Sacramental Preparation

First Reconciliation & First Communion

Students prepare for these first Sacraments as part of their atrium experience. However, the actual celebration of First Communion is done at the child’s home parish.

The Sacramental Preparation program begins each Fall with the Mass of Intention, during which 2^nd graders are invited to enter a time of solemn preparation for First Communion and First Reconciliation. They declare their intention by placing their name card in the sheepfold.

Later, the children enter the time of preparation with a Mass of Enrollment, during which they receive a Holy Bible. Special times of meditation follow over the next 5 to 7 weeks. This time concludes with a 3 day retreat, the celebration of First Reconciliation followed by a ceremony of Light and White Garment. Parents are included in many of these aspects as a way to reinforce the parents as primary catechists.

Confirmation

Each child receives the Sacrament of Confirmation in his/her home parish. As part of the Middle School Religion Program, 7^th Level religion is Confirmation Preparation. The year-long curriculum is designed to provide the essential intellectual and spiritual catechesis that is vital to sacramental preparation, with a goal to bring about a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. The goal of the curriculum is meant to convey that Confirmation, like the other Sacraments of Initiation, is not so much about us choosing God as it is about Him choosing us

(see CCC 1). Over the course of the year, learners will be invited first to hear and then to respond with faith to the voice of God, who has called us to become his sons and daughters—simply because “he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).