Saturday, July 20, 2013

Let me make the first post of 2013. This year.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Thanks to all the parents that attended the Jan. 9th meeting at Valley View School. If you were unable to attend, a link to the parent meeting presentation can be found on the homepage of our website at: http://www.ccsjn.org/.

The bishop's of the Catholic Church have defined the goal of all catechesis to be an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. We are all called to share in Christ's prophetic, royal and priestly mission and as parents the most important work we can do is pass on our faith to our children. We discussed what or who was the most important factor in our own coming to believe. While some shared family members or catechists were most influential, others shared experiences such as celebrating the Eucharist with people of faith to be what initiated their belief in Jesus Christ.

After reviewing the different faith formation models currently being used, interest in the traditional, intergenerational and summer alternative programs for children was voiced.

We discussed the fact that holding classes at Valley View is no longer supportable. Our enrollment in Valley View K-6 classes has dropped to 58 students, about half of the 120 students enrolled in 2005. The rental and custodial fees for holding classes at Valley View was renegotiated but they are still over $4000. The numbers in Saturday Family catechesis and Junior High have also decreased. Therefore, the Parish Catechetical Leader for next year's programs will be ministering on a part time basis.

It was suggested that we continue traditional classes using our Church and Office centers for class space and that this could be on a week day instead of Sunday. Some interest in a weekly traditional program was voiced. Parents were also in favor of the intergenerational model and some said they would participate in a summer alternative catechesis. It was suggested that we need to determine if we can get catechists and teen assistants for a summer program. The advantages of having a separate Junior High catechesis session which prepare's these children for confirmation was discussed. As in Youth Ministry, it builds community, encourages peer faith sharing and community service. It also gives these teens the opportunity to assist in the programs of younger children. It was suggested that we should consider adding the sixth graders to Junior High.

We took a straw poll of interest in the following catechesis programs (parents could vote for more than one model) and here are the results:

Summer Alternative Program:

Mornings - 13

Evenings - 18

All Day - 12

Intergenerational Program:

Once a month- 15

Traditional Program:

Weekly/weekday - 5

Weekly/Sunday - 5

Biweekly/Sunday - 10


Thirty-two parents from thirty-one families attended this meeting and participated in the straw poll. Dr. Fay invited the parents to continue this discussion on our parish faith formation blog. Parents suggested that we also put a survey in the bulletin.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

At the original Town Meeting of Nov. 15th a power point on Lifelong Catechesis was presented as a starting point for our discussion. You can view this on our homepage: http://www.ccsjn.org/.


The discussion included answers to the four main questions:

At St. John’s, how will you help people feel welcome and want to participate in Mass? At St. John’s, how will you develop households of faith? At St. John’s how will you bring adults into a systematic catechetical experience? At St. John’s, how will you help people experience an on going encounter with Christ?

To help people feel welcome and want to participate in Mass, it was suggested that families as well as individuals be greeters to welcome people as they enter. Also, to invite those that we support through social ministry in the community to join us at church.

In regards to developing households of faith, religious education families pointed out how they liked the short email communications they received. It was suggested to extend such communications via email to teens and young adults and/or all households in the parish.

To include adults in our learning circles, interest in adult online courses and opening up existing catechesis gatherings to all parishioners was suggested. The Saturday Catechesis Gathering is now open to all in the parish who would like to join in the adult group that breaks open the scripture of that Sunday’s Mass. We meet once a month from 10:00 to 11:00am, see bulletin for dates. Online courses at Dayton University: http://vlc.udayton.edu/ and Notre Dame University: http://www.step.nd.edu/ are now available to Metuchen diocese members at a discount. Be sure to select Metuchen on the drop down discount box when registering.

Other suggestions included: starting a women’s group again; having people from different ministries visit children’s classes and explain their ministry, having teens involved more in Christian action rather than just learning how to be a Christian in the classroom which has been an on going strategy in children’s catechesis.

All participants in the Town Meeting read a short article: The Gift of the Person of Christ and discussed in small groups: How do we encounter Christ now in our lives?

In the large group we shared our answers of:
  • PEOPLE
  • SCRIPTURES
  • SACRAMENT
  • PRAYER &
  • NATURE

We invite you to post any comments you would like to share on the TOWN MEETING.

There are a number of Faith Formation Models being used by parishes across the United States. We will be reveiwing all of them to help us understand these models and evaluate their fit to the needs of our St. John community.


The Traditional Model is weekly or biweekly classes for children. This classroom model is the one we are most familiar with. Here at St. John's our biweekly classes for children are lectionary based.


In some circumstances, Home Schooling has been used. This is usually used in response to some special need of the families. In Home Schooling, parents meet and receive guidance and work assignments for their children. They then work with their children at home in order to help their children grow in knowledge and faith of God.

In more recent times, Intergenerational or Whole Community Catechesis is being developed and experienced in many more parishes. Our Saturday Catechesis Gathering which meets once a month is based on this model. To get a better understanding of this model and how they are being used in parishes in the Metuchen and Trenton dioceses, we will be reviewing the programs of St. David the King in Princeton Junction and St. Matthias in Somerset. To view a video that explains St. David's Parish Family Ministry click on the St. David's link. We will be featuring St. Matthias' G.I.F.T. or Growing in Faith Together program in a future post.

Most recently, a Summer Alternative model has proven to be successful. This catechesis occurs during two weeks in the summer. The children spend ten consecutive mornings or evenings Monday through Friday participating in catechetical lessons and activities. This takes the place of Traditional or Intergenerational classes for children which start in September. It has been found that children learn more from this focused catechetical experience while they are on summer vacation from school. To find out more about this model read "Reinventing Religious Education" by using the Reinventing Religious education link. At the beginning of this article from the Trenton Monitor you can view a video that shows you the Summer Catechesis program at St. Anselms.

Many parishes have separate models for Sacramental Preparation. While some parishes continue to include this catechesis in their traditional and intergenerational classes many parishes have developed separate programs to involve the parents and the parish community in the sacramental preparation of children. Along with making the parents more equipped to prepare their own child, the parents receive adult level catechesis on the sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation.