Saint Meinrad receives grant to nurture children’s participation at Sunday Mass

Monday, May 15, 2023

ST. MEINRAD, IN – Saint Meinrad Archabbey has received a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for a project called the “Children’s Revival of Participation at Sunday Mass.” The Children’s Revival project is an initial five-year effort supported through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children through Worship and Prayer Initiative.

The project aims to increase the capacity of parishes to incorporate children’s leadership and children’s ways of worship into their regular Sunday Masses. Experts in liturgy, catechesis, and child development will help parishes invigorate music, movement, preaching, and praying in ways that invite children to lead the whole congregation from worship into witness.

To pilot concrete efforts, Saint Meinrad will seek 10 to 15 partner parishes eager to make their Sunday Eucharist the source and summit of all activities that nurture the faith of children. Parishes will plan and implement their first Children’s Revival efforts in 2024, just as the National Eucharistic Revival is moving from its Year of Parish Revival to a Year of Mission.

“Intergenerational parishes thrive and our eucharistic faith shines forth when children are seen, heard, and valued in the Church’s central act of corporate worship,” says project supervisor Dr. Nathaniel Marx, a faculty member at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology.

For more information or to inquire about becoming a partner parish in the Children’s Revival project, contact Marx at nmarx@saintmeinrad.edu.

Saint Meinrad is one of 26 organizations taking part in the Nurturing Children Initiative, which Lilly Endowment launched in 2022 as part of its commitment to support efforts that strengthen the religious education and formation of children and enhance the vitality of Christian congregations.