A furry puppet named Jess is helping children at St. Patrick Church understand the Liturgy of the Word.
“Sunday Best with Church Mouse Jess” is a new video series created by St. Patrick’s director of children’s formation, Joanie Hendricks. The series simplifies the day’s readings for those under 12.
“There are all those big words flying around” during a homily, noted Hendricks, a mother of three. The videos help children “navigate through those big words and understand the homily.”
A grant awarded by St. Meinrad Archabbey makes it possible for St. Patrick to create the video series. The grant, funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., aims to help parishes find ways to engage children in the Sunday liturgy.
Hendricks appears in the videos, where she interacts with “Church Mouse Jess.” She reads the Gospel story to the puppet, and while answering questions from Jess, explains the story for young listeners.
On the second Sunday of Easter, the video shared the story from the Gospel of John about Thomas, who doubted his friends had seen the risen Jesus.
“Do you think Jesus was angry that Thomas didn’t believe he’d returned even after the other disciples said he’d come back?” asks Jess. Hendricks responds, “I don’t think Jesus was angry. I just think maybe he was a little disappointed.”
Children can watch the video before Mass, or they can listen to the video on headphones during the homily, said Hendricks.
‘When we applied, I had no idea this is what would be the result. I’m very excited. And the creativity and skill level that’s been applied is amazing. … We hope it will communicate the Gospel message in a way they can comprehend and engage with.’
— Father Jeffrey Shooner
She noted that “Sunday Best with Church Mouse Jess” is not only for St. Patrick parishioners; she wants all parishes to have access to it. The video series can be found on the church’s YouTube page at www.youtube.com/@sundaybestwithchurchmousejess.
The goal is to instill a love of the Mass in children, she said.
Looking back on her childhood, Hendricks said she found it hard to pay attention at Mass.
“I was learning how to be good in church, but I wasn’t learning how to love church and really understand what was going on,” she noted.
She hopes the video series helps today’s children to love and understand the liturgy. Thus far, she has heard from parents who say their children are talking about the Gospel stories at home and discussing them.
In addition to the videos about the Liturgy of the Word, Hendricks also creates videos to answer general questions about the faith.
“We talk about saints, prayer, reconciliation. Any kind of questions a child would have about their faith, I try to answer,” she said. “We don’t want children to feel silly about asking questions.”
In March, Hendricks created a video in which Father Jeffrey Shooner, St. Patrick’s pastor, answered questions from Church Mouse Jess about vocations.
During the video, he tells the puppet, “In college, I felt God was calling me to some form of service. I wasn’t sure what it was, it took me a while to really understand — and pray about — that he might be calling me to priesthood.”
These video projects are made possible by the grant awarded by St. Meinrad. The archabbey received a $1.25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. in 2023 for a project called “Children’s Revival of Participation at Sunday Mass.” St. Patrick was one of 13 parishes in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee to receive grant money.
Kelly Gallagher, program director at St. Meinrad, said the aim is to directly support parishes.
“Our goal was to support parishes to help them design a program or meaningful activities to increase things they can do to help parents, pastors, directors of religious education, to engage kids in Mass,” said Gallagher.
The video series created by Hendricks is a way to do that.
“The child can take whatever the Lord is speaking to them in that video and meditate and wonder,” she said.
Father Shooner said it’s exciting what the grant program is allowing the parish to do.
“It’s an experiment to see and to learn from,” he said. “It’s incredible. When we applied, I had no idea this is what would be the result. I’m very excited. And the creativity and skill level that’s been applied is amazing. … We hope it will communicate the Gospel message in a way they can comprehend and engage with.”
In the long run, Father Shooner said he hopes the programs created by the grant recipients will become “tools for the church, as a whole, to connect and engage with our young children.”
Hendricks is inviting parishes across the Archdiocese of Louisville to share the videos with their youngest parishioners.
For more information, contact Hendricks at the parish office at 244-6083.
