Discovering attentive presence: children as agents for spiritual change in the curatorial of worship

ABSTRACT

The paper focusses upon one of the outcomes from research into co-curating the Eucharist with children. The aim of the research was to answer a question where there is little evidence and because the topic is of direct practical relevance to issues in the researcher’s own work and practice as a parish priest in the Church of England. The primary data was derived from Participatory Action Research. Three sets of co-researchers drawn from children, adults from the local community and adult members of two congregations, shared their experiences without and with co-curation of the Eucharist with children. An inductive methodology was used in a qualitative, constant comparative and thematic method of data analysis. The data found attentive presence to be a unifying concept important to spiritual flourishing. Children co-curating worship found that their involvement in the liturgical action deepened the spiritual experience of some adults.

KEYWORDS:

• Attentive presence
• the Eucharist
• Participatory Action Research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Trudie Morris

Trudie Morris is a priest in the Church of England and currently incumbent of a parish in the diocese of Manchester. She is also a member of the British and Irish Association of Practical Theologians (BIAPT), the International Association of Children's Spirituality (IACS) and a Godly Play UK advocate and practitioner.