Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Parish * Santa Clarita, CA

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A Note from the Director of Evangelization & Lay Formation to Parents

What role do you want God to plan in your family?
What do you desire most for our children, your spouse?  Is it not happiness?  Is it not a fulfilled life?

True fulfillment and happiness can only be found by responding to the call to be one with our Triune God. Our conscious response and enduring decision to follow Jesus Christ and surrender our lives over to His service is the foundation of all fulfillment and happiness.

Your child has a divine purpose, a divine mission; a vocation to fulfill that is unique and irrepeatable. Their response to this call is primary to their happiness. Your home is the training field (the novitiate), where God has placed them to receive the most basic formation for His divine plan in their life.

Religious Education is much more than merely preparing your child for a sacrament. It is more than simply teaching your child what the Church teaches. It is more than helping your child be a “Good Catholic”, who attends Mass every Sunday and participates in the communal life of the parish in service to others.

Together with parents, Religious Education seeks to cultivate within your child a growing capacity to: 1.) Desire to follow Jesus Christ as His disciple within the Church community. 2.) Choose to live (as they mature) as His apostle in the world.

A moment will come in the life of your child where they will need to decide for themselves whether or not they will be a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ and a responsible member of His Church? Are you doing all in your power to prepare them for this moment?

If you would like the parish community to assist you in the formation of your child’s relationship with Christ, consider registering your child for one of our programs.


In Christ,
Bobby Vidal
Director of Evangelization & Lay Formation

For more information about our Religious Education programs take a look at our Religious Education Handbook. For more information about registering your child for a religious education program see our Registration Newsletter.



Religious Education Programs Offered at Blessed Kateri

Little Church
The Little Church program is for 3, 4, and 5 year old children and is held during the 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. masses while their parents and older siblings attend mass. The goal of this program is to provide young children with positive and loving first experiences with the Catholic Church in a semi-formalized setting. Lessons are liturgically based on each week’s gospel with an emphasis on how God’s word applies to a preschooler’s life experience. Our hope is that Little Church enriches the church life of the students and helps prepare them for regular mass participation.

Elementary Classes
This program is set-up for all families with children in grades 1-6 who are seeking to enrich their lives with a deeper communal interaction of their personal faith experience of Christ. These sessions are set-up to help parents in their role as primary educators of the faith by weekly meetings filled with prayer, games, lectures, and take home/chapter review assignments in the classrooms at Blessed Kateri.

Children’s Catechumenate (RCIA)
This process is intended for un-baptized children who have attained the use of reason and are of catechetical age; and children 9 years and older who have been baptized as infants, but have not received religious formation in the Catholic Church.

They seek Christian initiation, either at the direction of their parents or guardians, or, with parental permission, on their own initiative. The sacraments of Christian Initiation are Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist. This process of Christian Initiation requires both a personal conversion, in proportion to their age, and instruction in the Faith. We speak of the process as the child’s own “journey of faith”. The wonderful part is that the parents and catechists have the privilege of accompanying the child on this journey as they develop a deeper relationship with God and the community. The main focus of RCIA sessions is for the parents and children to feel a renewed sense of “welcome” within our Catholic Christian community.

The EDGE
The Edge is a radical new Catholic centered program aimed at young adolescents who are in the 7th and 8th grade. The EDGE is designed to meet their educational, spiritual, emotional, and social needs. As part of the Catholic Church’s mission to evangelize, catechize, and spread the gospel message of Jesus Christ, middle school youth are encouraged to go out and bring the faith into the world


F.I.R.E.
This is a “Family-centered Intergenerational Religious Education” program design to help families in a small faith community setting encounter Christ by different activities, prayers, rituals, and faith sharing sessions. Participants will meet once a week at a Facilitator’s home at the best appointed time of all families involved.

Whole Community Catechesis
Whole Community catechesis is a concept that implies two main principles. First, because conversion is an ongoing process, we need to catechize and be catechized our entire lives. Growth in faith and religious literacy is not just for children. Second, that growth in faith is mutual. We do not teach our children, friends, family and parish without being taught ourselves. The entire community needs to be involved with formation not just the children. Blessed Kateri “family weeks” are the assembly component of Whole Community Catechesis.

