We encourage everyone to take a few minutes to watch this important video message from Fr. Jim about the renewal of Children’s Faith Formation at our Collaborative. More information about the exciting new programs launching this fall is available below and on the Children’s Faith Formation page.
The Archdiocese of Boston is calling on parishes to embrace a new vision of children’s faith formation – one that supports parents in their role as the first teachers of the faith, facilitates lifelong faith formation for all generations, and encourages missionary discipleship in addition to catechesis by engaging the talents of the whole parish community.
In response to this call, our Pastoral team, in partnership with our Children’s Faith Formation and Youth Ministry teams, has been working to develop a unified approach to faith formation that builds bridges between these unique programs, invigorates our Collaborative liturgical life, and renews the engagement of our young children, teens, and families in the life of the parish, especially Sunday Mass.
It is with great joy that we share with you our plans for renewing Children’s Faith Formation (previously known as “Religious Education”) in our Collaborative by launching two exciting new programs this fall:
Family Faith Formation – a program for families with children in Kindergarten – Grade 7 that empowers, supports, and equips parents to impart the faith to their children.
Small Group Confirmation Preparation – a program for teens in Grade 8 and above. Small groups of teens will meet with an adult leader throughout the year leading up to the Sacrament of Confirmation in the spring.
Family Faith Formation
Family Faith Formation programs feature monthly gatherings of all families at the Church for catechesis and community. In between these gatherings, the faith is lived out and learned at home. Families are provided with a grade-level book for each child to help guide their faith formation, ensuring a solid foundation from a trusted curriculum and drawing off input from the family sessions.
Family Faith Formation represents a noticeable role reversal from a typical “classroom” model of catechesis, in which faith formation is treated as a subject to be learned. With Family Faith Formation, parents are empowered, supported, and equipped to impart the faith to their children as a way of life. With this model, the role of the parish is to meet parents and children where they are, to accompany them in tangible ways, and to provide the tools they need to have a shared encounter of God in their homes. It also offers a flexibility that accommodates a much wider range of schedules and learning styles than traditional classroom-based programs, which makes it easier for families of all shapes and sizes.
Our Family Faith Formation program is organized in three grade-level cohorts, all focused on the same monthly theme, which creates a cohesive structure that supports families with children in multiple grades. The cohorts are:
Kindergarten-Grade 2: Mustard Seeds
Grade 3-5: Loaves and Fishes
Grade 6-7: Salt and Light
Grades K-2: Mustard Seeds and Grades 3-5: Loaves and Fishes
Coming together for six sessions from October-April after the Sunday 9am Family Mass (around once a month), parents and children will engage in a family session led by a member of our Pastoral Team (Fr. Jim Laughlin, Fr. Gabriel Afumbom, Kelly Meraw, Sr. Colleen Gibson) on that month’s theme.
Sessions will begin at 10:15am with an opening prayer and “Focus on Faith” reflection given by a Pastoral team member to parents and children together. Following this initial input, the session leader will then guide parents in small group discussions and review the at-home material for the coming month. During this time, children will be guided in a related activity by members of the Children’s Faith Formation team, led by Linda Messore, Director of Children’s Faith Formation. Sessions will end by 11:00am with all gathered together for a closing prayer.
In the weeks after the Family Sessions, parents continue the lessons at home on their own schedule, in whatever space and time works best for them, leaning on resources from the Family Session and their children’s grade-level books. Families can also gather with friends or relatives in small groups to work together. Most importantly, families will continue the conversation throughout the month, baking the richness of our faith into the daily interactions of family life.
Grades 6-7: Salt and Light
This cohort meets for six sessions from October-April at 4:00pm before the Sunday 5pm Mass (around once a month) and features four student-only sessions and two family sessions. Each session will begin with an opening prayer and “Focus on Faith” reflection given by a member of our Pastoral team. This model helps to transition children to a more independent experience in Confirmation Preparation in Grade 8, while allowing parents to continue to accompany their children on their faith journey.
Small Group Confirmation Preparation
This program gathers teens in Grade 8 (and above) into small groups of about 8-10 students led by an adult leader. Beginning in September, the groups will meet on their own schedules while covering the same themes and material as they prepare to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in the spring. The program will also include opportunities for all groups to come together to worship at Mass, for Eucharistic Adoration, Reconciliation, service projects, and retreats.
Questions and Answers
We understand that this renewal of Children’s Faith Formation represents a significant change from what most of us, and even most of our parents, experienced growing up, and that change of this magnitude can be unsettling. At the same time, over the past decade or so, the Church has come to recognize that the way we have been teaching the faith to children – as an academic exercise removed from the family and often removed from the sacrifice of the Mass – is not effective.
Family Faith Formation is really a new model based on an old idea – that parents are the first and best teachers of the faith for their children. Parishes across our Archdiocese and across the country are embracing this model, seeing great fruit in increased sense of community, strengthened families, stronger Mass attendance, and growth in relationship with Christ for both children and adults.
We also know that you will have many questions. We have prepared a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions about registration, sessions, logistics, sacrament preparation, and more that we hope will answer most of them!