LITURGY
"Our shared desire as church is
that liturgy give life and nourishment to our spirits
as well as glory to GOD.
Persons with developmental and/or learning disabilities have the right to be baptized and welcomed into the liturgical life of GOD's people."
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, All Saints Day 1985
Pastoral Guidelines for the Archdiocese of Chicago:
Access to the Sacraments of Initiation and Reconciliation for Developmentally Disabled Persons
that liturgy give life and nourishment to our spirits
as well as glory to GOD.
Persons with developmental and/or learning disabilities have the right to be baptized and welcomed into the liturgical life of GOD's people."
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, All Saints Day 1985
Pastoral Guidelines for the Archdiocese of Chicago:
Access to the Sacraments of Initiation and Reconciliation for Developmentally Disabled Persons
Catechesis and Liturgy
Catechesis (faith formation) carries out the command of Christ to proclaim God’s message of salvation to all. SPRED was developed to assist members of a parish to welcome persons with developmental disabilities into small communities of faith so they may be prepared to participate in the liturgical life of the parish.
Using a model of friendship and evoking life experiences with our friends with intellectual or developmental disabilities in our small faith communities help us all become aware of God in our everyday lives.
A parish’s liturgical life, especially the Mass, provides a dynamic context which can help our SPRED Friends to break out of isolation and discover others as believers. This liturgical life helps each parishioner to have the courage to risk something of self in order to create solidarity, to build unity, to build up the Body of Christ.
Participation in SPRED Masses gives our Friends, along with the entire congregation, a history, a parish family, a feeling of joy in belonging and provides a touchstone for further growth in faith.
A SPRED liturgy incorporates gesture and movement,
song and silence, reverence and awe.
The Word is made accessible to all through gesture
which creates a visual focus
and conveys meaning and spirit during its proclamation.
A beautiful table is prepared with reverence while the gifts of bread and
wine are brought forth and presented.
A sense of the Sacred is instilled
evoking desire for communion with God.
Through these ritual actions so prevalent in SPRED catechesis,
we are drawn to a deep awareness of GOD with us.
As a renewed parish community, we are better able to celebrate our joy in being together
and our recognition of GOD within each of us.
Catechesis (faith formation) carries out the command of Christ to proclaim God’s message of salvation to all. SPRED was developed to assist members of a parish to welcome persons with developmental disabilities into small communities of faith so they may be prepared to participate in the liturgical life of the parish.
Using a model of friendship and evoking life experiences with our friends with intellectual or developmental disabilities in our small faith communities help us all become aware of God in our everyday lives.
A parish’s liturgical life, especially the Mass, provides a dynamic context which can help our SPRED Friends to break out of isolation and discover others as believers. This liturgical life helps each parishioner to have the courage to risk something of self in order to create solidarity, to build unity, to build up the Body of Christ.
Participation in SPRED Masses gives our Friends, along with the entire congregation, a history, a parish family, a feeling of joy in belonging and provides a touchstone for further growth in faith.
A SPRED liturgy incorporates gesture and movement,
song and silence, reverence and awe.
The Word is made accessible to all through gesture
which creates a visual focus
and conveys meaning and spirit during its proclamation.
A beautiful table is prepared with reverence while the gifts of bread and
wine are brought forth and presented.
A sense of the Sacred is instilled
evoking desire for communion with God.
Through these ritual actions so prevalent in SPRED catechesis,
we are drawn to a deep awareness of GOD with us.
As a renewed parish community, we are better able to celebrate our joy in being together
and our recognition of GOD within each of us.