Time for another round of “Kids in Church” moments: the funny, the painfully embarrassing, and the sweet! (If you missed Volume One, click here.) Lisa H. I’ve always taken to the boys with me when I go communion. Fr Joe’s first weekend at St. Andrew’s, I take C. up and Fr reaches his hand out…
Read MoreAll articles filed in church
“Kids in Church,” Part 1
We’re going to do something a bit different today: it’s your turn to talk! A few weeks ago, I asked my Facebook community to share their best “kids in church” stories: the good, the bad, the ugly. I got twice as much as I could use for a single post; hence the “part 1” in…
Read MoreAdventures in Liturgy With A Musical Mom
Friday morning, I flew into church at 7:59 a.m. for 8:00 holy day Mass, trailing a widely-spaced gaggle of little ones–the last one wailing. With Christian out of town, I was single parenting, and it was also the last field trip day of the summer, with speech therapy thrown in for good measure. We’d left…
Read MoreKids Who Write Songs, NPM memories, and other QTs
___1___ Let’s start with a story about this boy: Alex loves to rewrite songs. And oh lordy, sometimes it’s hard for an occasional songwriter to listen to it! Last night in the car, he decided to rewrite Rudolph with shades of the Lego movie: “Big Mr. Buz-niss MA-AN, had a bi-ig crane ro-BOT!” “ALEX!” I…
Read MoreIn Which Going to Church With Kids Completes My Entire 7QT Post
My mother told me once, “There were a lot of Masses when you girls were little that we didn’t get much out of.” This week was one of those for me. To wit: 1: Processional Cross A Because I walk with the toddler, I’m always the last one into church. I shepherd Michael through his…
Read MoreWho Are We Dressing Up For, Anyway?
There’s a topic that people of faith spend a lot of time fretting over: what we wear to church. I did a search this morning and came up with a very revealing list of online articles. Clearly, a lot of Christians are incredibly concerned about what everyone else wears to church on Sundays. But a…
Read MoreJust Write: Angel, Imp, Trouble
I’m teaching at a liturgical music camp this week, and yesterday afternoon we did an icebreaker game in which we had to tell as many things about ourselves as we had M&Ms in our cup. Alex watched with fascination and then, giggling, whispered to me that one of my things should be to say I…
Read MoreAlive Again
Michael and I went to the Newman Center for Mass last night. That wasn’t how the day was supposed to be. I was supposed to be at 10:00 Mass across town, with the choir and my husband. I was supposed to conduct an a cappella piece and sing harmony on the psalm. But Nicholas’ illness…
Read MorePlaying at St. Paul’s in London
I don’t talk much about music on the blog, which is actually rather odd, considering how saturated my life has always been with the practice and study of music. So today I hope you’ll bear with me as I share a musical story that came to mind while Christian and I were watching National Treasure…
Read MoreSmall-Town Sunday
By the time we pull into the parking lot on Sunday morning, the sun is well on its way to turning a cool morning into another hot August afternoon. We take the last half-shady spot beneath a giant oak and start toward the red brick church, its spire pointing an entire Southern Illinois town toward…
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Kathleen M. Basi 