CHILDREN AND CATHOLIC PRAYER

PROJECT GOALS

The goal of the Children and Catholic Prayer Project is to nurture the prayer life of children by creating a Catholic prayer curriculum for young children (0-5 years old) in home settings, and for grade school children (6-11 years old) in home, parish, and Catholic school settings. The prayer curriculum will:

• Utilize the latest research and approaches for nurturing the spiritual life of children, recognizing the unique characteristics of Generational Alpha children.
• Create developmentally-appropriate prayer forms and practices for young children and grade school children that are grounded in Catholic prayer and spiritual traditions and our responsive to needs of children with disabilities and special learning needs.
• Provide direct experience of a variety of Catholic prayer practices and traditions in settings with other children, families, and the other generations in the parish community.
• Engage children in the communal prayer life of the parish community.

NCCL will work with a maximum of 50 parishes and Catholic schools to pilot and evaluate the new prayer curriculum with children 0-5 years old and 6-11 years old. NCCL will provide parents, parish catechetical leaders, and Catholic school teachers with webinars, videos, and resources to prepare them to implement and conduct the sessions and activities in the prayer curriculum. NCCL will assist parishes and Catholic schools in contextualizing the prayer curriculum for the ethnic cultures and demographics of their community. All training and resources will be in English and Spanish. NCCL will provide assistance to help parishes and Catholic schools implement their new curriculum through online cohort meetings and 1-1 assistance online.

Contact: John Roberto, NCCL Executive Director, [email protected]