Changes to Family of Faith 2024-2025

The regular Family of Faith on-campus gatherings are now once per month.

First Communion and Confirmation students will have additional retreats, workshops, and rehearsals as indicated in the Family of Faith calendar.

Key Dates for 2024-2025 Family of Faith

Parent Information Meeting for First Communion and Confirmation

Sunday, September 22nd, 2024

• 9:30am OR 6:00pm (Parish Hall)

Family of Faith Kick-Off

Sunday, October 6th, 2024

• 9:30am-10:45am (Parish Hall)

First Reconciliation

Saturday, December 7th, 2024

• 11:00am

First Holy Communion

Saturday, May 10th, 2025

• 10:00am

Confirmation

Sunday, May 4th, 2025

• 11:00am

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

John Haemmerle

john@stcatharine.com

Family Faith Formation is a way for St. Catharine families with children in grades K-8th to learn together about the life of Jesus Christ, His teachings, and our Catholic Faith.

At Church, families will be encouraged and supported in community with other families.

At home, parents will help their children fall in love with Jesus as they journey toward Heaven together, through meaningful conversations about our Catholic Faith.

Who should attend Family Faith Formation (PSR)?

All families with children in grades K-8 who are not attending St. Catharine School should participate in Family Faith Formation (PSR). Families with children enrolled in the school are invited to join in the fun, too!

Why? Because Faith is not transactional - where we send our child to Catholic school or send in a PSR registration form and then Sacraments or spirituality is dispensed. Faith is about love and relationships.

At St. Catharine, we want to encourage and support conversations about Jesus at home between parents and children. Faith must be talked about and lived out at home with the people children love the most, their parents!

What about First Reconciliation, First Communion, and Confirmation?

Families with children preparing to receive Sacraments should be attending Mass every Sunday and Holy Day and enrolled in (and regularly attending) Family Faith Formation or Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for two consecutive years. Preparation for First Reconciliation and First Communion begins in first grade. Preparation for Confirmation begins in seventh grade.

This year there will be three pathways that will be offered to accompany families and to provide them with the resources they need to grow in their faith as they seek to fall more and more in love with the person of Jesus Christ.

General Faith Formation

All families who are not preparing for any Sacraments this year will be on the Quest + Witness pathway

First Reconciliation and their First Communion

2nd Grade

All of these families and children will be on the Mend + Nourish pathway

Confirmation

8th Grade

All of these families and children will be on the Zeal pathway

Quest + Witness

All families who are not preparing for any Sacraments

The content of this pathway will be weekly at-home lessons for the whole family to enter into! These lessons will be supplemented by monthly sessions at Church where we will all gather as a community to share our experiences, pray together, and learn more about our faith.

Mend + Nourish

This pathway is specifically for families that have a child who will be preparing for First Reconciliation and First Communion. These at-home lessons provide the resources for your family to learn more about the mercy and compassion of our God who comes to save and feed us! You will be supported in these weekly at-home meetings through monthly sessions at Church where we will gather as a community to learn and pray.

This pathway will also include two retreats. A First Reconciliation Retreat and a First Communion retreat where we invite you and your 2nd grader to take a morning away from the busyness of life to prepare to encounter Jesus in these wonderful moments of grace!

Zeal

This pathway is specifically for families with a child who is preparing to receive an outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation. These at-home sessions will be supported by monthly at-Church sessions where we will be able to share our experiences as we learn and pray together.

This pathway also includes two Confirmation workshops where you and your child who is to be confirmed will come to Church for a Sunday evening session. Additionally, there will also be a day-long retreat where our students will step away from the busyness of life to encounter God more deeply as they prepare to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Each participating family is also asked to serve in our program in some way. The success of Family Faith Formation at St. Catharine relies on solid and dedicated volunteers who will share the love of God and His Church in our parish community.

We will be asking with volunteers throughout the year to assist with the following:

• Child care aides help during several of the at-church sessions on Sundays
• Sacrament hospitality volunteers plan and prepare on the day of First Communion Mass, Confirmation Mass, or on the day of First Reconciliation (in which their child is not receiving a Sacrament)
• Sacrament retreat volunteers help set up, facilitate, and clean up for the First Reconciliation retreat (11/23/24 8am-12:30pm) and the First Communion retreat (5/4/25 8am - 12:30pm) - only if their child is not preparing to receive these Sacraments.
• Table leaders who can help to facilitate the small group discussions during the monthly meetings.

If you are still interested in joining Family of Faith please contact John Haemmerle: john@stcatharine.com