LIFELONGLEARNING

Good Hope • St. Henry • St. Mary

COMING FALL 2022!

As the Families of Parishes implementation begins, the benefits for our tri-parish Catholic community are immediate. For St. Mary families, this includes the option of enrolling your child(ren) in the Sunday PSR classes offered at Good Hope and St. Henry for forming disciples as young as Pre-K (4 years old) up to Grade 6.

The schedule of classes is shown in the table below. Follow the link in the far right column to register at the respective parish. Background information on the broader tri-parish plan follows.

Classroom Catechesis (PSR) Schedule

Alternatively . . .

As a parent, are you looking to form deeper connections with other families and build a support system within the parish? Could you appreciate a method of learning where the whole family participates together? Would you like to ask questions on areas of the Catholic faith that you did not understand or retain from years of Catholic school? If so, then our family catechesis program GIFT (Growing In Faith Together) may be the perfect fit.

 Family Catechesis Schedule

BACKGROUND

In our first year of tri-parish religious education for children Pre-K through Grade 6, the following initiatives will be undertaken:

1. Adopt a common PSR curriculum for K—6 classroom catechesis and sacramental preparation.
2. Open registration for each parish program to the broader tri-parish community.

The Spirit is in the details! For each initiative, we share implementation details (in bold) to further describe the benefits to parish families, staff and volunteers.

COMMON PSR CURRICULUM

Sadlier’s Christ In Us will be used as the base catechetical curriculum for grades K—1 and 3—6. This curriculum is already in use at OLGH and St. Mary, and will be adopted by St. Henry.

Augustine Institute’s Signs of Grace will be used for Grade 2 sacramental preparation. This curriculum is already in use at OLGH and St. Henry, and will be adopted by St. Mary.

BENEFITS:

• Works toward consistency in what children are being taught in the classroom at all three parishes
• Maximizes volunteer resources (e.g., a substitute catechist may be utilized from any parish)

OPEN REGISTRATION

Presently . . . 

• St. Henry and OLGH have the benefit of using full-size classrooms in Bishop Leibold School for children's catechesis and have the capacity to enroll many more students. With its small classrooms, St. Mary is very constrained for space.
• St. Henry and OLGH are able to offer one weekly session of children's catechesis on Sunday mornings, while St. Mary has had to offer two separate weeknight sessions to accommodate all of its children.
• Running two sessions at St. Mary requires twice as many catechists, aides and student helpers — over two dozen — even though half the classes this past year had six students or less.

New this year . . .

In the tri-parish community, St. Henry and OLGH will open their PSR Pre-K/K — 6 registration to St. Mary families. St. Mary will reciprocate pending space and after offering priority to St. Mary families. This includes opening the St. Mary's GIFT (family catechesis) program to the broader tri-parish community.

St. Mary will offer a single weekly session of K—6 classroom instruction, switching to Wednesday evenings to coincide with Jr High Youth Ministry. Families with children and youth up through Grade 7 will now have the convenience of attending on the same evening.

A standard K—6 fee structure will be implemented: $40 per family plus an additional $30 per child sacramental preparation fee for any child making First Sacraments. Note: Families will purchase their own student book resources for each child directly from the publisher. 

BENEFITS:

• Returns a Sunday option for classroom catechesis to St. Mary families
• Opens the option of family catechesis to Good Hope and St. Henry families
• Maximizes facility and people resources across all three parishes
• Provides the opportunity to attend Mass as a family in conjunction with going to class