Child Faith Formation
Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children (CCC 2223)
Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis precedes, accompanies and enriches other forms of instruction in the faith. Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God. (CCC 2226)
Parents have a right and duty to be intimately involved in preparing their children for the sacraments. Catechesis aims to help parents grow in understanding and appreciation of the sacraments and participate readily in catechizing their children. (NCD 122)
Guidelines
Sufficient support to enable parents to fulfill this privilege and obligation should be provided by the parish in the form of parent education, encouragement of active involvement in their child’s catechesis and participation in the planning, preparation, and celebration of liturgies.
It is desirable and advisable to place a child within an age peer group within a parish program while providing additional and simultaneous specific sacramental catechesis. This specific preparation can be in the form of special classes provided in the parish setting or by instructing and enabling parents to prepare their children at home in cooperation with parish directives. For either approach, it is most important to provide individual faith support for every child, preferably from within the immediate family.
Source footnotes:
CCC refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
NCD refers to the National Catechetical Director
The approved textbook:
In the Diocese of Santa Rosa, the mandated curriculum for Grades 1-8 is the Faith & Life Series.
Faith and Life Series
Grades 1 through 8
Resources:
Faith and Life Parish Lesson Plans
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Teen Faith Formation
“You need to know what you believe. You need to know your faith with that same precision with which an IT specialist knows the inner workings of a computer. You need to understand it like a good musician knows the piece he is playing. Yes, you need to be more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of your parents so that you can engage the challenges and temptations of this time with strength and determination. You need God’s help if your faith is not going to dry up like a dewdrop in the sun, if you want to resist the blandishments of consumerism, if your love is not to drown in pornography, if you are not going to betray the weak and leave the vulnerable helpless.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI to Young People
Recommended Texts:
Didache Series – Confirmation (supplemental textbook for Diocese)
Didache Series
What is the Didache Series?
Written in the first century, the Didache is the first know Christian catechesis and the earliest know Christian writing outside of Scripture. The name of the work, Didache, is appropriate for such a catechesis because it comes from the Greek word for “teaching” and indicates that this writing contains the teaching of the Apostles and, as such, it is the teaching of the Church.
Today, the most comprehensive catechesis is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Didache Series presents the life and doctrine of the Catholic Church in the context of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the teachings of Vatican II as witnessed by the pontificates of Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. The series also draws from Sacred Scripture, the lives of the Saints, and the Doctors and Fathers of the Church.
The Didache Series has been published since 2003 at the invitation of the late Francis Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago, who requested a series of “texts that would set out clearly and adequately the teaching of the Catholic Church.” Each textbook of the Didache Series has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church by the USCCB. ~ From the Midwest Theological Forum website