Children and Parents will have a choice between three different session times once per month at St. Charles Borromeo. This will allow us to social distance while inside the church and classrooms.  At the end of each session, families will receive take-home lessons to use at home each week (40 minutes a week) for the remainder of the month.  When filling out your Faith Formation Registration form for 2020-2021, you will be able to select which monthly session you will attend with your child(ren). Your choices will be the first week of the month: Sunday 3:00pm – 4:15pm, or Sunday 6:00pm – 7:15pm, or Wednesday 6:00pm – 7:15pm.  (October 4^th or 7^th; November 1^st or 4^th; December 6^th or 9^th).  Parent(s) and Child(ren) will be coming to the same session time each month that you have registered. 

Did your Child not receive First Communion in the Spring because of Covid-19?  Please see this special section HERE.

Family Formation:  What is it?

Family Formation is a family-based catechetical program for all parish families with children in 1st through 6th grade with an adult component. 

While faith formation classes have been in place for a long time, they lack some essential elements that are vital to helping parents pass on the Catholic Faith to their children.

As a Church, we realize our ineffectiveness to catechize children if their parents are not involved in the process. By evangelizing parents to realize what the Church is asking of them, and giving them support and encouragement in their mission, we are answering the Church’s call. In a nutshell, this is what Family  Formation accomplishes. Adult catechesis teaches and encourages parents and provides them with the Catholic know-how to share the Good News and the beauty of the Catholic Faith with their children.

Family Formation is a tried and true Catholic teaching resource developed by  regular parents with normal family lives. The materials are engaging, down-to-earth, and easy to understand. Family Formation is meant to bring the family   together once a week to learn their Faith in joy and with excitement, rather than making learning about God and the Church a boring or dreaded weekly task.

In Short, Wednesday Night Classes and Sunday Morning Classes…
 

• Are not effective in the long term retention of young active Catholics
• Exclude parents from the education of their children’s’ faith
• Promote a separation between public and home schooled children

Why a Family Based Program?

Here are some Church Documents that tell us the importance of parent involvement in their child’s faith.

“The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, original and primary, and it is irreplaceable and incapable of being entirely delegated to  others.”   

“The family is a domestic church.”

“Parents are the primary educators in the Faith… Indeed in the same way as the Church, the family ‘is a place in which the Gospel is transmitted and from which it extends’.”

Who Should Participate?

Family Formation is designed for all families with children in grades 1^st – 6^th.  At Baptism, parents promised to raise their Children in the Catholic Faith.  Sadly, for too many generations, we have taken away your role.  We were wrong.  We are sorry. 

What Does Family Formation Look Like?

Family Formation combines a monthly church gathering with at-home faith activities. Families will gather once a month at St. Charles Borromeo, where children meet in grade-specific class settings while parents gather for adult catechesis and formation. Weekly family home lessons are provided. Parents are equipped with materials and given an overview of the lessons to help teach their children the Faith. The program coincides with the school year from September through May. Monthly gatherings will be on the first Sunday or the first Wednesday of each month.  There are 3 home lessons each month. Families have the flexibility to complete them according to their schedule. First Eucharist and First Reconciliation preparation are built into this program. Second grade students will prepare for the Sacraments in the Family Formation classrooms and have additional preparation materials to do at home.

You do not have to be skilled in teaching, well versed in Theology, or have all the answers to be able to lead your children. You simply need the desire to learn more!

History of Family Formation

Family Formation was developed by the Catholic Church of Saint Paul in Ham Lake, Minnesota as a fresh approach to the difficulties they were facing with traditional religious education programs. They realized early on that, without parents involved in their children’s catechesis, it is not successful. News of this exciting approach spread quickly, and now Family Formation is used by parishes across the US and Canada.

Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. - Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2223