Child communion

UNTIL I moved to Oxford Diocese last June I attended a church in a peripheral council estate in Coventry. We had for some years a priest who, with the agreement of the Bishop, encouraged children to receive communion before confirmation.

We had a group of very faithful children from nonchurchgoing families who each Sunday got themselves up and ready for church without parental support. They behaved in a reverent manner even during periods of silent prayer or meditation. The teaching they received was both informal through contact with members of a worshipping community and formal in a Sunday Club which took place during the Ministry of the Word. Sadly, when this priest left, the new priest excluded these children from communion and they gradually drifted away from the church.

I believe that the 'hurdle' of confirmation is something imposed by the church. As baptised members of the church children should not be excluded from communion. They should be encouraged and supported in their search for God and this process should include receiving communion if they feel ready to do so.

I also believe that once a child has been accepted as a communicant they should be allowed to continue. Our children at St Chad's felt rejected when refused communion by a priest whose views differed from her predecessor.

Perhaps a card from a child's own church could be issued to support their approach to the altar in a different church or after a change of incumbent.

Martha Young
by email