Family Week
Family week occurs 2 times a year on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. On those weeks, in lieu of traditional classes, children do not attend their regular religious education classes rather the entire family attends either evening together. The sessions will be oriented to the entire family and the children will remain in the worship area with the adults. The RE Dept. will be providing dinner for our families.
This school year 2008-2009 we will be having two Family Week gatherings. We welcome your whole family to join us for fellowship and for breaking bread. Family Week will be on Tuesday or Thursday October 14 or 16, 2008 and Tuesday or Thursday February 17 or 19, 2009.
* In the spirit of hospitality and fellowship, we will be providing dinner to all of our attendees! We will begin serving at 5:00pm to 5:45pm. Volunteers are always appreciated.

* Our Family Week Sessions will begin at 6:15pm and conclude at 7:30pm.

* All of the presentations will be intergenerational. Our topics will be interesting and engaging to adults, High School, Jr. High and Elementary members of your family.




 

VIRTUS for Children: Teaching Touching Safety Program 2008-2009

This school year 2008-2009 we will continue to teach the VIRTUS for Children: Teaching Touching Safety Program as mandated by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. This special program teaches about safe boundaries. This year the emphasis will be on recognizing risky adult behavior.

New this year, we will be offering this information to our 5 year olds in Little Church. The program will be offered on two consecutive Sundays in September 2008.

Instructions for Elementary will be during their regular class times the week of September 22-25 and 27, 2008.

Junior High will be taught this information on Monday, November 17, 2008 in the Worship Area

Confirmation, Level I will be on Monday, December 14, 2008; Level II will be on Monday, November 2, 2008.

Parents will be given the opportunity to attend a parent orientation in order to be presented more information about this program. At the parent orientation, you will be given the training materials, a permission slip or an opt-out form for each of your children. One of these forms will need to be filled out so that we can place your decision on file. Please send your childr(en) to class that day if you are permitting them to participate in this program. Only those children who have a permission slip to attend the training will be allowed into class on the above dates.

The overview, training materials, permission slips and opt-out forms are available on this website. Please see below:

VIRTUS for Children Overview
VIRTUS for Children Program Materials
VIRTUS for Children Permission Slip
VIRTUS for Children Opt-Out Form

 Adult Formation

 Do you have questions about your Faith?  Do you seek to foster your relationship with Jesus Christ and your Church?  Are the changes in your personal life happening so fast that you are spinning?  Are there doubts and fears?  Do you feel a sense of being drawn toward a greater faith commitment?  Do you want to grow more in your spiritual life without the “fluff” and challenged as an adult in the faith?  Do you want the real meat and substance of our Catholic Faith?  Then join us at the following…

 Parish Retreats

 In the Gospels we read of Jesus being led to different mountain tops, deserts, or deserted plains.  There He was absorbed in His Father’s presence in a time of prayer, solitude, silence, and penance.  Each of us needs time to seriously reflect on our faith journey; its paths, peaks, and valleys.  These special times of reflection allow us to grow inwardly in our relationship with a community, and personally with God.  A Parish Retreat is a peaceful moment in time to foster a deeper conversion experience with Jesus Christ.  This is a moment that can be shared with family members, co-workers, friends, and neighbors, who may cherish these few moments of spiritual peace, or who are in search of experiencing  “more” in the Catholic Tradition.  We will be offering four Parish-based Retreats. 

Adult Formation Sessions

Adult Formation sessions provide us with greater knowledge and understanding of the Church’s teachings and wisdom.  They help us to utilize our Catholic traditions as part of our daily lives.  To provide a rich Catholic experience to our Adult Formation sessions, we will be dedicating each year to a pillar in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

 The Catechism has been traditionally divided into four sections.  These sections are: the Creed, the Sacraments (Liturgy), Morality (10 Commandment & Beatitudes), and Prayer (the Our Father).  They are called pillars to illustrate the reality that they uphold our Catholic Identity.  They are the foundation of our Catholic Faith that is unique and universal.   This year our Adult Formation sessions will be based on the Pillar of Sacraments.  The sessions are as follows:

 Note:  As many of you are aware.  All parents who have signed their child(ren) in a religious education program are required to attend a minimum of four Adult Formation Sessions.  This requirement can be fulfilled by signing in at the sessions you attend: Family Weeks, Parish Retreats, Adult Faith Formation Series or Adult Faith Formation Sessions.