September 14, 2021

TO:  Parents of Holy Name of Jesus Faith Formation (CCD) students          

FROM:  Deacon David Southworth, Parish Administrator and Donna Marotto, Faith Formation Coordinator

SUBJECT:  Faith Formation for Fall 2021/Spring 2022

            I hope everyone had a great summer!... With lots of relaxing and rest.  I hope your school year has started well.

            We have a new Faith Formation Coordinator at Holy Name of Jesus Parish.  Donna Marotto is with us part-time and I think you will come to feel we are lucky to have her!

            I want to share my thoughts with all our families about how we can make our Holy Name of Jesus Faith Formation for youth more engaging and dynamic.  We envision our youth to be Hope and Joy filled.  We want to raise healthy, happy, and resilient people of Faith.

We think we should move away from instruction that is only classroom based and move to a more engaging and activity-based learning that involves the whole family.

Last year, while we were also dealing with Covid, we tried an active, religious skit-based faith formation program for youth in Grades 3-11.  4 plays were learned and put on at weekend masses.  This was a step in the right direction but not sustainable by itself.

I want to suggest that we now try a GENERATIONS OF FAITH learning model.  The whole parish will be involved in learning and growing in our faith.  We have a new team recruited and…. instead of about 21 one-hour classroom sessions over the school year, we will have 6 three-hour sessions for the whole family that would include a meal, introduce a theme topic, include mass, follow up with a parish activity, along with an at-home activity.  Once we get that going, we will start an exciting and dynamic youth ministry.  1^st Communion and Confirmation students will have additional preparation sessions.

Attached is a schedule of our 6 Learning Sessions which will be on Sunday mornings from 8:45 am to 11:45 am.  These are for the whole family, including parents and even grandparents.  The first one is Sunday, October 24, 2021.

We would like all youth participating to fill out a registration form and pay the $20 per child registration ($50 max per family).  You can do that by stopping by the Parish Office Monday – Thursday or come to the Church Hall (enter through Church or Chapman St) on Sundays Sept 26 or Oct 3 from 9:00 – 10:00 am.

Donna and I would like to discuss next year’s Holy Name of Jesus Faith Formation options with each family over the next few weeks.  We will call you. 

Have a Blessed Day.  Thanks!!