthroning the Word, gathering the children around to hear the scriptures proclaimed well; these all speak to the children of the sacredness of God's Word and influence how they accept and live by it now and for the rest of their lives.

A simple procession leads the children back to rejoin our adult community for the Preparation of the Gifts. Fr. Chris may choose to say a simple word of welcome to each of the children as they return at this point and sometimes the children show him what they have been doing. The children then rejoin their families for the rest of the celebration of Mass.