Family Catechtics: Family Catechetics, Youth Ministry and Confirmation will take place at Holy Redeemer and All Hallows Church throughout the month of June. Family Catechetics is for families with children in Kindergarten up to Grade Six. The preparation for all the sacraments begins in Kindergarten with more extensive preparation at the Year 2 level (age 7 approximately) for children preparing for the Sacrament of Eucharist and at the Year 3 level (age 8) for children preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A special program will be offered for those children who have not received the sacraments at the ages mentioned above. When parents have their children baptized, they accept "the responsibility of training them in the practice of the faith". (Baptism Rite) This family program is designed specifically to help parents to fulfill this most important obligation. Registration forms may be picked up on the tables at the entrances to the churches. Completed registration forms may be dropped off at the sacristy in each church or at the parish office, or faxed to the Cathedral office at 634-5999.

The word catechesis means faith development/faith formation. We use the term as it better reflects our hope and goal. We do not use the term religious education as it is not our intention to simply impart knowledge, to give children and young adults information about their religion, but to form them into prayerful, committed Christians who give witness to their faith through active participation in the life and mission of the Church.

Responsibility of all:

In Africa there is an expression, “It takes a whole village to raise a child”. For us this means that the faith development of our children and young people is the responsibility of all of us. No parish will fulfill its mission to spread the Gospel unless it has, first and foremost, the good living witness of its members. We are all called upon to not only nurture our children, but also to meet the challenge of living our own faith in the here and now.

Parent Responsibility:

While the formation of children and youth is the responsibility of all parishioners, it will require the particular interest and dedication of parents. When parents ask to have their children baptized they automatically assume the responsibility of bringing them up in the faith.

In 1984, in a speech he gave in Newfoundland, Pope John Paul II said that the primary educators of their children are the parents. Parents sow the seeds of faith and place their very young children on their journey of following Jesus when they pray with them, when they teach them to pray, when they speak to their children about Jesus and God’s love for them, and when they lead their children to celebrate the mysteries of the faith at Mass. It follows that parents, in order to lead their children in faith, must be growing in their own faith and giving witness to it.

On-going Process:

A faith formation program was never meant to be a crash course offered to our young people just before they receive a sacrament, but a day to day opening up of their lives to Christ, the one who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” This means that children who are to receive any of the sacraments are expected to be involved in parish faith development from the time they start Kindergarten.

Outline:

Family based catechetics presently includes children from Kindergarten age to eleven year olds. Sessions are held monthly for parents and children. At this time parents are given resources to use during the month to help foster the faith development of their children. Remember it is not an “education/teaching” process, but a process of passing on our Catholic faith. Parents who are already involved have expressed their delight in the process.

We are also in the beginning stages of building a Comprehensive Youth Ministry.

All meetings are held in the multi-purpose room in the basement of the Cathedral

Registration:

Forms are available at the back of the church. When you complete them you can simply drop them in the lower part of the rack marked Completed Forms. For more information, our Catechetics Coordinator, Denise Rumboldt, may be reached at the parish office (634-5161) from 9am – 12:30pm Monday through Friday. You may also contact her at home at 634-6856.

Sunday Mass:

The Bishops at the Second Vatican Council said, “No Christian community is ever built up unless it has its roots and center in the Eucharistic Liturgy” (Mass). They also said that our celebration of the Mass is one of the elements that identifies us as members of the Catholic Community. We cannot, without contradiction, ask that children receive the sacraments, which prepare us to be full, active members of the Church, if we are not giving public witness to that faith by your own regular participation in the Mass that the Lord himself asked us to offer in his memory.