Parents are the first, best and most important catechists for their children. To assist you in your role, our Faith Formation program offers the “Sunday Experience for Families” model. Sunday Mass is an essential component for any formation or spiritual growth, so families are expected to actively participate in Mass each week. Mass times at St. Joseph include 7:30am, 9:30am, noon, and 7pm on Sunday and 5pm Vigil on Saturday. Mass schedule at St. Barnabas is 9am and 11am Sunday and 4:30pm Vigil on Saturday. Children and teens are encouraged to help straighten up the pews after Mass, hand out worship aids, become altar servers if they’ve received First Eucharist, lectors, choir members, etc. Parents can also help as greeters, clean-up, lectors and choir members, etc, and those who are confirmed and if married, were married in the Catholic Church, may serve as Eucharistic ministers or sacristans.
All the following programs are available at no fee to registered parishioners of St. Joseph or St. Barnabas and who have signed up for Faith Direct, use Sunday envelopes or otherwise contribute to the support of their parish. Class registration for 2023-2024 is required at https://forms.gle/vP4yJCckdCZ6VTpdA
Whole Family Catechesis Pre-Kindergarten to Junior High
For children age 4 to Junior High* who do not attend Catholic school and are not in Sacrament Preparation. We use Pflaum’s Gospel Weeklies which include: a weekly magazine tied to that Sunday’s gospel, a Handbook that is your child’s to keep, and online resources. Weekly classes are led by a catechist but require
active parent participation. In general, one parent or other adult in each family assists in a classroom at least once a month. (Commitment is per family, not per child, so the one-class-a-month requirement is regardless of the number of children in your family. ) Classes are by age level, but parents can choose a level up or down a grade if that works better for your family.
• Seeds (generally age 4 or PreK)
• Promise (generally Kindergarten or 1st grade)
• Good News (generally 2nd or 3rd grade)
• Venture (generally 4th, 5th or 6th grade)
• Visions (generally 7th or 8th grade).
More info for Youth Confirmation available here.
*8th grade has the option to attend either Whole Family Catechesis or First Year Confirmation
Register for 2023-2024 here. All members in a household age 4 through high school in any of the above programs register on the same form.
Parish registration and active parish support (generally through FaithDirect or Sunday envelopes) is required. If your family is not yet registered in the parish, the form for St. Joseph Basilica is available here or for St. Barnabas here.