Sunday Homily for Children Report 2003-2004

This year, Vicky Cipres implemented a new program with the Children's Homilies. Osvaldo and Esther Avelar were the Coordinators that accompanied the Sunday Homily Groups in English and Spanish from the beginning of October 2003 through January 2004. They met to plan three months advance lesson plans with the objective of sharing the Word of the Lord with the children of Blessed Sacrament Church.

They had a monthly meeting to deal with the organization and logistics of the program. Materials were ordered from Claretian Publications to supplement the lessons. These materials included "Jesus' Friends" worksheets, realia, construction paper and activities to meet the objectives that we had set for the children's homilies. The plans were implemented with both English and Spanish groups to cover most of the masses (7a.m. to 1p.m.).

The Sunday Homily group included the following members: Abner, Maricriz, Doris and Bernard for the English masses and Martin, Castulo, Sandra and Consuelo, for the Spanish masses. Rosario, Lilian and the young people from the confirmation group joined the program at a later date.

The children join the eucharistic celebration at the time when the liturgy is read until after the homily. The children leave the mass then return at the time of the offering. The approximate time is 25 minutes. The quantity of children is approximately 150 children a day.

The objectives which were set for this program was met.

For more information, please contact Vicky Cipres at (323) 463-9820.