Faith Formation sessions will be offered at Holy Spirit and St Helen. Holy Spirit will be offering monthly Family Faith Formation on Sundays at 9 am before the 11 am Mass and St Helen’s will be at 10 am following their 9 am Sunday Mass. It has also been shared that some St Mary’s families would like an opportunity to attend a Monday evening session that Holy Spirit already provides. Our One Catholic Families will be able to choose to register for the Family Faith Formation Session location that works best for their families.
Sacrament preparation sessions will be provided by Holy Spirit and St Helen as well. Holy Spirit provides preparation for the sacraments of First Reconciliation with monthly Saturday morning sessions in the Fall and First Eucharist with monthly Saturday morning sessions from January through May. Confirmation Prep is provided at Holy Spirit as a two-year program with preparation beginning in 7th Grade as year 1 for those eligible and 2nd-year preparation beginning with 8th grade for those eligible to begin the final preparations to receive the sacrament on Thursday evenings. St Helen’s offers confirmation preparation beginning with 8th grade for those eligible on Sunday mornings.
In order to get fees in line with our budget for resources used and supplies this year, tuition for St Mary’s families will be increased to $100 for Family Faith Formation and next year the increase will align with St Helen’s and Holy Spirit families and the fee will be $150 per family or Confirmation Only. The fees for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist will be $35 which covers the cost of the sacrament books, which will be effective this year.
We will be providing you with the Faith Formation Schedules for Holy Spirit and St Helen and you can choose which program works best for your family.
Family Catechesis is Faith Formation for the whole family at the same time. Pope Francis is encouraging that parents live out the promise they made at their child’s Baptism and accept the role as primary educator of faith with their children.
Family Catechesis is done by entire families coming together to share, pray and learn about the faith together. One Catholic Family Faith Formation is a unique program intended to aid and encourage parents as the primary teachers in faith formation.
In an effort as a parish to assist you in carrying out your responsibilities, our Family Faith Formation requires families to:
• Attendance of monthly parent-student classes
• Pray with your children
• Weekly Mass attendance
Formation is our goal. We hope to help our families become informed, active participating parishioners who are forming and supporting each other in love, worship and service as Jesus did. Family Faith Formation is designed to teach us how to grow in our relationship with God through His word.
Our family faith formation program is designed to help our families learn how to think in a Catholic Christian context. As we learn the process of finding God’s direction in our lives, our learning strengthens our relationship with God and faith continues to form and grow.