Welcome, young families!

On behalf of the Young Families Leadership Team, hello and WELCOME!

Please make the Catholic Community of South Baltimore (CCSB) your church home. We have a lot of opportunities to let your kids be kids, in a fun-loving and inclusive community:

Below is CCSB’s event calendar, which includes many events for young families. For more info, please reach out to beth.mayr@archbalt.org, or join our email/text list.

Warmly,

Young Families Leadership Team

Christina Chaffman, Erin Hallinan, Bailey Jenkins, Beth Mayr, Cynthia Mendoza, Melanie Nies, and Ryan Renaud

What's the difference between Youth Mass and CLOW?

Children's Liturgy of the Word (CLOW) 

  • Who: Generally geared towards kids ages 3-8, but younger kids welcome (with a parent/guardian), new moms are welcome to come nurse and hang out, and older kids make great helpers.

    • We have two VIRTUS-certified CLOW volunteers present at all times

    • Feel free to accompany your child if they (or you) are nervous

  • What: CLOW is a chance for younger children to discuss scripture, often with coloring and a craft.

  • Where/when: CLOW is held every Sunday at the 9am and 11am Masses, except the second Sundays, which are Youth Masses. 

    • Children sit with their parents at the start of Mass, and then the priest will call children up to the front before the first reading to be dismissed to CLOW.

    • The children and certified volunteers are in a room nearby the main part of the church, and they will return to you after all the CLOW kids and volunteers bring up the gifts during Mass. 

Youth Mass 

  • Who: Kids from literally ages 0-17 have participated in Youth Mass in a variety of ways!

  • What: There are two opportunities for kids to participate in Youth Mass:

    • In advance, CCSB coordinates children to serve in Mass - to be greeters, lectors, ushers, altar servers, sacristans, and bring up the gifts. To be added to the email/text list where we ask for volunteers, reply to this email.

    • On the day of Youth Mass, Fr. Kevin will invite all children to sit up front during the homily. Parents are welcome to sit with their kids, and older kids make really great helpers for our younger friends.

    • It's a kid-focused homily (that adults often tell us they love too!) 

  • Where/when: Youth Mass is held every second Sunday at the 9am and 11am Mass

So basically - every Sunday has a child-focused component during the 9am and 11am Masses. Does this guide help? If you have more questions, or want more guides like this, reply to this email and let us know!

The only exception to our schedule is that we usually don't do CLOW or Youth Mass on major holiday weekends. Our weekly e-bulletin will note these changes going forward - join that list here!