By Laura Brennan
“Don’t forget your backpack!” parents said to children getting ready for Mass throughout the diocese.
Backpack blessings took place at several parishes … and the children were ready. Among the participating parishes were Saint Stephen Church in Trumbull, Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish in Fairfield and Notre Dame of Easton.
“When Deacon Tim [Bolton] asked the kids to all come forward, there were so many kids with backpacks that they couldn’t fit in the front of the church,” said Deacon John DiTaranto of Saint Stephen’s, where backpack blessings took place at all the Masses on the weekend of August 30th. “They were all the way down the center aisle.”
This is the first time Saint Stephen’s has held a backpack blessing. Children from pre-K through college tucked their backpacks beside them in the pews during Mass. At the vigil Mass, one altar server even stowed his backpack under his chair in the sanctuary and came forward in his alb to have his backpack blessed.
“As they begin a new school year, bless them with curious minds, joyful hearts, good friends, and excitement for all that lies ahead,” the deacons said in their blessing.
Deacon John said: “We not only bless the backpacks, but the children that carry them, the families that support these children, the teachers that actually give them education and share with them life skills. The blessing was for all of them. So we weren’t just blessing an inanimate object. We were blessing who was connected to the backpack.”
The blessing continued with a call to the children: “May they begin each day knowing that You love them, You delight in them, and You are always near. Jesus, walk with them. Jesus, guide them. Jesus, help them grow. Jesus, be their friend.”
Next the children were called forward to choose their own Jesus figurine from a basket.
“It was great energy,” said Deacon Bolton. “And it resonated beyond because you had grandparents coming up who wanted to send them to their kids that are in other states. They thought it was a great thing.”
Jesus in the backpack was the children’s favorite part. It was also what inspired this event.
“It kind of came around the time I was preaching a homily,” said Deacon Tim. “The image I was using was putting Jesus in your backpack, so He was always with you, wherever you went. When you went to school, went to the ball field, wherever it was you were going.”
The image became a tangible idea for the kids as they head back to school. Deacon Tim told them Jesus is “the first thing that goes in your backpack. Remember that He is always with you, no matter where you are.”
Deacon John was most moved by the joy of the community. “The blessing was on the kids,” he said. “They received the Jesus figurine but everybody present that witnessed it appreciated the simplicity and the importance of that message.”
At Saint Thomas Aquinas in Fairfield, the blessing was not a first-time occurrence but a much anticipated one. “It feels like Easter,” said Pastor Father David Roman. “The church is packed.”
The backpack blessing has been an annual tradition since Father Roman arrived.
“My whole goal was to do whatever we can to keep our families rooted in the parish and in the Mass,” he explained. “When little ones associate something big and important happening in their life with coming to church and asking for God’s blessing, then we’ve been successful in teaching them about the powerful relationship that we can have with God.”
He continued, “When something new and exciting or something scary or something big is going to be happening in our lives, we can come and ask God to bless whatever it is that we’re entering into and He’s happy to do it through the church. So the little ones love it. Their parents love it. The teachers love it.”
Each year Saint Thomas has a theme for the backpack blessings that have included various Marian themes, Saint Joseph, and Saint Carlo Acutis. This year’s theme was the Holy Spirit.
“It’s a great way to build community right at the outset of the school year,” said Father Roman. “A great way to pray and to ask the Holy Spirit to bless these little ones and to bless their families and to bless their teachers as they start the new academic year. Get the kids excited for learning and send them with God’s grace.”
The children, some with backpacks as big as they were, filled the sanctuary to listen to Father Roman’s homily. “Boys and girls, Jesus has an amazing lesson for each and every one of us this year. Maybe this could be your lesson to sort of hold close to your heart this year, and it’s about being like Jesus,” he said. “Sometimes, to pick up our cross, as Jesus told us in the Gospel today, it means that we have to live as a Christian disciple. So, sitting with someone in the cafeteria at lunch who maybe doesn’t have someone to sit with, being kind to someone on the playground, forgiving someone who may have done something unkind to us during the school day. Is it easy to do those things? Not all the time, but that’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, and that’s what it means to pick up your cross.”
Following the homily, children received luggage tags with the Saint Thomas logo to attach to their backpacks that read, “This Backpack has been Blessed.” The reverse has a prayer that includes the line, “Bless these backpacks and the children who carry them.”
Notre Dame of Easton held its third annual backpack blessing at all the Masses.
Pastor Father Christopher Ford said, “After seeing this tradition be a great gift at other parishes, like Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Catherine of Siena, I knew that it was something we should bring to Notre Dame and it has quickly become a staple here.”
Kids from pre-K through college came to have their backpacks blessed. A few teachers received blessings as well. “I even had a few young people who were going to be away that weekend come other days to receive the blessing,” said Father Ford. Approximately 50 students participated across the Masses.
Father Ford said the blessing was well received by the parish. “It was our most attended weekend all summer,” he said. “This is something we get asked about and parents and students alike really look forward to it.”
