Children's Religious Formation

General Statement:
Because the SJN Parish Staff fully recognizes and respects parents as the primary and principal educators of their children, we welcome and embrace their role in the faith formation process. In this respect, the Religious Formation Staff and parents work together as a team to bring the children of Saint John Neumann Parish toward a greater experience, appreciation, and understanding of the following:

• a greater experience of the total and unconditional love of God who forms each person as a unique and unrepeatable creation.
• a greater experience of their relationship with Jesus.
• a greater appreciation of their membership and connection to the Catholic Christian Community.
• a greater understanding of themselves as persons endowed with free will and moral responsibility.
• a greater understanding of themselves as members of the Catholic Church who share in its universal Mission to bring the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ to the world.

Additionally, the Religious Formation Program operates in a climate of mutual understanding with parents regarding the moral obligation to demonstrate the Christian Moral Life with personal authenticity to the children of Saint John Neumann through thoughtful attention to the quality and care of staff, catechists’, and parents’ own faith lives.

Religious Formation Class Schedule
Classes begin September 11th and 12th

Grades Kindergarten through 8: Tuesdays 5:30 P.M. - 7 P.M.
Grades 1 through 8: Wednesdays 6:45 P.M. - 8:15 P.M.

Tuition
Tuition Rates are listed on the Tuition and Fees Sheet. Call Office of Religious Formation for information on Tuition Assistance and Need-Based Scholarships. Cost should not be a deterrent to the Religious Education of our children.

Program Description

Kindergarten Program: This program provides an introduction to the building blocks of the Catholic faith in a classroom setting with trained catechists.

The Grades 1 through 8 Program: This Program provides catechesis structured around the following Key Elements:

• Knowledge of the Faith
• Celebrating the Faith: Education for the meaning of the Liturgy and the Sacraments
• Christian Prayer: Teaching the children how to pray with Christ
• Living the Christian Moral Life: Promoting moral formation in Jesus Christ
• Living in the Christian Community: Preparing the children to live in community and to participate actively in the life and mission of the Church
• Education for Evangelization and the Apostolic Life: Promoting a missionary spirit and vocation that prepares the children to be present as Christians in society

Catechetical content is rooted in and supported by Scripture and Church Tradition and is conducted in classroom settings with trained catechists. Age specific instruction, which incorporates the Key Elements, is provided each year in a spiral curriculum that will facilitate an appropriately well rounded understanding and appreciation of the fullness of the Catholic Faith. Additionally, special instruction on the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist is provided in Grade 2 (For more detail, see “First Communion”). The Grade 8 curriculum also provides catechetical instruction on the Sacrament of Confirmation (For more detail, see “Confirmation”).