A program in Lima parishes helps parents prepare their children to receive the Eucharist.
By Fr. Chris Baker

In this “Year of the Eucharist,” missionaries should be quick to confirm what Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter “The Church of the Eucharist” says about how the Eucharist builds up the family, the local community and the whole Church.

In my 27 years in Peru, I have found that Columban parishes have given high priority to preparing as many children as possible for their first Communion.

Over the years, parishes have entered into a program called “family catechizing,” which invites parents to prepare their own children for Communion through lessons that last from one to two years. This requires a group of parents (called “guide parents”) who can confidently explain each week the next few pages of a local catechism to other parents. They, in turn, teach their children the catechism.

Then, the children meet with specially trained young “animators” who help them reflect, pray, and celebrate together at a level suitable for children ages 10 to 12 years. There are games to create more of a family spirit and reinforce the Communion message of the week.

Our experience has confirmed that this kind of first Communion program can profoundly influence families who enter into it with a good spirit and the desire to help their children with lessons.

The program gives parents the chance to talk to their children about what their faith means to them as they become more aware of the Christian values they want to hand down.

Families have said this teaching method has helped them in all aspects of communication on any topic, long after the first Communion has taken place.

Columban Father Tony Coney and Ezzia, the coordinating animator for the children receiving first Communion, cut a cake at the celebration after the Mass.

After Communion there is a  modest agape (a fellowship feast) to conclude the months of sharing among parents, guide parents, children and animators. In this way, the family and the local community is built up steadily as “the body of Christ and temple of the Holy Spirit.”

The Eucharist is about bread broken and shared with all the family, so many parishioners who help as guide parents, animators and Eucharist ministers reach out to the elderly, the infirm and the needy in our parish.

Free or inexpensive food and drink is provided by many mothers’ clubs and similar volunteer groups. The shared food and drink is a public expression of the fellowship encouraged by the Eucharistic meal.

Among Lima’s Newcomers
Building up the body of Christ has been seen in all the parishes of the Columbans and our partners in mission. Columbans and others have long worked amid the teeming thousands of newcomers to the outskirts of Lima, many of them uprooted from rural areas of Peru, needing shelter, work and some community organization to help them survive.

Early in our work, nearly all meetings between priests and parishioners, including Masses, were held in improvised shelters. The emphasis was on forming a lively, local Christian community, and only gradually building a proper church or chapel.

Eventually, parish churches and other buildings are established, and gradually the parishes are turned over to the administration of the archdiocese.

We then turn our attention to the next influx of needy people, encouraging these newcomers as we build new Eucharistic communities.

Fr. Chris Baker of Australia returned to mission work in Peru in 1999 after a 10-year absence. He was ordained in 1950.