By Amy White
The Texas Catholic

Wonder in God’s presence should be central to our experience of worship, said Diocese of Dallas Office of Worship Director Jeanne Marie Miles ahead of the Oct. 26 Contours of Wonder formation workshop.

Hosted by the McGrath Institute at the University of Notre Dame in partnership with the Diocese of Dallas, the Contours of Wonder formation workshop is a one-day workshop exploring the intersection of liturgy and catechesis for children.

The workshop is part of a larger project, the Contours of Wonder initiative, which is housed in the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy at the McGrath Institute for Church Life. The three-year initiative seeks a reconsideration of the liturgical formation of children for the purpose of cultivating worshipful wonder.

“At its core, Contours seeks to help the Church in the U.S. reimagine children’s liturgical formation,” Lesley Kirzeder, program director of the Contours of Wonder initiative, said.

“We believe that in helping children engage with incarnate materiality, in leading children to occasions of wonder, and by guiding them anew into a disposition of worship,” she continued, “we can accompany them not only into fuller liturgical-sacramental participation here and now but also into a fully liturgical life—one in which the ins and outs of daily living become a worshipful response to God’s abiding love for us.”

In 2023, the initiative commenced with academic discussion and research on liturgical formation, liturgical imagination, and the theology of childhood. With the launch of its diocesan workshops this month, including the Dallas workshop, the initiative enters its second phase.

Reconsidering formation

Catechists, teachers, parents—all who are interested in the liturgical formation of children—are invited to attend the Contours of Wonder formation workshop, Miles said.

The Dallas workshop is one of seven Contours of Wonder diocesan workshops to be held at six dioceses throughout the nation. The workshop will be led by Kirzeder and Dr. Timothy P. O’Malley, academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy in the McGrath Institute for Church Life, with Juan Carlos Moreno, the Dallas diocese director of the Office of Evangelization, Catechesis, and Family Life, leading concurrently in Spanish.

Hosted at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the event will include presentations, reflections, small group discussions, and prayer.

“We really want to take people into that sort of space of wonder themselves throughout the course of the day,” O’Malley said of the workshop. “We have to think about how do we create spaces for wonder or to be in places that prepare us to worship God?”

Participants will consider questions about childhood in today’s world, the importance of liturgical formation, and how to encourage a posture of worshipful wonder in children and adults alike.

O’Malley emphasized the importance of the quest to reflect on the liturgical formation of children, stating, “If we’re not being very attentive during this period of time to the formation of the child, we’re missing out on a really huge moment where the language of worship, of communion, the dispositions of prayer are really sort of just part and parcel of the child’s life.”

He mentioned also the particular challenges of fostering worshipful wonder in children in the digital age, where children are spending an increasing amount of time in front of screens and are experiencing growing anxiety.

“There’s not the kind of space for contemplation and wonder that I think is really important for the flourishing of the child,” he said. “We want to retrieve wonder today for Catholics who are engaged in worshiping God, but especially families—the young child and the adults together.”

Those who attend the workshop will engage in these conversations, laying the groundwork for the next phase of the initiative.

Moving forward

Following the diocesan workshop, the Contours of Wonder initiative will turn to the formation of a leadership cohort. Derived from diocesan partners throughout the United States, members of the approximately 20-person cohort will engage with the initiative’s research, themes, and pastoral leadership principles from 2025-26 to develop a project focusing on inventive ways of preparing children for Holy Communion and on family-based education on the Eucharist.

Finally, the information gathered through research, workshops, and the cohort will be brought to and utilized by the university for the benefit of the university community and the development of resources for the wider Church.

Those interested in attending the Oct. 26 Contours of Wonder formation workshop can register by visiting mcgrath.nd.edu/conferences.

Cutline for featured image: A young boy holds his hands in prayer as he enters St. Joseph Catholic Church in Waxahachie for a Mass to receive First Holy Communion on May 11, 2024. (MICHAEL GRESHAM/The Texas Catholic)