Thank you to the dozens and dozens of children’s liturgy leaders who attended Saturday’s Children’s Liturgy Training and Information Day held at the Gillis Centre in Edinburgh. It was a great day!

“It was very heartening to have such a huge turnout with 75 children’s liturgy leaders in attendance from all across the Archdiocese,” said Father Daniel Doherty, Vicar Episcopal for Catechetics within the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh, 18 September.

“Thank you also to the lay members of the Archdiocesan Catechetics Commission who both organised and delivered the event and to all those who attended in order to pray together and also to share good practice on how we can best introduce our young people to life with Jesus Christ.”

The Liturgy of the Word for Children – or Children’s Liturgy – is a catechetical approach adopted by many parishes within the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh which sees the Liturgy of the Word at Sunday Mass proclaimed and explained in an age-appropriate way by, most often, volunteer catechists.

The one-day event at the Gillis Centre was attended by existing catechists and those interested in becoming children’s liturgy leaders. Across the day, they shared resources and current good practice. They also discussed plans to develop a Children’s Liturgy section on the new Archdiocesan website. The day concluded by Holy Mass offered by Monsignor Allan Canon Chamber VG.

"The whole day was fantastic, really worthwhile, we had a great time," said Aoife Palmer who helps with the Children's Liturgy at St Peter's in Edinburgh's Morningside.

"It was a great day, I really enjoyed it because I met so many other people from other parishes and we could share our experience and share our Catholic faith too," added Eleanora Garile, who also assists with the Children's Liturgy in St Peter's.